Familial Status/Age

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This month, Fair Housing Coach reviews fair housing protections based on familial status. The phrase “familial status” isn’t that common in everyday life, so it’s easy to get confused over exactly what it means and whom it covers.   

This month’s lesson reviews fair housing requirements with respect to older applicants and residents. Aging isn’t a protected characteristic under federal fair housing law, but there are many ways in which communities could face fair housing problems when dealing with older applicants and residents.

This month, Fair Housing Coach reviews the law banning housing discrimination based on familial status. After disability and race, it's the third most common basis—amounting to about 20 percent—of all formal fair housing complaints, according to HUD's most recent report.

This month, Fair Housing Coach focuses on a potential source of discrimination complaints based on familial status—your occupancy standards.

This month's issue focuses on the rules that senior communities must follow to qualify as housing for “older persons” under federal fair housing law. Senior communities that comply with strict technical requirements are exempt from the general rules that protect families with children. It's essential for senior communities to understand and comply with the rules to preserve their ability to exclude or otherwise treat families with children differently than they treat other applicants.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) bans housing discrimination based on familial status. Therefore, your community may not exclude families with children under 18, unless you comply with strict rules governing senior communities.

This month, we're going to look at how to avoid fair housing trouble when dealing with single mothers with children.