Commentary: Housing Discrimination Research in the 21st Century

Samantha Friedman
University at Albany, State University of New York

Housing discrimination continues to be a significant problem in America nearly a half century after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. It is estimated that, annually, 4 million people experience discrimination in the rental housing market (NFHA, 2015). A very small number of those experiencing discrimination, however, actually report it. In 2014, for example, only about 27,000 housing discrimination complaints in both the rental and sales markets were filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Justice, and other substantially equivalent fair housing agencies (NFHA, 2015).