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Fair Housing Guidelines/Overview

Overview of the Fair Housing Act: Prevents housing discrimination based on race, sex, and more. Details compliant advertising practices.

John Todero avatar
Written by John Todero
Updated over a year ago

The Fair Housing Act (included in the Civil Rights Act of 1968) prohibits discrimination concerning the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on several protected categories that include the following:

  • Race/Ethnicity/Color

  • National Origin

  • Sex

    • Gender

    • Sexual Orientation

  • Religion

  • Familial Status

    • Married vs. Single

    • Children vs. No Children

  • Disability

This Act, combined with subsequent regulations, has helped establish guidelines within all housing areas, including marketing and advertising. Within the multifamily industry, it is prohibited to discriminate against any one person based on these protected characteristics. When considering digital advertising (and Google Ads, more specifically), there are a few best practices in terms of audience targeting that we all must adhere to to remain compliant:

Do’s ✅

Don’ts 🚫

  • Household Income

  • Home Ownership Status

  • Radius

  • City

  • County

  • State

  • Remarketing lists (website visitors, for example)

  • Interests, Life Events (outside of anything included in the protected categories)

  • Race

  • Gender

  • Ethnicity

  • Disability

  • Religion

  • ZIP codes

Considering these categories when crafting ad copy and headlines is also a good idea to ensure compliance with those above.

EXAMPLES of what NOT to do:

These rules of thumb should be applied throughout all advertising channels, platforms, and campaigns, including your paid and organic social efforts and website copy.

Sources:

  1. https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview

  2. https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/9997418?hl=en

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