Cohousing-L Mailing List: Fair Housing

[Liz (liz]

> I understand that housing
> discrimination--or any kind of discrimination for that
> matter--is  illegal only if it is directed against a person or
> household because of their membership in a "class" of people who are
> frequently discriminated against such as people of color, women, gays
> and lesbians, people with children, etc. Am I wrong about that?

Federal Law prohibits the limiting the sale, rental, or approval of  
mortgages based on based on race, color, national origin, religion,  
sex, familial status (that is, the presence of children under 18),  
and handicap (disability).

Local jurisdictions may ADD categories, but may not subtract  
categories. So in a (precious few) areas sexual orientation has been  
added. Source of income, professional status are others I've seen  
added. The law includes room rentals but not shared housing--that is,  
if you share the living room, you can discriminate, if you do not  
share space you cannot.

The law does NOT apply to individuals selling (no more than 2) homes,  
but it does apply to realtors, all advertising sources (including  
bulletin boards and such), and all lenders, so, in reality, unless  
you are selling only by word of mouth, and the buyer pays cash, the  
seller must comply.

There is an exception for Associations which own all the homes and  
decide who live there, but then membership in the association can't  
discriminate... so....

Familial Status (that is, the presence of children) can be ignored in  
communities that limit ownership to people who are over 62, or to  
communities that limit ownership to people over 55 and also follow  
several other requirements.

Disability includes those diagnosed and getting treatment for gender  
issues, so people who are transgender are covered. Addiction is also  
covered, you can require they be in recovery (at least for rentals, I  
believe), but not require that they never were addicted.

And as an aside, I do find a misconception that _discrimination_  
itself is illegal in the United States. Discrimination is not  
illegal, rather it is illegal to discriminate against particular  
classes of people, in particular types of actions.

There are limited protected groups for employment (with exceptions  
for small businesses), the voting rights act, the Americans with  
disabilities act, and Title IX regarding gender discrimination in  
schools that receive federal funds. There are age, race and national  
origin anti-discrimination rules in programs that are federally funded.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/

-Liz
(The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
Mosaic Commons
Berlin, MA
Where we have land, and will (I pray) soon have a comprehensive permit.