Roommates.com

You can’t write an ad that says you want to live with a female, gay person, Christian, or whatever category you might really care about. That’s illegal. The law says you may not make a public discriminatory statement about your preferences. While this may seem crazy, you do get to decide who you live with. Stick with me.

In the United States, housing sales and rentals are governed by The Fair Housing Act (FHA), a law first passed in 1968 to prevent sellers and landlords from discriminating against people based on “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18), and handicap (disability).” See more here. It’s a good law that has changed housing in this country.

It has the unintended consequence of raising the issue of whether you can discriminate about whom you live with inside a dwelling. [click to continue…]

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