The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has kicked off April’s National Fair Housing Month with an announcement and a video (captioned).
The Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, and amended in 1988 to, among other things, add people with disabilities as a protected class. Designation as a “protected class” means that you cannot be discriminated against because you are a member of that group. For example, a landlord cannot refuse to rent to you because you have a disability. But the landlord can refuse to rent to you for other reasons, such as a bad rental history. The amendments to the Fair Housing Act also added requirements for minimum accessibility for new construction multi-family housing.
