{"id":18955,"date":"2020-09-14T08:47:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=18955"},"modified":"2026-04-16T01:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T08:04:55","slug":"buyer-housing-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-housing-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Know the Topical Terms: 3 Housing Discrimination Terms, Unpacked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people in the United States are familiar with the story of Rosa Parks<\/a>, but just in case, a refresher: Parks is a household name because she symbolized one of the many breaking points in the racial tension in the American South in the 1950s, and the blatant discrimination against her was evident. She was denied a basic right because of the color of her skin when Montgomery, Alabama, city bus driver James Blake asked her to move so that a white passenger could take her seat. This was legal in Montgomery at the time, and when Parks refused, two Montgomery police officers arrested her.<\/p>\n

Parks\u2019 story is, on the surface at least, pretty easy to understand \u2014 in fact, we teach school children about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott<\/a> because when it\u2019s boiled down to \u201cblack\u201d and \u201cwhite,\u201d it’s easy to for kids to understand. To make these topics more \u201cteachable\u201d \u2014 and more palatable to adults \u2014 we round off the edges and skip over the nuance.<\/p>\n

We do this because discrimination is a difficult and multilayered topic. Discrimination is widespread society-based subjugation based on features such as race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, or familial status. It\u2019s the invisible confluence of forces that keeps the \u201chaves\u201d and the \u201chave nots\u201d on different sides of the tracks<\/a>. And it\u2019s a very subtle yet pervasive thing \u2014 it seeps into every aspect of our lives from our schools to our jobs to our homes.<\/p>\n

Housing discrimination, in particular, influences systemic racism at multiple levels and has a number of causes and contributors, making it an especially difficult topic to parse. (This could be one big reason why we don\u2019t teach school children about it along with the Montgomery Bus Boycott.) A quick look at three widespread housing discrimination terms you should know and understand will show that the real estate industry and the law have often been at odds.<\/p>\n

When it comes to housing discrimination, a lot of thought has gone into bringing both unconscious and conscious biases to the surface. Major court decisions have helped shape both the conversation and the practical realities of housing discrimination in America, but this topic is far from exhausted. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to have a clear understanding of basic housing discrimination terms around the three most common real estate-specific discriminatory practices.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
<\/a> Source: (wavebreakmedia \/ Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is housing discrimination?<\/h2>\n

Housing discrimination is a term that describes policies that affect a person\u2019s ability to rent or buy property.<\/p>\n

Seems pretty simple, right? Well, it is and it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Although the laws that govern these policies are well-intentioned, sometimes the protections can be a little off the mark. For example, we know that ground-floor apartments are more prone to break-ins than upper-story units<\/a>. However, anti-discrimination laws prevent landlords from even suggesting<\/i> that single female tenants might not want to rent on the ground floor, even though they could feel safer upstairs.<\/p>\n

This would be an example of discrimination based on sex: Our hypothetical landlord, though trying to do the right thing, may also be discriminating against men<\/i> who may also prefer an upper-floor unit. Directing a tenant to one unit over another based on a variable such as the tenant\u2019s sex is discrimination, and it is illegal because of the protections put in place by the Fair Housing Act.<\/p>\n

This is just one example of one form of housing discrimination, which is called \u201csteering.\u201d Housing discrimination is addressed by one landmark bill: the Fair Housing Act.<\/p>\n

The Fair Housing Act<\/h2>\n

Passed into law in 1968, the Fair Housing Act<\/a> is a federal mandate against discrimination based on certain protected classes.<\/p>\n

The law states that homeowners (sellers), banks or lenders, appraisers, landlords, or other real estate professionals cannot legally do any of the following to renters, buyers, or sellers based on a protected class:<\/p>\n