Housing discrimination is illegal in Illinois the same as it is throughout the rest of the country. This includes public housing, private housing and any housing that gets federal funding. To protect tenants against this type of discrimination, the Fair Housing Act was created by the federal government. These guidelines affect not just tenants, but landlords and other organizations that work with housing.
With the Fair Housing Act, tenants are protected against housing discrimination they may deal with because of a disability, familial status, sex, religion, national origin, color and race. There are only some rare circumstances where the Act does not apply, such as building with no more than four units that are occupied by the owner. Housing operated by private clubs and religious organizations that place a limit on membership are also not help to these same standards.
According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, discrimination comes in many forms. Some of them include the following:
- Refusal to sell or rent housing
- Refuse to negotiate a price for housing
- Set different privileges, conditions or terms of a dwelling or rental
- Falsely claims that housing is available for sale, inspection or rental
- Evict a tenant’s guest or tenant
- Limit facilities, services or privileges of a housing property
If these things are done with the discriminatory categories addressed in the Fair Housing Act, the renter or landlord is in violation of the law. It is also illegal to harass a tenant, delay repairs or maintenance of appliances, discourage someone to rent or purchase a property and change the cost of rent or sale of a property based on discrimination. Organizations responsible for housing benefit from understanding the intricacies of the Fair Housing Act.