Philadelphia has become the latest city to accuse one the nation’s largest banks of deliberately pushing minority mortgage applicants into home loans that cost more than these borrowers would have received if they were white. [More]
fair housing act
Supreme Court Says Cities Can Sue Banks Over Fair Housing Violations
By 5.1.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning that cities are allowed to sue banks for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act if the city is able to show that it was harmed by a bank’s discriminatory actions. [More]
Feds Accuse Landlord Of Refusing To Rent To Families With Kids
By 3.6.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Unless you’re looking to live in a senior community or housing facility, the Fair Housing Act protects renters from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex. It also says that landlords cannot discriminate based on familial status, which is why the U.S. government is now suing a Seattle property owner accused of refusing to rent to family with children. [More]
Facebook Tweaks Its “Ethnic Affinity” Advertising Feature To Address Discrimination Concerns
By 11.11.16
After coming under fire for allowing advertisers to use race-related information to exclude entire swaths of Facebook users from seeing an ad, the social media company has decided to tweak this feature to address concerns that it could be used to illegally discriminate against people based on their perceived ethnicity. [More]
Facebook Allows Advertisers To Exclude Users Based On “Ethnic Affinity”
By 10.28.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Advertisers have always targeted their marketing to the demographic most likely to be interested in their product, but is there a difference between running an ad that you know will probably mostly be seen by people who fall into just one ethnic group and an ad that actively excludes people outside of that group? [More]
Feds Say Landlords Offered Reduced Rent For Sex, Evicted Tenants When They Refused
By 9.1.16
Tenants of homes owned by a pair of St. Louis landlords say the weren’t just subjected to inappropriate sexual comments, but that one landlord also offered to look the other way on the rent if tenants would sleep with him. When the renters refused these advances, they claim the landlords tried to throw them out on the streets. [More]
SCOTUS: You Can Sue Over Housing Discrimination Even If That Discrimination Wasn’t Intended
By 6.25.15
Housing rights groups and civil advocates were granted a win this morning by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in a 5-4 vote that people can pursue lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, that prohibits housing discrimination because of race, even when a housing law or policy isn’t motivated by an intent to discriminate. [More]
Bank Of America Caught Refusing Mortgages To Women On Maternity Leave
By 11.5.13
Compared to $40 billion-plus in penalties, settlements, adjustments, and legal fees Bank of America has already racked up because it flat-out stinks at servicing home loans, a $45,000 payment split between two couples is a molecule in a drop of water in the bucket. But this story, in which BofA decided that pregnant homeowners were too big a risk for mortgage refinancing, is a good reminder of consumers’ rights under the law and of BofA’s general incompetence. [More]
Study: Same-Sex Couples Face Bias When Seeking Info On Housing Rentals
By 6.19.13
A brand new study, the first of its kind, from the Department of Housing and Urban development found that same-sex couples aren’t getting quite a fair shake compared to heterosexual couples looking for info about rental housing advertised on the Internet. Which means that gay and lesbian couples aren’t hearing back as often to e-mail inquiries about renting an apartment. What’s more, gay couples face slightly more discrimination than lesbian couples. [More]
Report: Banks Treat Foreclosed Homes Better In Mostly White Neighborhoods
By 4.4.12
While Americans of every possible ethnic and racial group were hit by the massive foreclosures when the economy went KABOOM! a few years back, a new report claims that banks are often giving short shrift to the upkeep and marketing of foreclosed properties in areas with predominantly non-white residents. [More]
HUD Accuses Bank Of America Of Discriminating Against Disabled Homebuyers
By 2.27.12
Just when you thought people had run out of reasons to hate Bank of America, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pops in to give you a new one. Earlier today, HUD charged BofA of discriminating against homebuyers with disabilities. [More]
Landlord Refuses To Rent To Single Mother Because There's No Man "To Shovel The Snow"
By 9.9.11
A Wisconsin landlord has been sued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development after refusing to rent a property to a single mother. The landlord, who is a woman, said it was because the renter didn’t have a man “to shovel the snow.” [More]
