Fair Housing Protections for the Jewish and Muslim Communities
On September 28, 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a press release clarifying that in addition to the Fair Housing Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of discrimination in all federally funded housing programs. The press release was part of a broad initiative across multiple Federal agencies to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. This clarification sought to address that anti-semitic and Islamophobic discrimination in housing is prohibited as discriminatory on both religious and shared ancestry grounds.
Beyond this clarification, HUD has worked this past year and beyond to receive input and provide outreach regarding housing protections available to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. This month the department will host a listening session for young adults focused on protections on the basis of religion, shared ancestry, and ethnic characteristics. Further, HUD has now made funding available to Fair Housing Initiatives Programs across the United States to provide outreach informing people of their right to housing free of discrimination and specifically tailored around protections from antisemitism and Islamophobia in housing.
On May 25, HUD distributed a memorandum to 200 federally funded housing programs on how to identify and counter antisemitism and Islamophobia. In this memorandum HUD identified some examples of potential discrimination in housing that members of the Jewish or Muslim communities may face. These include:
Refusing to rent to women who wear hijabs;
Allowing Christian tenants to put up holiday decorations (Christmas lights, Easter bunnies etc.) while refusing to allow other tenants to put up non-Christian holiday decorations;
Telling an applicant they will not like the neighborhood because there is no house of worship for their faith nearby;
Prohibiting the use of a community room for religious purposes, while allowing tenants to use them for secular gatherings.
It is important to note that the Fair Housing Act does not just protect you based upon your membership in a protected class. You are also protected from housing discrimination based on the perception of your membership in a protected class. As a result, tenants and homebuyers would potentially be protected from antisemitic or Islamophobic discrimination even if they are not themselves Jewish or Muslim. An example of this would include a housing provider denying housing to a Sikh family due to their mistaken belief that the family was Muslim.
Fair Housing protections expand beyond discrimination targeting specific tenants and applicants. Municipalities are also prohibited from engaging in policies that are discriminatory against protected groups. This includes policies that intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against Jewish and Muslim communities. In a string of recent cases out of New York and New Jersey, the New York Attorney General’s Office, HUD, and the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) have challenged municipalities who have targeted their Jewish communities with discriminatory zoning policies. These municipalities put in place zoning regulations that restricted where religious schools could operate and stopped housing construction in order to prevent members of the Hasidic community from moving to their town.
Given the recent Israel-Hamas War, there are concerns that we may see a rise in instances of antisemitism and Islamophobia. During this time, it is important to remember that there are fair housing laws in place to protect the rights of Jewish and Muslim tenants and homebuyers against discrimination in housing. If you or someone you know has faced eviction or other negative housing treatment due to their religion or ethnicity, New Hampshire Legal Assistance is here to help. Go to fairhousing-nh.org or call 1-800-921-1115.
The press release was part of a broad initiative across multiple federal agencies to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia and reiterate that discrimination in housing due to someone's ethnic characteristics, shared ancestry, or religion is illegal.