Book Description

Federal, state, and local laws make it illegal to discriminate in the provision of housing based on a person's protected class. At the federal level, the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. In CA, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits housing discrimination on the same basis as the federal law, but also makes it illegal to discriminate based on marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation and source of income. Several other laws touch on the issue of housing discrimination. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal law, prohibits discrimination in public accommodations based on disability and does not generally apply to individual apartments. However, the ADA does apply to areas of an apartment complex or housing development that are open to the public, such as a rental office. In CA, the Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination by all business establishments based upon race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, disability, marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation, source of income, age and other forms of arbitrary discrimination. The renting of houses and apartments is considered to be a public accommodation for purposes of Unruh and is therefore covered by the Act. -- from website.