Fair Housing / Lending News

Back in February, we reported the ongoing efforts by housing advocates and Cook County Commissioner Jesus Garcia, to amend the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance (CCHRO) to include protections for housing choice voucher holders. On May 8, 2013, the Cook County Board voted 9-6 to exclude section 8 as a non-source of income protection. The amendment will extend significant protections to section 8 recipients, minorities and people with disabilities. The new law amends the county’s human rights ordinance to effectively prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to potential tenants on the basis of their participation in the section 8 voucher program. A similar policy has been in place in the city of Chicago since 2003. Six other municipalities in Illinois, ten states, the District of Columbia, and ten counties across the country have laws in place that protect individuals from discrimination based on using housing choice vouchers. Many obstacles inhibited the prog...

There is little doubt that, most housing discrimination cases that arise under the Fair Housing Act involve racial and disability based discrimination. Other cases of discrimination such as those based on sex or gender are subtle and often rare. Yet the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says that a round of recent fair housing complaints and mortgage discrimination charges prove that sex discrimination is alive, well and on ascending. As pointed out in this blog, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against a renter or a homeowner based on race, disability, color, religion, national origin, familial status and sex. Thus, gender-based discrimination in lending practices is illegal. This includes claims for imposition of different mortgage terms, and claims for refusal to extend a loan based on the gender of the applicant or buyer. Despite these protections, investigations by HUD and the New ...