Can't You Hear Me Knockin'?

 

The following excerpted article comes to us from The Inclusion Daily Express.

The New Face Of Housing Discrimination
(Milwaukee News Buzz)
September 9, 2010
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN– [Excerpt] The topic of housing discrimination may conjure images of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, but more cases locally now involve prejudice against those with disabilities than racial bias, according to a recent report by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council. Often, the cases involve a bias against renting or selling to disabled people with animals trained to serve them.

Under state and federal laws, housing discrimination occurs when someone is denied equal opportunity to buy a home or rent an apartment. Wisconsin’s Open Housing Law, broader than the federal Fair Housing Act but lacking in teeth, many say, protects against discrimination based on sex, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, national origin, marital status, family status (such as having children), source of income or age.

The nonprofit, a branch of the statewide Fair Housing Council, serves as the primary starting point for apartment or home seekers who feel they’ve been discriminated against in this metro area. It also investigates complaints and refers them to state and federal agencies. In 2009, the Council received 126 complaints of housing discrimination from the metro area. Disability was the leading type of complaint (40), followed by race (35) and sex (19).

Disability has risen in recent years to exceed complaints related to race, Wertheim says. She expects it will again in 2010. In 2008, when the Council took 151 complaints in the metro area, race ranked first (50), followed by disability (44) and familial status (19).

Entire article:
The new face of housing discrimination
http://www.milwaukeenewsbuzz.com/?p=237330