January 3, 2015
We have written a great deal in this space about FHA home loans and how they are affected by the Fair Housing Act, which governs fair lending practices connected with home loans (among many other things). The Fair Housing Act governs all housing transactions in the United States and violations of this federal law are, when reported, investigated and prosecuted accordingly.
How does the Fair Housing Act work? According to the FHA and HUD official site, “Federal law prohibits housing discrimination based on your race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.”
What doe these terms mean? Race discrimination can be fairly obvious, but questions of sex, family status or disability are often harder to define. An applicant cannot, for example, be denied a home loan or a rental unit because of being transgender, gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
A home loan applicant cannot be turned down for a mortgage loan on the basis of being pregnant, single and pregnant, divorced and pregnant, or any combination or variation of those things. You can’t be denied a mortgage loan on the basis of being on maternity leave. These are all issues that have been successfully complained about to and prosecuted by HUD.
But what is an applicant’s recourse if such discrimination is believed to have occurred? According to the FHA and HUD official site, “If you have been trying to buy or rent a home or apartment and you believe your civil rights have been violated, you can file your fair housing complaint online by clicking the Housing Discrimination Complaint button” found on this page of the official site:
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/housing_discrimination
“Your housing discrimination complaint” the site says, “will be reviewed by a fair housing specialist to determine if it alleges acts that might violate the Fair Housing Act. The specialist will contact you for any additional information needed to complete this review. If your complaint involves a possible violation of the Fair Housing Act, the specialist will assist you in filing an official housing discrimination complaint.”
Do you have questions about FHA home loans? You can ask us in the comments section. You can also follow us on Facebook.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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