Federal Protected Classes

Together, both laws prevent discrimination based on disability, race, sex, color, national origin, religion, family status, marital status, and age. The laws prevent discrimination in the sale, rental, financing, or advertising for available housing. But there are some specific rules for each protected class.

 

Disability

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A person who has or with a history of a physical or mental impairment which significantly limits their major life activities.

If you have a disability, a landlord may not question you regarding your disability. You have a right to request a reasonable modification or reasonable accommodation that will help you have full use and enjoyment of the property. A reasonable modification or accommodation must be connected to your disability. This process may need your doctor to validate the request. A housing provider can deny the reasonable modification or accommodation if the request is too burdensome to do.

Reasonable Modification

  • A modification is a change to the rules or procedures that will help you have full use and enjoyment of the property.

    • Example: allowing your service animal in a “no pets” complex

    • Currently, a reasonable accommodation does not include the use of medical marijuana because the federal government does not recognize it as a medical treatment.

 
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Reasonable Accommodation

  • An accommodation is a physical change to an apartment or common area that will allow you to fully enjoy and use the property. You need approval before making any changes to the property. You will usually need to pay for any modifications.

    • Example installing a wheelchair ramp for your front door

 
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Family Status

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Protects families with biological, adopted, foster children, and pregnant women.

It is discrimination for a landlord or real estate agent to steer you away from a specific neighborhood or area of the complex because you have children or are an expecting mother.

  • Designated senior assisted housing can discriminate against families with children if residents are all 62 years old or 80% of residents are age 55 or above.

  • An apartment may set “occupancy limits” on how many people can live in the unit. This limit needs to be reasonable and based on consideration such as the age of the children in the home, size of home, and if the home has a den that could be used as a bedroom. Usually, two people per bedroom is a reasonable limit.

  • A complex can set rules for use of common areas that are reasonable and promote safety (all children under the age of 14 must have adult supervision to use the pool).

 

National Origin

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The nation that you or your family comes from.

A housing application may ask everyone if they are legally in the U.S., so long as the policy is consistent towards all applicants.

 

Color

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Refers to the amount of pigment in a person’s skin.

 

Sex

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Sex refers to the biological category of male and female An ad for shared living may limit applicants by their sex.

At this time, the federal Fair Housing Act does not recognize sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes.

In 2018, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission issued an interpretive guideline that “sex” should be considered to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Commission will process complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But, at this time, the Elliott-Larsen Act does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. This means that should a case of sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination go to court, it likely will not be heard by the judge and the housing provider would win. There is currently a proposed amendment to include these protections, and some county or city ordinances currently include them.

Domestic Violence

Violence Against Women Act – This is a different federal law that helps any person experiencing threats of violence, abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking by giving them extra housing rights.

  • Survivors can’t be denied access to housing assistant applications.

  • Survivors can’t be evicted or have assistance ended due to experiencing domestic violence.

If you need more information on resources or help, click here.

 

Race

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A socially created category of people based on shared physical features, culture, or ancestry.

Discrimination based on race is still the most common form of housing discrimination. In fact, some policies may violate the Fair Housing Act because they are a stand-in for racial discrimination. This is illustrated by using criminal history as a factor to screen housing applicants. Criminal history is not a protected class, but mass incarceration disproportionately effects minorities. This means, using criminal history could have a greater effect on minority applicants.

A criminal history policy must ask about convictions, not arrests. And prior convictions need to be reviewed for:

  • type of crime

  • when it happened

  • what punishment was served

  • and what the person has done since that time

 

Religion

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A sincere and meaningful belief.