Fifty-six years ago, Lyndon B Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, proclaiming that fair housing for all human beings is now part of the American way of life. But everyday reality paints a different picture as evident by the tens of thousands of fair housing complaints filed each year. And it’s only been getting worse, according to the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA).
NFHA recently released its 2024 Fair Housing Trends Report that looks at complaints from the previous year. In 2023, there were 34,150 fair housing complaints received by non-profit fair housing organizations, HUD, FHAP agencies, and the DOJ, compared to 33,007 in 2022 – a 3.5% increase. More importantly, the report noted that is the highest number of fair housing complaints recorded since NFHA began producing its Trends Report in the mid-1990s.
The majority (52.6%) of complaints filed with the agencies pertained to discrimination based on disability. Historically, that has been the case. However, researchers looked to see which category of complaints increased the most from the previous year to determine why overall complaints are surging. They found that there were 1,521 complaints of harassment reported in 2023, an increase of 66% from the previous year. That also represents the highest number of harassment complaints filled since NFHA began reporting harassment-specific data in 2006.
Complaints based on color also increased 35% year-over-year, reaching 824 complaints in total. The largest increases in those complaints originated from rental complaints (386 in 2023) and harassment complaints (97 in 2023).
Additionally, in NFHA’s first year collecting appraisal bias complaints, there were 87 filed in total and reported among FHOs, HUD, and FHAP agencies.
In 2023, there were 294 complaints of lending discrimination, a decrease from 2022’s total of 365 complaints. Private fair housing organizations reported 62% of these complaints, an increase of over 10% from their share in the previous year.
Following discriminations based on disability, the second most reported type of housing discrimination was based on race, with 5,820 complaints (17% of all complaints). Sex was the third most frequent basis of discrimination, with 2,588 complaints (7.56%). The fourth most frequent basis of discrimination was familial status, with 2,139 complaints (6.26%). The fifth most frequent basis was national origin, with 1,693 reported complaints (4.96%). Color was the basis of discrimination for 824 complaints (2.41%), and religion was the basis of 337 complaints (0.99%).
Additionally, the report noted an uptick in other complaints based on age, student status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, and victims of domestic violence. The continued increase in domestic violence complaints is especially concerning, as it doubled in size from 2020 to 2021 and has continued to rise each year since.
