The purpose of our testing is to ensure that fair housing laws … Thus testing organizations have in many cases seemed free to pick and choose the information they would provide to HUD. The vast majority of testing cases filed to date are based on testing evidence that involved allegations of agents misrepresenting the availability of rental units or offering different terms and conditions based on race, and/or national origin, and/or familial status. Housing discrimination can be very subtle and difficult for ordinary home seekers to detect. The purpose of fair housing testing is to determine the likelihood that illegal housing discrimination is occurring. Fair Housing tests are conducted under FHAC’s Fair Housing program. These data, although typically insufficient to prove discrimination, do provide information that can focus a testing investigation. Please read this page carefully.
For example, HUD may (and in most cases should) attempt to resolve any conflicts in the evidence by allowing each side to address the contentions of the other side.By isolating race and ethnicity as the only “non-comparable” category, a test may provide persuasive evidence that the reason the tester was offered a unit that the black or Hispanic person was denied, or given better treatment during the application process, was because of the race or ethnicity of the complainant.All blog posts are for informational and educational purposes only. The Section employs various means to accomplish testing in local communities, including contracts with private fair housing organizations, contracts with individuals, and by using non-attorney Department employees throughout the country.
HUD provides FHAP funding annually on a noncompetitive basis to state and local agencies that administer fair housing laws that provide rights and remedies that are substantially equivalent to those provided by the Fair Housing Act. This page provides a brief overview of the tester positions currently available. Testing refers to the use of individuals who, without any bona fide intent to rent or purchase a home, apartment, or other dwelling, pose as prospective buyers or renters of real estate for the purpose of gathering information.
Fair Housing testing as a means to uncover evidence of race discrimination in rental housing or “shopping” as it is sometimes called, was first approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. The Fair Housing Act contemplates that, across the country, state and local governments will enact and enforce their own statutes and ordinances that are substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Act. Since passage of the Fair Housing Amendments Act in 1988, testing programs have expanded to include tests for both national origin and disability discrimination. Fair Housing Testing Program At the Department of Justice, the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division brings suit on behalf of the United States to enforce the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status.
Using these various means, the Section conducts numerous investigations simultaneously at any given time.Since 1992, the Department of Justice has filed 111 pattern and practice testing cases with evidence directly generated from the Fair Housing Testing Program. The Department employees are volunteers who have been trained to participate as testers. Testing is similar to mystery shopping, in that the tester plays the role of someone interested in renting or purchasing a home.
Of the 111 suits filed, 105 have been resolved thus far. 30 The Northwest Fair Housing Alliance (NWFHA), based in Spokane, Washington, has developed a fair lending enforcement program that uses HMDA data, census data, and market reports to investigate lending institutions that violate fair housing law. The Section also has responsibilities to enforce Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation's public accommodations law, and, on occasion, has tested places of public accommodation.At the Department of Justice, the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division brings suit on behalf of the United States to enforce the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. The Fair Housing Testing Program has greatly enhanced the ability of the Department to identify and to challenge the discriminatory housing practices that persist in the rental and sale of housing.An official website of the United States governmentIn 1991, the Civil Rights Division established the Fair Housing Testing Program within the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section and commenced testing in 1992. What is Fair Housing testing?
Therefore, the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) initiates fair housing testing investigations to identify, document, and eliminate systemic housing discrimination.