Fair Housing
Title VI/Section 109 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended states that “No person in the United States shall on the grounds of race, color or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 states that “No person in the United States shall on the ground of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefit of or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity funded in whole or in part with Housing and Community Development funds.”
Federal Fair Housing Law prohibits certain types of behavior and practices related to attempting to rent an apartment, buy a house, obtain a mortgage or homeowner’s insurance. Some of these practices include:
- Refusing to negotiate with someone in a rental sales or financing transaction because of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, elderliness, familial status or disability.
- Applying one set of rental, sales or financing terms to one group of people and a different set to another group of people. For example: having one set of rental criteria for blacks and another set for whites.
- Telling a prospective renter or buyer that a dwelling has been rented or sold when, in fact, it’s still available.
- Steering renters to a specific location within a complex or steering homebuyers to a specific location within a community. For example: telling a family with children that they can only live on the first floor.
- Refusing to rent to someone because they have children (unless the complex has been certified as housing for older persons facility).
For more information contact:
Division of Grants Management
City Hall Building
810 Union Street, 5th Floor
Norfolk, VA 23510
Tel : (757) 664-4080
Fax : (757) 664-4238
