The Housing Site
Illinois Fair Housing Initiative

The Housing Site

www.thehousingsite.org has been developed for the Illinois Association of REALTORS® under the guidance of the Partnership for HomeOwnership Foundation. Fair Housing laws protect the right of each home seeker to equal opportunity in the purchase, sale, rental, leasing, financing, insuring and advertising of housing. This site strives to provide a broad range of information on fair housing laws, as well as other housing information, to real estate professionals, lenders, renters, landlords, home-buyers, sellers, insurers, and appraisers to assure everyone plays by the same rules.

Public awareness of Fair Housing Laws is important to ensuring equal opportunity in housing. However, there is little documentation of the extent of this knowledge. Surely the more one knows about any law, the more one is able to comply with it or benefit from it. Disseminating information about fair housing law to persons who are unaware that much of their conduct is unlawful, could help to modify attitudes and provide a stepping stone to reduced discrimination.

The US Civil Rights Act of 1968 declared a national policy of fair housing throughout the United States. Title VIII of that federal law, as amended by Congress in 1988, prohibits discrimination based on the race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or familial status of those seeking housing. Illinois's Human Rights Act is equivalent to federal law with the addition of sexual orientation, marital status, military status, age and ancestry. Some local communities have ordinances that support, extend, regulate, or define behavior.

This site is provided by:

This site partially funded by a grant from the PMI Foundation, California, a non-profit organization established by the PMI Group, Inc.

copyright © 2008
Illinois Association of REALTORS®