Housing Discrimination Article


Fair Housing For All: It's the Law!

Housing Discrimination Still Exists

Despite a wide range of housing opportunities throughout Arizona, the doors of homes, apartments, mobile homes and condominiums are closed to many citizens because of illegal discrimination. Complaints and testing by the Fair Housing Centers in Arizona indicates that discrimination is a common practice, frequently undetected by home seekers who are unlawfully denied access to housing.

Fair Housing Laws

The U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1968 declared a national policy of fair housing throughout the United States. Title VIII of that federal law, as amended by Congress in 1988, prohibits discrimination based upon the race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or familial status (children) of those seeking housing.

In Arizona, State Fair Housing laws are equivalent to federal law. In some communities local ordinances also make it illegal to deny housing based on age, marital status or sexual orientation.

The Fair Housing laws protect the right of each home seeker to equal opportunity in the purchase, sale, rental, leasing, financing, insuring and advertising of housing.

Signs of Housing Discrimination

  • Refusing to sell, rent, or show available housing
  • Only showing housing in areas of minority concentration
  • Harassment or intimidation
  • Housing advertisement with discriminatory statements or displaying no minorities in group scenes
  • Differing terms for identical dwellings
  • Extensive questioning prior to offering or providing information about the availability of housing
  • Being told the dwelling is not appropriate for your family
  • Terms or availability change between phone contact and visit
  • You are not contacted after acceptance of your application
  • Dwelling has an available sign but you are told it is not available
  • Refusing to make a reasonable accommodation or allow a modification to make the dwelling accessible for a person with a disability
  • Refusal to finance the purchase of a home or write property insurance or offering non-standard and unfavorable terms.

If You Believe That You or Someone You Know Has Been Discriminated Against

  • Record the experiences. Write down names of individuals, companies, addresses, phone numbers, dates, times and witnesses involved.
  • Make notes of conversations or incidents that might indicate discrimination.
  • Keep copies of advertising, letters or other relevant information.
  • If you know a person of the opposite sex, or different race, etc., who received a different answer than you did, make a note of their name and address.
  • Contact a legal aid organization near you.

Comments:

On 8/23/07
Paula said
I believe i was discriminated against when i was homeless and went to the HUD housing department in Surprise and was told all they had available was The Projects,believe me when your homeless you do care where its at.

QUESTIONS

  • hi my landlords are refusing to do anew lease they are thing of selling the realtor gave us a 60 day notice but i haven,t found anything yet i still have to pay them rent and they wont fix the home where i live at
  • Can my landlord tell me I am violating my rental agreement for something that is not on the agreement?
  • VA Home loan 2003, husband lost job, We were not behind on payments yet, Wells Fargo told us to stop making payments 3 months, for modification,Took all equity out of home, added 7 years onto loan Falsified information, Says wife not on loan.VIA MAil?
  • What is a security deposit, and how much is your landlord allowed to charge you for it?
  • I am 6 months pregnant.The person renting me a room is not allowing me in the house.This happened when she moved my belongings without saying a word and when I asked for her to return them, she kept some and returned others, and I confronted her about them civilly through text because she does not allow me to get in a word.The items are low in value, it was the principle that my property is not safe.She has brought her mom over to the house who is trying to say she is not leaving. What can I do? I have scheduled to have a sheriff come to speak with us.
  • Can a landlord dictate where a child sleeps? Saying a child over 2 “needs” their own bedroom. Not only is this nickel and diming parents to pay the extra rent for more rooms it feels extremely discriminating and invasive of parental rights. Telling me where my child can and can’t sleep, basically not allowing bedsharing or trying to get families with kids to move elsewhere cause they can’t afford adding another bedroom to their budget.
  • What are, the, laws on toddler(2 ) year old noise, in their own home?
  • Can a Landlord deny a rental due to a felony arrest from 10 years ago that was dismissed in court?
  • Asked to surrender and have my photo ID withheld from me during a routine inspection of a unit for possible rental. First told was for safety reasons then told "was AZ law". Since it is not the law (?)- was this an attempt to swipe all information from DL without my permission while I was looking at the rental unit or was this an deliberate act of discrimination?
  • Is it the managers job to notice tenants if any kind of substance if being strayed around the premises. As a precautionary measure, specially those with younger kids?

STORIES

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  • State Bar of Arizona
    www.azbar.org
  • Maricopa County Bar
    www.maricopabar.org
    Referral number 602-257-4434
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    www.pimacountybar.org
    Referral number 520-623-4625
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