Bristol Redevelopment & Housing Authority

Bristol Redevelopment & Housing Authority
 276-642-2001     web@brha.com

April is National Fair Housing Month

An upcoming training opportunity is being sponsored by the Little Ten Housing Authorities of Southwest Virginia.  We are fortunate to once again have Ms. Mally Dryden-Mason (DPOR) coming to our area to offer Fair Housing training. Mally will be here on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon.  The Fair Housing Training will be from 9 am – 12 noon. 

The training is FREE.  For more information and registration materials, please email Ms. Diana Carter, BRHA VP of Operations, at diana@brha.com. 

The month of April is National Fair Housing Month. This month is a designated time to recognize the advancements of equal housing access and to remind ourselves of the purpose of the Fair Housing Act. Enacted by Congress in 1968, the Fair Housing Act applies to housing and housing-related activities including:

  • Apartment and Home rentals
  • Mortgage Lending
  • Homeowners Insurance
  • Real Estate Sales

The Fair Housing Act was enacted to protect persons from housing-related discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, nationality, familial status (children), disability or ancestry. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), two million instances of housing discrimination are estimated to take place each year across the nation. Despite this, less than 2% of those instances are reported as many renter and homebuyers do not fully understand what activities are illegal under the Fair Housing Act.
Examples of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act include:
  • Refusal to rent or sell housing
  • Refusal to negotiate for housing
  • Making housing unavailable
  • Setting different terms, conditions or privileges for sale or rental of a property
  • Providing different housing services or facilities
  • Falsely denying housing is available for inspection, sale or rental of a property
  • Persuading owners to sell or rent their for profit
  • Denying access to or membership in a facility or service related to the sale of housing
  • Advertising or making any statement that indicates a limitation or preference based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (children), or disability. This prohibition applies to single family and owner-occupied housing that is otherwise exempt from the Fair Housing Act.
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
To learn more about the office and Fair Housing rights or to file a Fair Housing violation complaint, visit:

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp. You may also contact the Housing Discrimination Hotline via email at fheo_webmanager@hud.gov or at 1-800-669-9777 (Voice) or 1-800-927-9275 (TTY).

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