Key point 7-16. Federal law prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of residential property on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex. However, religious organizations are permitted to discriminate in the sale or rental of residential property in favor of persons of the same religion.
The Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968) prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of residential property on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex. However, the Act specifically exempts religious organizations from the ban on religious discrimination. The Act provides:
Nothing in this subchapter shall prohibit a religious organization, association, or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association, or society, from limiting the sale, rental or occupancy of dwellings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to such persons, unless membership in such religion is restricted on account of race, color, or national origin.226 42 U.S.C. § 3607(a).
One court explained the rationale for this exemption as follows:
When Congress considered the FHA, it recognized that the Act might impose an undue burden on various religious organizations, which, without any discriminatory animus, merely sought to provide housing for its members. Thus, Congress made it clear that these organizations could, under certain circumstances, give preference to their members, without any fear of liability under the Act.227 U.S. v. Lorantffy Care Center, 999 F.Supp. 1037 (N.D. Ohio 1998).
However, religious organizations may violate the Act if they discriminate in the sale or rental of residential property on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex.228 Id.