Fair Housing Act of 1968

Legislation

By: United States Congress

Date: April 11, 1968

Source: U.S. Department of Justice. Fair Housing Act, 1968.

About the Author: The U.S. Congress is the primary law-making branch of the federal government.

INTRODUCTION

Shortly after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1960), the U.S. Congress passed Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This landmark legislation, known as the Fair Housing Act, codified the principle that access to housing should not be limited or restricted based on an individual's race, gender, religion, or country of origin.

Prior to the passage of this legislation, housing discrimination in the United States was common. Minorities seeking to rent an apartment in a primarily white building were frequently told it had already been rented; those hoping to buy a home in a mostly white neighborhood often found that the seller was not interested in an offer. Advertising for new homes frequently included language suggesting that minorities would not be allowed to purchase a lot in certain neighborhoods. In a segregated nation, housing practices such as these tended to keep housing segregated, which meant that most of the better housing was available only to whites.

Discriminatory practices were frequently employed to maintain housing segregation. Redlining is a practice in which banks refuse to offer mortgages or business loans in certain neighborhoods. Specifically, a bank might refuse to make home construction loans in an inner-city neighborhood, making it difficult or impossible for renters to build their own homes in such areas. Real estate agencies also employed redlining by arbitrarily determining that certain areas of town should not be marketed to certain clients.

The Fair Housing Act prohibited all of these practices. Developers could no longer imply that certain races would be excluded, while landlords were required to rent to tenants regardless of race. Further, any consideration of race or gender in potential real estate buying or selling transactions was proscribed, and public tools of the real estate trade, such as property listing services, were not allowed to discriminate. Ironically, federal legislation dating to 1866 was eventually ruled by the Supreme Court to prohibit most housing discrimination, though this ruling was not handed down until after the Fair Housing Act was in place.

Court challenges to the Fair Housing Act quickly arose. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that whites who were denied housing in an area due to action taken under the Fair Housing Act had legal standing to sue. Later decisions stated that the owner of a real estate agency is potentially liable for discrimination practiced by an agent in his employment and that tenant requirements must be applied equally to male and female applicants. Amendments to the Act during the 1970s and 1980s added provisions protecting individuals with physical disabilities, as well as families with children.

PRIMARY SOURCE

Sec. 801. [42 U.S.C. 3601] Declaration of Policy

It is the policy of the United States to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the United States.…

Sec. 804. [42 U.S.C. 3604] Discrimination in sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices

As made applicable by section 803 of this title and except as exempted by sections 803(b) and 807 of this title, it shall be unlawful—

1. To refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer, or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.
2. To discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.
3. To make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.
4. To represent to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale, or rental when such dwelling is in fact so available.
5. For profit, to induce or attempt to induce any person to sell or rent any dwelling by representations regarding the entry or prospective entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons of a particular race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.…

Sec. 805. [42 U.S.C. 3605] Discrimination in Residential Real Estate-Related Transactions

1. In General.—It shall be unlawful for any person or other entity whose business includes engaging in residential real estate-related transactions to discriminate against any person in making available such a transaction, or in the terms or conditions of such a transaction, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.…

Sec. 806. [42 U.S.C. 3606] Discrimination in provision of brokerage services

After December 31, 1968, it shall be unlawful to deny any person access to or membership or participation in any multiple-listing service, real estate brokers' organization or other service, organization, or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings, or to discriminate against him in the terms or conditions of such access, membership, or participation, on account of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Sec. 807. [42 U.S.C. 3607] Religious organization or private club exemption

1. Nothing in this subchapter shall prohibit a religious organization, association, or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association, or society, from limiting the sale, rental or occupancy of dwellings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to such persons, unless membership in such religion is restricted on account of race, color, or national origin. Nor shall anything in this subchapter prohibit a private club not in fact open to the public, which as an incident to its primary purpose or purposes provides lodgings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of such lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its members.
2. (1) Nothing in this title limits the applicability of any reasonable local, State, or Federal restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy a dwelling. …

Sec. 808. [42 U.S.C. 3608] Administration

1. Authority and responsibility

   The authority and responsibility for administering this Act shall be in the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

SIGNIFICANCE

In 2000, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Urban Institute conducted a massive study to assess the level of housing discrimination in American cities. The study used paired testing, in which researchers posing as potential home buyers or renters inquire about a property; for each property, both a white and a nonwhite applicant inquired, and then the results were compared. In twenty cities nationwide, researchers conducted 4,600 paired tests to assess the impact of race on housing availability. The results of these tests were then compared to a similar study conducted in 1989.

The project, called the Housing Discrimination Study (HDS2000), found that access to housing in America is more equitable than in 1989, but that inequities still exist. For example, African American renters were shown fewer available units than white renters in approximately twenty percent of cases, while Hispanics received inferior treatment in about twenty-five percent of cases. The study found that discrimination against black home buyers fell substantially, from twenty-nine percent in 1989 to seventeen percent in 2000, though the study also noted an increase in the practice of geographic steering, in which whites and blacks are shown homes in different neighborhoods.

For most Americans, the mythical American Dream begins with home ownership. For many families, home ownership provides freedom from renting, and home appreciation often serves as the cornerstone of long-term financial security. Better homes frequently bring with them faster appreciation, greater security, and higher quality schools. In almost every measurable sense, better housing raises standards of living. For this reason, the objectives of the Fair Housing Act remain valid decades after its enactment.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Schiller, Bradley R. The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2003.

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fair Housing Act Design Manual: A Manual to Assist Designers and Builders in Meeting the Accessibility Requirements of the Fair Housing Act, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1998.

Whitley, Bernard E. and Mary E. Kite. The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Publishing, 2006.

Periodicals

Liptak, Adam. "The Ads Discriminate, but Does the Web?" New York Times (March 5, 2006): 16.

Newman, Kathe and Elvin K. Wyly. "Geographies of Mortgage Market Segmentation: The Case of Essex County, New Jersey." Housing Studies 19 (2004): 53–83.

Nothaft, Frank E. and Vanessa J. Perry. "Do mortgage Rates Vary by Neighborhood? Implications for Loan Pricing and Redlining." Journal of Housing Economics 11 (2002): 244–265.

Web sites

National Fair Housing Council Online, Tennessee Fair Housing Council. "The Fair Housing Act: 35 Years of Evolution." <http://www.fairhousing.com/include/media/pdf/ 35years.pdf> (accessed May 25, 2006).

Urban Institute. "A Foot in the Door? New Evidence on Housing Discrimination." February 4, 2003. <http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900587> (accessed May 25, 2006).

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Fair Housing Laws and Presidential Executive Orders." <http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/> (accessed May 25, 2006).