Race Based Housing Discrimination

Instances of racial discrimination often involve fair housing matters. There are many examples of landlords, home sellers, real estate brokers, and lenders that have discriminated against people having different race or different national origin. If you are worried about facing race based housing discrimination, you can learn more on this page. This page will give you the knowledge to know if you face this issue, and how you can get help.

What is Racism?

Racism can be based on a person’s actual race, perceived race, multi-racial heritage, interracial relationships, multi-racial family, or their association with a particular race.

For Example: A landlord does not want to rent apartments to individuals having a different race than his own. When potential tenants of different racial backgrounds try to rent from him, he claims:

The apartment is no longer for rent.
The tenants wouldn’t be comfortable in his building because there is no one else like them.
The tenants would be better off renting from people of their own kind.

Is this legal?

NO. The landlord has engaged in highly illegal race-based discrimination.

Housing Discrimination

Some of the ways in which landlords, sellers, real estate brokers, and lenders have discriminated on the basis of race or national origin have included:

Refusing to rent apartments or to sell homes.
Having different terms and conditions for different applicants.
Claiming apartments or houses were “no longer” available.
Refusing to loan or lend mortgages, or having different lending rates.
Using either inflated or deflated property appraisals.

In each instance, the discriminatory conduct unfairly limited the minority candidate’s choices by denying them otherwise available options. This is illegal discrimination. It is against the law.

Stopping Racial Housing Discrimination

Unfortunately, this type of discrimination has existed for many years. To combat racial discrimination, our federal and state governments have passed powerful anti-discrimination laws.

If you have been unfairly discriminated against with regard to a housing matter, you should immediately report the discrimination to the appropriate state and federal agencies. You should report the incident to the State of Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO).

In addition, you should also make a formal complaint to the federal government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Both of these agencies are established to enforce fair housing laws, and they will investigate your housing discrimination complaint.

You should also consult with one of our housing discrimination attorneys. You may be able to obtain legal relief. Possible remedies include injunctive relief (a court order to enforce a change in the discriminatory practice or policy) and money damages to compensate you for the harm that you suffered.

If you need help with this process, feel free to contact my office. We are happy to help with your situation and seek justice for you.