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

  • I have gotten a swing set from someone and a male care to my house saying it was theirs. Can they come onto my property and take it?
  • Can the hoa stop a renter to rent to renter who is on section 8,
  • 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?
  • My tenant lied about having a puppy. My home is a no pets home. She moved the dog in when she moved it. When we found about the dog we gave her a 10 day notice letter that she had no idea was coming. Within 18 hours she went on a website and got a letter saying that the puppy is now an emotional support dog and if we try to evict her she will sue us under Federal Housing Act. What are my protections? Add said no pets, applications said no pets, lease says no pets and she lied. Also advertised in local neighborhood website for a pet sitter. So, it wasn't an emotional support dog then
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  • I had an affair wth the man guy who wasnt running the housing authority before and I was 8 and 9 on the housing list now that he is now running the place and to do personal issues wth me he moved my housing up to 99 so I had to eventually had to leave Williams I kept all paperwork updated I was given an excuse and told on personal call I'd never get it so what can I do I feel threatened and dont know what to do and I'm on disability
  • 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?
  • Do I have to run credit on everyone that turns in an application to rent my property? What are fair reasons to deny the application without running a background? I have an applicant threatenubg to file a complaint on a violation of the fair housing act, citing race as her reason. honestly, i’m not sure what race she even is but I denied her because she stated on her application that she filed for bankruptcy in 2010. What is fair in this instance? Are there printed guidelines for landlords to follow when accepting a renter?
  • Can my landlord tell me I am violating my rental agreement for something that is not on the agreement?
  • My mother owns a 2 bedroom mobile home and my sister and 2 of her children moved in to take cate of my mother but land lord won’t except my sister staying cause they said is too many of them what is the limit for a two bedroom mobile home I was under the impression that is 2 person per bedroom??

STORIES

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FIND LEGAL HELP

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OTHER LEGAL RESOURCES

  • State Bar of Arizona
    www.azbar.org
  • Maricopa County Bar
    www.maricopabar.org
    Referral number 602-257-4434
  • Pima County Bar
    www.pimacountybar.org
    Referral number 520-623-4625
  • National Domestic Violence Hotline
    800-799-7233
  • Bankruptcy Court Self Help Center
    866-553-0893
  • Certified Legal Document Preparer Program
    Link

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