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Fair Housing Act of 1968 Facts

Fair Housing Act of 1968 Facts
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is actually Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Signed into law one week after Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated, the act essentially protects buyers and renters from discrimination based on any of the civil rights acts, which includes race, national origin, sex, disabilities, familial status (having children), pregnancy, and age. A 2017 court ruling added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes under the Fair Housing Act of 1968. For most of American history, housing discrimination was an accepted practice and for the most part the law in many southern states. Although in the north and west there was no Jim Crow style segregation, homeowners organizations often worked with realtors and local governments to keep neighborhoods and even entire towns segregated. Some of the most segregated towns and neighborhoods in America were in the north and west: Chicago and its suburbs, the Los Angeles area, and the New York City metropolitan region were just as segregated as the south in many ways. After World War II, civil rights activists began to challenge these housing practices by protest and bringing lawsuits. Eventually, civil rights got enough lawmakers to sympathize with their ideas, which made the Fair Housing Act of 1968 a reality.
Interesting Fair Housing Act of 1968 Facts:
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the federal agency that oversees the enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.
Within HUD, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) operates as the enforcement arm of the Fair Housing Act, employing investigators and attorneys to carry out is mandates.
In the southern states, the FHEO had to wait to carry out its mission until legal segregation was officially dismantled by the end of the 1960s.
The head of HUD is a secretary in the president's cabinet and therefore must be approved by the Senate before taking office.
HUD was established in 1965, with Robert Weaver becoming the first secretary in January 1965.
Ben Carson is the current Secretary of HUD.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was part of President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" program.
One of the programs that HUD operates is known as the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), which provides funds to state and local agencies to enforce the Fair Housing Act.
Racial discrimination was initially the only type of discrimination covered under the Fair Housing Act, but sex was added in 1974, and disabilities and familial status were added in 1988.
Although a federal judge ruled that sexual orientation and gender identity are covered under the Fair Housing Act, the Supreme Court could overrule that decision.
Although HUD is the cabinet office that overseas the majority of housing discrimination cases, the Department of Justice, which is also a cabinet department, investigate cases of repeated violations.
If violations of the Fair Housing Act are deemed to be criminal, they are then prosecuted by the Department of Justice.


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