Civil Rights Act of 1968

Fair Housing Act redirects here.

For the 1963 California law, see Rumford Fair Housing Act.

President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1968

Civil Rights Act of 1968
90th United States Congress
Long title:	---
Introduced by:	---
Dates
Date passed:	1968 (U.S. House of Representatives) 1968 (U.S. Senate)
Date signed into law:	April 11, 1968
Amendments:	---
Related legislation:	---

On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as CRA '68), which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While the Civil Rights Act of 1866[1] prohibited discrimination in housing, there were no federal enforcement provisions. The 1968 act expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status. It also provided protection for civil rights workers. Title Bill of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act (of 1968) .

Victims of discrimination may use both the 1968 act and the 1866 act (via section 1982) to seek redress. The 1968 act provides for federal solutions while the 1866 act provides for private solutions (i.e., civil suits).

Types of banned discrimination

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited the following forms of discrimination:

1. Refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of his race, color, religion or national origin. People with disabilities and families with children were added to the list of protected classes by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.

2. Discrimination against a person in the terms, conditions or privilege of the sale or rental of a dwelling.

3. Advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling indicating preference of discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin (and, as of 1988, people with disabilities and families with children.)

4. Coercing, threatening, intimidating, or interfering with a person's enjoyment or exercise of housing rights based on discriminatory reasons or retaliating against a person or organization that aids or encourages the exercise or enjoyment of fair housing rights.

Passage of the bill

The passage of the bill was largely spurred by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. a week before. [2] Vote statistics (Senate):

• Passed 71-20
• Democrats: 42-17 (71.2% For, 28.8% Against)
• Republicans: 29-3 (90.6% For, 9.4% Against)

House:

• Passed 250-172
• Democrats: 150-88 (63% For, 37% Against)
• Republicans: 100-84 (54.3% For, 45.6% Against)

Subsequent legislative and judicial changes

Beginning in 1980, Senator Orrin Hatch spoke in favor of rolling back provisions of the Fair Housing Act. Acting on his motion in 1988, Congress voted to weaken the ability of plaintiffs to prosecute cases of discriminatory treatment in housing. But the Fair Housing Act was also amended in 1988 to allow plaintiffs' attorneys to recover attorney's fees. Additionally, the 1988 amendment added people with disabilities and families with children to the classes covered by the Act.

in the early 1990s, in Trouillon v. City of Hawthorne, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund successfully challenged an urban renewal plan on the basis of race discrimination by bringing suit under the Fair Housing Act. Previous litigation under the Act had largely been limited to discrimination in buying or renting housing. The case was also one of the first to establish discrimination in a multi-racial context.

Discrimination Complaints

Individuals with complaints of discrimination can have HUD investigate to determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe the Fair Housing Act has been violated. A one-year STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS exists after an alleged violation for filing a complaint with HUD. HUD will notify the alleged violator of the complaint and permit that person or entity to submit an answer. HUD will try to reach an agreement through CONCILIATION, but if HUD has reasonable cause to believe that a conciliation agreement is breached, HUD will recommend that the Attorney General file suit.

State and local agencies also exist to enforce fair housing laws. HUD may refer complaints to those agencies for investigation. HUD may also authorize the attorney general to go to court to seek temporary or preliminary relief, pending the outcome of a complaint, if irreparable harm is likely to occur without HUD's intervention. If HUD finds reasonable cause to believe that discrimination occurred, the matter will go to an administrative hearing at which HUD attorneys litigate the case on behalf of the complainant. Alternately, complainants can hire an attorney. An Administrative Law Judge (ALA) will consider the EVIDENCE and if ALA decides that discrimination occurred, the respondent can be ordered to pay damages, including actual damages, and damages for humiliation, pain and suffering. The respondent may also be order to make the housing available, pay attorney's fees, and pay fines to the Federal Government.

Lawful Discrimination

Only certain kinds of discrimination are covered by fair housing laws. Landlords are not required by law to rent to any tenant who applies for a property. Landlords can select tenants based on objective business criteria, such as the applicant's ability to pay the rent and take care of the property. Landlords can lawfully discriminate against tenants with bad credit histories or low incomes, and (except in some areas) do not have to rent to tenants who will be receiving Section 8 vouchers. Landlords must be consistent in the screening, treat all tenants in the same manner, and should document any legitimate business reason for not renting to a prospective tenant. HUD has stated that buyers and renters may discriminate and may request real estate agents representing them to limit home searches to parameters that are discriminatory.<ref>letter from HUD to Jill D. Levine, Esq. dated 10-02-1996 www.reintel.com/letters.htm The primary purpose of the Fair Housing Act is to protect the buyer's (and renter's) right to seek a dwelling anywhere they choose. It protects the buyer's right to discriminate by prohibiting certain discriminatory acts by sellers, landlords, and real estate agents representing them.

External links

• FAIR HOUSING ACT
• [3]
• About Law Enforcement

See Also

• Protests of 1968