Housing Discrimination: What Actions Are Covered?

There are federal, state and municipal laws that make discrimination in the area of housing illegal. The breadth of fair housing laws is vast and landlords should educate themselves on just what actions may be discriminatory before they get themselves into trouble.

I have previously blogged about what the various protected classes are but this post will focus on what actions may be considered to be discriminatory if they are solely based on a person's membership in a protected classes.

The key federal law that sets forth what actions can be discriminatory within the housing context is the Fair Housing Act, which is Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Wisconsin, for the most part has adopted the federal laws related to housing discrimination (and has even added a few additional protected classes) and codified those laws in sec. 106.50(2), Wis. Stats. The city of Milwaukee has its own fair housing laws which can be found in subchapter 3 of Chapter 109 of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances.

Essentially if an individual engages in one of the following actions and does so solely based on an individuals membership in a protected class, it may constitute housing discrimination:

1. Refuse to rent

2. Refuse to discuss the terms of a rental

3. Refuse to allow the inspection of rental housing

4. Refuse to renew a lease or cause the eviction of a tenant

5. Misrepresent the availability of housing for rent or inspection

6. Apply different terms or conditions for the rental of housing

7. Refuse to allow reasonable accomodations or reasonable modifications for persons with disabilities

8. Printing, publishing or displaying advertising or notices that state or indicate a preference based on a protected class

9. Engage in harassment, coercion, or intimidation

10. Engage in blockbusting - which consists of efforts to induce or attempt to induce a person to rent housing by representation regarding the presence or entry of a person/s of a protected class or economic status

11. Steering - which includes restricting of or attempt to restrict, by word or action, an individual's housing choices

12. Segregation by floor, building, development, or community, based on membership in a protected class.

There are additional discriminatory actions within the housing context (i.e. selling of real estate) that are also addressed in the aforementioned laws that are not listed above, but I have attempted to limit my discussion to a rental housing context.

I will spend some time in future blogs providing additional explanations for some of the above -- especially "reasonable accomodations" and "reasonable modification" which I have been meaning to blog about for several months now.

It is important to remember that a landlord or manager does not need to possess the intent to discriminate in order to be found to have engaged in discriminatory behavior. Whether a landlord or manager meant to do something is not relevant; if the action was discriminatory, it will still be considered a violation of fair housing laws.