HUD - Citizenship Check NOT Federal Housing Discrimination

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has stated that screening housing applicants on the basis citizenship status does not violate the Fair Housing Act (42 USC 3601+).

Below I have copied the relevant text from the HUD web site:

http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/
library/sept11.cfm

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity

Response to concerns about housing security following September 11, 2001

Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Residents in Preventing Housing Discrimination Based on Race, Religion, or National Origin in the Wake of the Events of September 11, 2001

In response to the widespread concern of future terrorist attacks, landlords and property managers throughout the country have been developing new security procedures to protect their buildings and residents. Many have educated their residents on the signs of possible terrorist activity and how to communicate security concerns to management or law enforcement. Landlords and property managers are working to keep their buildings safe, but at the same time they are responsible for making sure their efforts do not infringe on the fair housing rights of current or potential residents. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, persons who are, or are perceived to be, Muslim or of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent have reported increased discrimination and harassment, sometimes in connection with their housing. To help address this growing concern, the following is a review of federal fair housing laws and answers to some questions regarding housing discrimination that have been raised since the events of September 11, 2001.

The Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act (the Act) prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status in most housing related transactions. Further, the Act makes it unlawful to indicate any preference or limitation on these bases when advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling. The Act also prohibits harassment of anyone exercising a fair housing right and retaliation against an individual because s/he has assisted, or participated in any manner, in a fair housing investigation.

Screening and Rental Procedures
It is unlawful to screen housing applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status. In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, landlords and property managers have inquired about the legality of screening housing applicants on the basis of their citizenship status. The Act does not prohibit discrimination based solely on a person's citizenship status. Accordingly, asking housing applicants to provide documentation of their citizenship or immigration status during the screening process would not violate the Fair Housing Act. In fact, such measures have been in place for a number of years in screening applicants for federally-assisted housing. For these properties, HUD regulations define what kind of documents are considered acceptable evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status and outline the process for collecting and verifying such documents.* These procedures are uniformly applied to every applicant. Landlords who are considering implementing similar measures must make sure they are carried out in a nondiscriminatory fashion.

Example 1: A person from the Middle East who is in the United States applies for an apartment. Because the person is from the Middle East, the landlord requires the person to provide additional information and forms of identification, and refuses to rent the apartment to him. Later, a person from Europe who is in the United States applies for an apartment at the same complex. Because the person is from Europe, the landlord does not have him complete additional paperwork, does not verify the information on the application, and rents the apartment. This is disparate treatment on the basis of national origin.
Example 2: A person who is applying for an apartment mentions in the interview that he left his native country to come study in the United States. The landlord, concerned that the student's visa may expire during tenancy, asks the student for documentation to determine how long he is legally allowed to be in the United States. If the landlord requests this information, regardless of the applicant's race or specific national origin, the landlord has not violated the Fair Housing Act.
*See HUD Regulations at 24 CFR 5.506-5.512