Do you remember when you were a kid and you played dot-to-dot? You’d start connecting all the dots and you’d start to have some idea of what the figure was going to be. Eventually, after you connected enough dots, you could see the figure: “Oh, it’s a dog!”
Figuring out whether you have been discriminated against under the Fair Housing Act or California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act is a lot like dot-to-dot. So, let’s see if any of the “dots” below look familiar. Under the Fair Housing Act, it is against the law:
• For a landlord to refuse to rent to a person because of that person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability;
• For a landlord to tell you an apartment or a house is not available for rent when it actually is available for rent;
• For a real estate agent to intentionally show you homes only in certain neighborhoods, basically because they don’t want you to buy a home in another neighborhood;
• For a landlord to have different terms, conditions, or privileges for renting an apartment or a home;
• For a landlord to advertise housing to preferred groups of people only;
• For a landlord to refuse to make reasonable accommodations for persons with a disability if the accommodation may be necessary to afford such
person a reasonable and equal opportunity to use and enjoy a
dwelling;
• For a landlord to harass, coerce, intimidate, or interfere with anyone
exercising or assisting someone else with his/her fair housing
rights.
In the end, if you see some of these “dots” starting to connect together, then realize that you may be a victim of housing discrimination. Know also, however, that one “dot” can be enough to prove housing discrimination, so you don’t have to wait until all the dots are connected before calling for help.
Law Offices of Stuart E. Fagan 
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