What is housing discrimination? Housing discrimination is always illegal and it can happen in many ways. There is intentional discrimination, in which property owners, landlords or homeowners associations try to keep certain people - including people of color, families with children and the disabled - from living where they want. For instance, if a landlord does not rent to people of color, this is housing discrimination. Or, if a real estate agent warns prospective clients that a house is in a neighborhood primarily occupied by African Americans, that too is illegal. Sometimes, a landlord, seller or real estate agent tells people of color that an advertised rental dwelling or home for sale is no longer available when it still is. The people interested in the rental are turned away with a friendly smile and a handshake, and leave without suspecting that they were victims of housing discrimination. Businesses such as mortgage companies and insurance firms may discriminate in more subtle ways. They may routinely refuse loans or insurance to prospective buyers of older homes in neighborhoods where home values are low. Often in such neighborhoods, residents and prospective buyers are minorities, and so these practices result in fewer loans or insurance policies for people of color.

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