Academy/Fair Housing & Owner Rights
State fair-housing protections
The federal Fair Housing Act is the floor for your board, not the whole rulebook.
The federal Fair Housing Act protects seven classes: race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability. That is a floor, not a ceiling. Most states and many cities add more protected classes and can impose stricter rules, but never weaker ones. Know your own state's law, not only the federal one.
The federal floor
The Fair Housing Act names seven protected classes and its implementing regulations at 24 CFR Part 100 spell out how they apply to housing. It is the minimum every association has to meet, everywhere in the country.
"To discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling... because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin,"
Source: Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601, U.S. Congress (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
The Act adds a parallel set of protections for disability, which it calls "handicap." Together these seven are the protected classes federal law reaches. A question about a class outside this list is a state or local law question, not a federal one.
What states typically add
Most states, and many cities and counties, layer additional protected classes on top of the federal seven, such as source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age more broadly than just familial status, or veteran status. Which of these apply to your community depends entirely on your state and local statutes, so confirm the current list with your state fair housing agency or your association's counsel.
Some states also regulate HOAs specifically on top of general fair housing law, adding procedures or protections a purely federal reading would miss.
Stricter rules survive, weaker ones don't
A state or city can require more of your board than federal law does. It can never require less. If a class is protected under either federal or state law, it is protected in your community, full stop.
The same one-way rule applies to your own governing documents. A CC&R restriction, a bylaw, or a rule that predates a fair housing protection, or was simply never updated, does not survive contact with it. See Fair Housing Act basics for boards for how this hierarchy plays out day to day.
Finding your state's rules
Start with your state's fair housing statute and your state's HOA or condominium statute; many states publish both online through their civil rights or housing agency. Do not assume your CC&Rs already reflect current law, they were written once and rarely get revisited for this.
If a request or complaint touches a class or procedure you are not sure is covered, that is exactly the kind of borderline call to route to counsel before you act. See When to involve counsel.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your state's fair housing law protects source of income as a class; the federal Fair Housing Act does not list it. A resident is denied housing based on source of income. What governs?
A community's CC&Rs, recorded in 1985, contain a restriction that would violate a fair housing class recognized under current state law. What happens to the restriction?
A board wants to know which protected classes apply to its community beyond the federal seven. Where should it check first?
Sources
- Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3619, U.S. Congress (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
- Fair Housing regulations, 24 CFR Part 100, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Fair Housing & Owner Rights
Before your next accommodation request or rule change lands on the table, confirm what your own state and local fair housing law adds to the federal list.
Which classes are protected beyond the federal seven, how a complaint gets filed, and how long a resident has to file all vary by state, and sometimes by city. This lesson covers the federal floor only.