The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is a federal law that protects people from being treated unfairly when they try to buy, rent, or get a loan for a home. Passed during the Civil Rights Movement, right after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the law made it illegal to deny housing because of a person’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or because they have children. Later updates to the law also added protection for people with disabilities.

The law works by setting rules for how homes can be advertised, sold, rented, and financed. It bans practices like refusing to rent or sell a home, charging different prices, steering families into certain neighborhoods, or denying mortgages based on a protected characteristic. The act also gives people the right to file complaints through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development  if they think they experienced discrimination. Even though the law was a major step forward, enforcement has not always been consistent, and many neighborhoods remain segregated because of older discriminatory practices and modern issues like income inequality and zoning rules.