Worth it? Housing discrimination complaints w/HUD

January 16, 2018 12:29 AM

I've been discriminated against for rental housing. I found another place and financial harms were < 1k - don't need immediate intervention. BUT, do believe discriminatory practices should be reported. If you've filed a complaint with HUD or know the process, what should I expect? Is it worth it? Medium city in the US - Midwest. Small potatoes landlord, not major rental company.
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (3 answers total)

At a workshop I attended, a woman from HUD discussed how they investigate housing complaints. She described how a person from the protected class of which discrimination was suspected and a person not of that class would pretend to be seeking an apartment. These are people trained to work with HUD, it wouldn't be you. They both report back and someone else compares the reports.

I didn't get the impression that there was a lot of time commitment from the person who filed the initial complaint. You don't get money from it, and might not even find out what happened, but it could help others.

Some very small landlords are exempt from certain regulations, so if they fall into one of those categories you might not want to bother.

In addition to HUD, some states have additional protected classes. In my state the human rights commission would be who you would go to with a state complaint.
posted by yohko at 3:54 AM on January 16, 2018 [4 favorites]

Even small potatoes landlords have rules they have to follow. The exceptions are very very narrow. Thank you for being willing to report this.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:33 AM on January 16, 2018 [4 favorites]

Even before the current administration, HUD did things extremely slowly. That's probably the only thing that you can be sure to expect. My impression is that the quality of investigations by HUD varies widely by office and by investigator. But I hope you will file the complaint anyway. It's remarkable that we have a system where the federal government will investigate individual complaints of housing discrimination even against small potatoes landlords. To keep that system, people need to use it.

(You might also call up your local fair housing organization who probably has a better idea of how the local HUD office works or doesn't and whether there is a state option to consider. These places have different names, but googling fair housing organization cityname will probably find it.)
posted by Xalf at 7:24 AM on January 17, 2018