The Fair Housing Act: Prohibited Practices, Types of Claims, and Compliance Strategies

Summary

This practice note provides an overview of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), including its history, implementation, and application in different states. It also explains the FHA's intersection with other civil rights laws, summarizes the myriad of discriminatory practices and policies prohibited by the FHA, and analyzes the various legal tests applied by courts to assess both intentional and disparate impact discrimination claims. Finally, this practice note addresses specific types of discrimination that frequently serve as the basis of fair housing litigation, with an emphasis on discrimination based on disability including an in-depth analysis of reasonable accommodation and reasonable modification requests under the FHA, a summary of the most commonly requested accommodations and a road map for housing providers explaining how to properly implement fair housing policies.