Celebrate Fair Housing Month! (OpenHomes is blogging away)
Celebrate Fair Housing Month!
OpenHomes looks forward to April every year, when we recognize Fair Housing Month. In 1968, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act, which helps ensure that all people can access house, free of discrimination.
Everyone deserves a safe place to live, and everyone deserves to be treated with fairness and dignity when seeking a home. The Fair Housing law protects renters, home buyers, and those seeking mortgages from discrimination because of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or familial status (i.e., kids or no kids). Unfortunately, federal law does not categorically prevent discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, but there are some circumstances in which such discrimination would be prohibited by the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Wisconsin law, happily, provides further protection for people – outlawing discrimination based on marital status, ancestry, source of income, sexual orientation, age, or status as a victim of domestic abuse/sexual abuse/stalking. Everyone who is involved in a housing transaction – a landlord, real estate agent, mortgage lender – must follow these laws or face serious penalties.
The Fair Housing Act is 47 years old, but it is still relevant and needed. HUD, the federal agency which oversees complaints, received almost 8,500 complaints of housing discrimination last year, with the most common forms of discrimination based on disability and race. OpenHomes supports robust enforcement of fair housing laws, and strict penalties for violating them, because no person should face discrimination – and especially not in finding a place to live.
At OpenHomes, we are proud to serve all kinds of people and all kinds of families, helping them sell their houses or buy their dream homes. Let us know how we can help you!
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