The Federal Fair Housing Act

The federal Fair Housing Act, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, makes it illegal to discriminate in the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on seven protected characteristics: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. It applies to nearly every step of a housing transaction, including how a property is advertised, how showings are conducted, what terms and conditions are offered, and how mortgage lending decisions are made. “Familial status” protects households with children under 18 living with a parent or legal guardian, as well as pregnant individuals, meaning a seller, landlord, or agent cannot refuse to sell or rent to a family, or apply different terms, simply because they have children. “Disability” covers physical and mental impairments and requires housing providers to allow reasonable modifications to a unit and reasonable accommodations to policies when a person with a disability needs them. These seven categories form the floor of protection nationwide; states and localities can add more, but they cannot offer less. This is general education only — anyone with a specific concern about a potential violation should consult an attorney or contact one of the enforcement agencies described below

Ohio Adds Two More Protected Classes

Ohio law, set out in Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112, incorporates the same core protections as the federal Fair Housing Act and adds two more categories on top of them: ancestry and military status. That means in Ohio, it’s unlawful to discriminate in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, familial status, ancestry, or military status — nine protected classes in total once you combine the federal and state lists together. “Military status” protects active-duty service members, veterans, and reservists from being treated differently in a housing transaction because of their service. “Ancestry” protects against discrimination based on a person’s lineage or the national origin of their parents or grandparents, which is a related but distinct concept from national origin itself. Some individual Ohio cities and counties have also adopted local fair housing ordinances that extend protections even further, covering categories like age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or source of income, so it’s worth checking whether your specific municipality has additional protected categories beyond what state and federal law require on their own.

What Discrimination Actually Looks Like in Practice

Fair housing violations aren’t limited to an outright refusal to sell to or rent to someone; the law reaches much further than that single obvious scenario. Violations also include steering buyers toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on a protected characteristic, using discriminatory language in advertising, including subtle phrases that suggest a preference or limitation without stating it outright, applying different terms, pricing, or screening standards to different applicants for the same unit, denying a reasonable accommodation request from a person with a disability, or discouraging someone from even viewing a property based on who they are rather than their genuine financial ability to buy or rent it. Agents in particular should be careful never to answer questions about a neighborhood’s racial or religious composition, or to volunteer opinions about who would or wouldn’t “fit” or feel “comfortable” in a particular area — that kind of language, even when offered casually, informally, or with genuinely good intentions, can constitute unlawful steering under both federal and Ohio law.

Reasonable Accommodations and Modifications

Under fair housing law, housing providers must allow reasonable accommodations, meaning changes to rules, policies, or services, and reasonable modifications, meaning physical changes to a unit or common area, when they’re genuinely needed by a person with a disability, unless doing so would create an undue financial or administrative burden on the provider or a fundamental change to how the housing provider operates. A common example is a landlord waiving an otherwise standard no-pets policy for a service animal or an emotional support animal, or permitting a tenant to install a grab bar in a bathroom, typically at the tenant’s own expense in a rental setting. These requests don’t require the tenant or buyer to use any specific magic phrase or cite a particular law by name, but the request does need to be clearly connected to an actual disability-related need, and housing providers generally can ask for reasonable verification when the disability or the need for the accommodation isn’t obvious

Where to Get Help or Report a Concern

If you believe you’ve experienced or witnessed housing discrimination, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, commonly known as HUD, or with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and in Ohio, housing discrimination complaints generally must be filed within one year of the incident, which is longer than the filing window that applies to most other types of discrimination claims under Ohio law. Real estate professionals should also know that their brokerage or local Realtor association can typically provide fair housing training and practical guidance on how to handle specific, uncertain situations as they come up in day-to-day practice. This article is general education, not legal advice for any particular situation — if you have a specific concern involving a potential fair housing issue, whether as a buyer, seller, tenant, landlord, or agent, consult an attorney or contact the Ohio Civil Rights Commission or HUD directly for guidance tailored to your actual circumstances

Provided by Yonas & Phillabaum Attorneys at Law

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