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People living with mental illness, and those with intellectual or other developmental disabilities, continue to face significant housing discrimination in the rental housing market, according to a new HUD pilot study.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) recently released its 2017 Fair Housing Trends Report: The Case for Fair Housing. Every year, NFHA collects data on housing discrimination complaints and reports on key housing issues across the United States in the prior year. This year, the NFHA says the 2017 report is more expansive, given an increased need to bring attention to the importance of the Fair Housing Act and the work that remains to be done to advance housing equity.

Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals responding to apartment ads in Greater Boston were more likely to be quoted a higher rental price, were shown fewer apartment amenities such as storage or laundry, and were less apt to be offered a financial incentive to rent, according to a recent study conducted by Suffolk University Law School’s Housing Discrimination Testing Program.

Rental housing providers tell prospects who are deaf or use wheelchairs about fewer available housing units than comparable testers who can hear and walk, according to a new study released by HUD and the Urban Institute.

The study was based on “paired testing” to compare the treatment of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, and those who are wheelchair bound, against those who can hear and not wheelchair bound. Key findings include:

In its 2015 Fair Housing Trends Report, “Where You Live Matters,” the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) emphasizes the link between fair housing and access to a quality education, transit options, health care, job opportunities, and healthy food.

Although HUD has given wide discretion to public housing authorities and federally subsidized project owners to admit low-income tenants with criminal records, many continue to deny these individuals, according to a new report by the Shriver Center. Overly restrictive policies against people with criminal records can violate civil rights laws, increase homelessness, and otherwise impede a person's chance to reintegrate into society.

One in four nonsmokers—58 million people—are still exposed to the dangerous chemicals in secondhand smoke, even though cigarette-smoking rates have dropped and smoking in public places has been banned in many states, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Equal Rights Center, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights organization, recently released the results of a 10-state investigation documenting discrimination against older same-sex couples seeking housing in senior living facilities.

Fair housing law bans even subtle forms of discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status. Most people understand that it’s illegal to blatantly refuse to rent to protected groups, yet studies show persistently high levels of more subtle forms of discrimination, particularly against African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities.

This week, HUD released the nation’s first-ever national study examining housing discrimination against same-sex couples in the private rental market. The study measured the treatment that same-sex couples received from rental agents when inquiring about apartments advertised online, as compared to how otherwise similar heterosexual couples were treated.