Familial Status

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

The Fair Ho

Fair housing law expressly prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of familial status, including setting restrictive terms and conditions on residents with children under 18.

Editor's Note:  Recently came across this article.  Although it pertains to Seattle this could just as easily happen in Salem, Medford, Bend or Newport.  Make sure you know your Fair Housing Laws!!

The Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) went into effect on March 12, 1989.  That Act amended Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the sale, rental, or financing of residential housing.  The FHAA added two additional protected classes; (1) persons with disabilities and (2) families with chi

The FHAA

In 1988, Congress amended the Fair Housing Act (FHA) to prohibit not just discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin, but also included familial status discrimination. Familial status is defined as " one or more individuals (who have not attained the age of 18 years) being domiciled with ...

I recently read Ms. Pader’s Housing Occupancy Standards: Inscribing Ethnicity and Family Relations on the Land, published in the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research in the winter of 2002. Despite being more than a few years old, it is packed with – what for me – was stunning revelations about the deep and particularly contrived history of occupancy standards in the US.

There is a growing body of case law across the country in which housing providers – both landlords and condo / homeowners’ associations – have lost cases in which they’ve had two-people-per-bedroom policies. At this point, we have not seen a housing provider loose a case with a two-plus-one policy1, so long as it takes into account other factors such as the overall size of the unit.

By Jo Becker, Education/Outreach Specialist, Fair Housing Council
Serving Oregon and SW Washington

In May 2013, Connecticut complainants were awarded over $76K (before attorneys’ fees) by the courts in The U.S.A v. Hylton. This is a rental case but the ruling holds several important legal lessons for any housing provider.

By Terry R. Dowdall, Esq.