Civil Rights

Earlier this year, Virginia passed several exciting fair housing bills. These bills make it illegal to discriminate based on source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity, and veteran status.

In recognition of the COVID-19 crisis and to help renters defend their rights, the Equal Rights Center has launched a series of educational resources addressing some of the most relevant fair [...]

The investigation by the ERC revealed significant concerns about language barriers to COVID-19 testing information for Limited English Proficient (“LEP”) individuals in the greater Washington, [...]

The economic impact of COVID-19 has had a disproportionate effect on renters, and renters will be the ones who will likely feel the greatest impact from a rise in discriminatory practices.

The Community Reinvestment Act mandated that, wherever banks operate, they must meet the credit needs of the “entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.” Now, the Office [...]

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination in housing against people with disabilities. However, discrimination persists, and may prevent people with I/DD to secure housing in the community. 

On January 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a notice on “Assessing a Person’s Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair [...]

The proposed rule reverses many of the positive aspects of the 2015 rule and, instead of working to affirmatively further fair housing, would likely allow the further entrenchment of patterns of [...]

Despite protections in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), polling locations across the country remain inaccessible for people with disabilities.

This landlord likely spent only a few seconds sending that text message, telling me I couldn’t apply at his property because he thought I was African. Yet those few seconds have dramatically [...]