Recognizing April as Fair Housing Month, the City of Tallahassee, in partnership with the Big Bend Housing Partnership, will host the annual Housing Symposium on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, from 8:00am - 1:00pm at the Parkview at Cascades Park, located at 414 E Bloxham Street. This free event with local leaders and subject matter experts will include discussions on a wide range of topics for fair housing.
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) was designed to protect Americans from discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on color, race, national origin, and religion. The Act later extended to sex, disability, and family status. National Fair Housing Month in April increases efforts to end housing discrimination and raises awareness of fair housing rights. The month also commemorates the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement.
2024 Fair Housing Conference Schedule
- 8:00am - Continental Breakfast
- 8:30am - Opening and Greeting
- 9:00 - 10:00am - Fair Housing 101
Presenter: Dante Bonner
- Break
- 10:30 - 11:30am - The Home Buying Process: The Educator, Down Payment Assistance and Lender
Presenters: Lavelle Dorriety, Quinton Williams, Zecharias McMillian
- Break
- 11:45am - 12:45pm - Fair Housing: Realtor's Point of View
Presenters: Greg Lane, Danielle Andrews, Darrell Willis, Wallisa Cobb
- 12:45 - 1:00pm - Closing Remarks
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) was designed to protect Americans from discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on color, race, national origin, and religion. The Act later extended to sex, disability, and family status. National Fair Housing Month in April increases efforts to end housing discrimination and raises awareness of fair housing rights.
Fair Housing Facts
There are seven protected classes under the Federal Fair Housing Act. They include:
- Race
- Color
- National Origin
- Religion
- Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation)
- Familial Status
- Disability
In addition, Florida, Fla. Stat. §§ 760.20-760.60 also makes it illegal for any landlord to discriminate based on disability and familial status.
How is the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) different than the Fair Housing Act? Both Acts offer protection against discrimination. The ECOA forbid creditors to discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status age, or if applicants receive income from a public assistance program. Where the ECOA specifically protects borrowers against discrimination, the Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination in all aspects of residential real-estate related transactions (including rentals) in the seven protected classes previously listed.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the following are prohibited examples of discrimination in mortgage lending*:
- Refusal to make a mortgage loan or refinance a mortgage loan.
- Refusal to provide information regarding loans.
- Imposing different terms or conditions on a loan, such as different interest rates, points, or fees
- Refusal to purchase a loan or set different terms or conditions for purchasing a loan.
- Discrimination in providing financial assistance for purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing, or maintaining a dwelling or other financial assistance secured by residential real estate.
It is illegal for anyone to:
- Threaten, coerce, intimidate, or interfere with anyone exercising a fair housing right or assisting others who exercise that right.
- Advertise or make any statement that indicates a limitation or preference based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or handicap. This prohibition against discriminatory advertising applies to single-family and owner-occupied housing that is otherwise exempt from the Fair Housing Act.
Additional Protection if You Have a Disability
If you or someone associated with you:
- Have a physical or mental disability (including hearing, mobility and visual impairments, chronic alcoholism, chronic mental illness, AIDS, AIDS Related Complex and mental retardation) that substantially limits one or more major life activities,
- Have a record of such a disability, or
- Are regarded as having such a disability. your landlord may not:
- Refuse to let you make reasonable modifications to your dwelling or common use areas, at your expense, if necessary, for the disabled person to use the housing. (Where reasonable, the landlord may permit changes only if you agree to restore the property to its original condition when you move.)
- Refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services if necessary, for the disabled person to use the housing.
Requirements for New Buildings
In buildings that are ready for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, and have an elevator and four or more units:
- Public and common areas must be accessible to persons with disabilities,
- Doors and hallways must be wide enough for wheelchairs, and
All units must have:
- An accessible route into and through the unit,
- Accessible light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other environmental controls,
- Reinforced bathroom walls to allow later installation of grab bars, and o Kitchens and bathrooms that can be used by people in wheelchairs. If a building with four or more units has no elevator and will be ready for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, these standards apply to ground floor units.
These requirements for new buildings do not replace any more stringent standards in State or local law.
Housing Opportunities for Families
Unless a building or community qualifies as housing for older persons, it may not discriminate based on familial status. That is, it may not discriminate against families in which one or more children under age 18 live with:
- A parent,
- A person who has legal custody of the child or children, or
- The designee of the parent or legal custodian, with the parent or custodian's written permission. Familial status protection also applies to pregnant women and anyone securing legal custody of a child under 18. Exemption: Housing for older persons is exempt from the prohibition against familial status discrimination if:
- The HUD Secretary has determined that it is specifically designed for and occupied by elderly persons under a Federal, State, or local government program, or
- It is occupied solely by persons who are 62 or older, or
- It houses at least one person who is 55 or older in at least 80 percent of the occupied units and adheres to a policy that demonstrates an intent to house persons who are 55 or older.
A transition period permits residents on or before September 13, 1988, to continue living in the housing, regardless of their age, without interfering with the exemption.
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