Fair Housing:
your right to a home without discrimination.

Federal law makes it illegal to treat you differently in housing because of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status (having children in the home, being pregnant, or being a parent or guardian of a child), or disability.

California adds a longer list. Under FEHA, you are also protected based on your ancestry, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, age, genetic information, military or veteran status, primary language, immigration status, and your source of income, for example a Section 8 voucher. The list is broad on purpose, so that more people are covered, not fewer.

A lot of housing discrimination falls on families with children and on tenants who get hit with rules that single them out. Families with children are protected under "familial status." We have seen buildings market themselves as "not family friendly," which is a polite way of saying children are not welcome. We have seen a mobile-home park try to ban homeschooling, and a homeowners association ban children from playing in common areas and require an adult to supervise any child who wanted to swim.

Each of these is the kind of pattern the law treats as illegal. A rule does not have to say "no kids allowed" out loud to break the law. If it lands on children or families harder than on everyone else, it can still be discrimination.

That is the part many tenants miss. Discrimination almost never announces itself. It hides behind a polite no. A rule about noise, common-area use, play, or swimming can read as neutral and still be discriminatory in effect, because of who it targets and who it shuts out.

It can show up in quieter ways:

1. Refusing to rent to you, or saying a unit is taken when it is not.
2. Offering you worse terms than other tenants, such as a higher deposit or different rules.
3. Steering, which means pushing you toward or away from certain buildings or floors based on who you are.
4. Harassment, including unwanted comments or pressure tied to a protected trait.
5. Retaliation, meaning punishing you for asking about your rights or filing a complaint.
6. Refusing a reasonable accommodation or modification for a disability, such as a service animal, a reserved parking spot, or a grab bar.

When a court finds discrimination, it can order several kinds of relief. You may recover money damages for the harm you suffered, including out-of-pocket costs and emotional distress. A court can also order injunctive relief, which means the housing provider must stop the conduct and, in many cases, change or rescind the illegal rule.

In housing discrimination cases, the law often allows a winning tenant to recover attorney fees, so that holding a landlord accountable does not have to come out of your own pocket. We represent tenants in disputes with their landlords. If something about how you are being treated in your home does not sit right, you do not have to figure out on your own whether it crosses a line. That is what we are here for.