If you’ve experienced discrimination in your search for housing, you might want to make a fair housing complaint. Here’s some guidance on where to turn and how to start the complaint process.
Laws at all levels of government—federal, state, county, and city—prohibit housing discrimination, and each set of laws has its own complaint processes and enforcement procedures.
Discrimination by a housing provider (for example, a landlord) can violate the law at more than one government level. In fact, a victim of housing discrimination might be able to file a complaint at more than one level.
Federal law—specifically, the Fair Housing Act (FHA)—prohibits discrimination based on:
(42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 and following.)
This ban on discrimination applies to the renting and selling of nearly all types of property. (The FHA has limited exceptions, and anyone with a question about whether the law applies to a property should consult an attorney.)
Discrimination by any number of people involved in housing—such as landlords, property managers, and mortgage lenders—violates the FHA. Some discriminatory acts, such as refusing to rent to people of a certain race, clearly violate the FHA. Other violations are less obvious, such as asking a potential tenant if she is pregnant or not allowing a service animal due to a “no pets” policy.
Many states, counties, and cities also have their own antidiscrimination laws. At a minimum, these laws prohibit the same types of discrimination as the FHA. Often, they prohibit even more categories of discrimination than the FHA. For example, states might outlaw discrimination having to do with sexual orientation, source of income (for example, having a housing voucher), or military status (being or having been in the military).
If you experience housing discrimination, you’ll want to first determine which law or laws apply to your situation. Even if the FHA doesn’t prohibit the type of discrimination you experienced, the law in your state, county, or city might.
Determining which laws apply to the facts of your case isn’t something you need to do on your own. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a list of federal fair housing resources as well as a list of state and local fair housing resources. Aside from the organizations HUD mentions, a few simple Internet searches for “fair housing resources” in your state, county, and city should yield a number of potential sources of assistance, possibly among them local fair housing nonprofits or clinics.
If someone has discriminated against you, consider talking with an attorney specializing in housing discrimination. Although it’s possible to do it on your own, navigating fair housing laws and government agencies can be daunting. An attorney can evaluate the facts of your case and advise you on whether you should file a complaint, along with where and how to file it. Depending on the facts, you might even be able to file more than one complaint, and an attorney can help decide if this is a good strategy. If your complaint progresses to a hearing or a lawsuit, you’ll be glad to have an attorney handling the procedural side of things and looking out for your best interests. You might also want to hire an attorney if one of your goals is to receive financial compensation (see below for more on this topic).
If you’ve decided to pursue a complaint under federal, state, or local law, the next step is to prepare and file the complaint.
Victims file federal fair housing complaints with HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). You can call FHEO directly to lodge your complaint or fill out and file a complaint form. FHEO accepts completed complaint forms online, by email, by mail, and at any of its ten regional offices.
After receiving a complaint, FHEO begins an investigation. When the investigation is complete, FHEO will either dismiss the complaint (if it doesn’t find enough evidence of discrimination) or issue a Charge of Discrimination (a report stating that discrimination might have occurred). For a step-by-step explanation of the process, read up on filing a federal fair housing complaint.
If you’ve determined you can make a complaint on the state level, you first need to figure out what agency is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints. The name of the agency might include a term like “housing” or “equal rights”—for example, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Nevada Equal Rights Commission. As fair warning, though, not all agency names are obvious. For instance, in Texas, the Texas Workforce Commission is responsible for enforcing the state’s fair housing act.
After finding the right state agency, you can contact the agency directly or visit the agency’s website to find out about how to file a complaint.
Usually a county or city agency enforces local fair housing law. For instance, Arlington County, Virginia has a housing division that enforces the county’s antidiscrimination ordinance. And Seattle offers a good example of how a major city enforces its fair housing law: Its Office for Civil Rights accepts complaints made under its Open Housing Ordinance, and the complaint and investigation procedures are very similar to the FHA’s procedures.
Even when they don’t have their own housing discrimination law or complaint procedure, smaller cities sometimes have organizations like community service programs, neighborhood resource programs, and housing information centers to provide fair housing assistance. These organizations help people make state or federal complaints.
If you have any doubts about how to file a state or local fair housing complaint, consider contacting a lawyer in your area for assistance.
Victims of housing discrimination don’t have to pursue their claims with a government agency. If you experience housing discrimination, you have the right to sue whoever discriminated against you in a state or federal court. Which court you sue in depends, of course, on the law that applies to your situation.
Housing discrimination victims can often file a private lawsuit in addition to filing a complaint with HUD or the relevant state or local agency. Because filing a private suit requires knowledge of the law, court system, and procedure, it’s a good idea to consider hiring an attorney to represent you.
People choose to file private lawsuits for many reasons. A major one is money. When federal and state governments pursue fair housing complaints, their main goal is to root out discrimination—not to seek payment for the people harmed. On the other hand, a victim’s main goal in filing a private suit is usually to receive compensation.
Other reasons victims choose to file private suits include HUD’s (or another government agency’s) dismissal of their complaint or a simple desire to pursue the claim on their own.
Whether filing a lawsuit is the right decision depends mostly on what the victim hopes to achieve. If getting compensation for having experienced discrimination is important to the victim, a private suit might be part of the right course of action.
