What is housing discrimination?
Housing discrimination is when an individual or group of individuals is treated worse based on a protected characteristic like race, sex, religion, familial status, or disability.
What does housing discrimination look like?
Housing discrimination based on a legally protected characteristic could look like any of the following:
- Discrimination by refusing to rent, lease, or negotiate .
- Discrimination by lying about whether a house or unit is available.
- Discrimination by withholding or excluding unit or house accommodations.
- Discrimination by providing worse terms, conditions, privileges, or services.
- Discrimination by harassing a tenant or person connected to the unit or house.
- Discrimination by terminating or cancelling a lease or sale agreement.
- Discrimination by segregating the units or housing accommodations.
- Discrimination by advertising the unit as preferring a protected characteristic.
What protections do tenants have from housing discrimination?
Federal housing discrimination protections
On the federal level, the Fair Housing Act is the law that prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of a protected legal characteristic like race, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.
California state housing discrimination protections
On the state level, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the Unruh Civil Rights Act are the laws that prohibit housing discrimination. The FEHA expands on the Fair Housing Act by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of income, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, ancestry or genetic information. The Unruh Act further protects against medical condition, citizenship, primary language, and immigration status.
Los Angeles housing discrimination protections
The county of Los Angeles enforces similar laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of the legally protected characteristics that the federal and state laws protect. Because of this, there are local, state, and federal protections against housing discrimination.
Are there exemptions to housing discrimination protections?
While there are numerous federal exceptions to the law, there are slightly more limited exceptions in the state of California. These take precedent over the federal exceptions because the state laws are allowed to protect more. The exemptions are as follows:
- Refusal to rent in an owner-occupied single-family home, where the owner does not rent to more than one individual and the owner does not use discriminatory statements
- In the event that a preference for same-sex roommates is stated
- Housing operated by an entity that limits its members
What should a tenant do if they believe they are being discriminated against?
Tenants can file a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing or in civil court. Before taking action, tenants should contact quality tenants’ rights attorneys. This is where Tenants Law Firm is here to help. Contact us by calling (310) 432-3200 or by using this form.