- Housing discrimination is discrimination that occurs during the process of renting, buying, or accessing housing assistance.
- US law prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, nationality, gender, familial status, or disability. Many states have additional protections for people identifying as LGTBQA, those with criminal records, and more.
- Examples of housing discrimination include (but are not limited to) rejecting an application based on familial status, steering potential residents away from certain neighborhoods because of their race, and more.
What is housing discrimination, and what is the Fair Housing Act?
Housing discrimination is any discrimination that happens within the process of renting a home, buying a home, financing a home, and in the distribution of housing assistance, among other aspects of housing.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is a landmark piece of federal civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental housing process—including mortgage lending—on the basis of race, color, religion, nationality, gender, familial status, or disability. States and localities have enacted their own laws as well to expand protections for many people, such as prohibiting discrimination against LGTBQ individuals, or on the basis of prospective renters’ criminal records, immigration status, or race-based hairstyles.
What are some examples of housing discrimination?
Despite these laws, housing discrimination persists in many forms. Property managers and realtors can discriminate intentionally, or unintentionally. It’s important for renters and home buyers to be aware of ways in which discrimination can present. For example, it is discrimination when realtors or property managers steer potential residents or buyers away from certain neighborhoods or refuse to show units in those neighborhoods altogether because the renter or the home buyer has or identifies with any of the aforementioned traits. In the inverse situation, a property manager or neighborhood might try to pressure someone into moving out of their rental or selling their house, a practice known as blockbusting.
Discrimination can occur when applying for a rental unit or mortgage, too. Property managers and lenders are legally allowed to reject applicants on the basis of income, credit score, a previous history of nonpayment, prior bankruptcies, and/or bad references, among other things, but a rejection on the basis of race, sex, religion, and etc., violates the Fair Housing Act. After their application is accepted, some people may experience discrimination with rent or mortgage payments, such as higher interest rates for underrepresented borrowers.
The home appraisal process isn’t immune from discrimination, either. For example, appraisers might devalue a home being purchased by an underrepresented borrower, which could make it harder or more expensive to get a mortgage. In a more severe situation, appraisers could devalue houses in an entire neighborhood largely occupied by a protected group of people.
The US Housing Department’s website provides multiple examples of housing discrimination. They call specific attention to ways in which discrimination may not be obvious, such as:
- Harrassment as discrimination
- Discrimination against families with children
- Refusing to provide reasonable accomodations to people with disabilities
- Not meeting accessbility requirements
We encourage renters to read through the examples and familiarize themselves with ways in which discrimination can surface in the housing process.
What to do if you see, suspect, or experience housing discrimination
If you believe that you’ve been the victim of discrimination, or you wish to file complaints alleging discrimination in housing, you should contact the nearest office of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the following ways:
- By calling HUD’s toll-free number, 1-800-669-9777 (voice), or 1-800-543-8294 (TDD)
- By reporting it on HUD’s website
You can also contact your state’s Attorney General—most state government websites include housing resources—or a local legal aid organization.
And despite Zumper’s zero-tolerance policy, real estate advertisements on our platform and the information within it are provided by third-party advertisers. Because of this, there may be an instance or instances of potential discrimination by these third-party advertisers that we have yet to uncover, correct, or remove. If you see examples of language in a listing on Zumper that is potentially discriminatory or suspect discrimination by one of these sites, please contact us immediately at support@zumper.com.
Zumper’s Anti-Discrimination Policy
All real estate advertised on Zumper is subject to the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or intention to make such preference, limitation or discrimination.” It’s also subject to state and local fair housing laws, which prohibit discriminatory advertising in additional categories, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and source of income.
We will not knowingly accept or permit any advertisement for real estate that is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.
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