Housing And Civil Enforcement Section Overview

The Housing and Civil Enforcement Section enforces: the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination in credit, Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in certain places of public accommodation, such as hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and theaters, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which prohibits local governments from adopting or enforcing land use regulations that discriminate against religious assemblies and institutions or which unjustifiably burden religious exercise, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which provides for the temporary suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings and civil protections in areas such as housing, credit and taxes for military personnel while they are on active duty, and the Housing Rights subpart of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA 2022), which provides certain housing protections for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking with respect to covered housing programs, and protects an individual’s right to seek law enforcement or emergency assistance without penalty when they are the victim or otherwise not at fault.

To learn more about the history of the Fair Housing Act and some of the significant cases brought by the Civil Rights Division, see Opening the Door: Highlights in Fair Housing Act Enforcement.

To learn more about fair housing testing and the history and accomplishments of the Department’s Fair Housing Testing Program, see The DOJ Fair Housing Testing Program:  Three Decades of Guarding Civil Rights.

To contact us:

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Housing and Civil Enforcement Section
4CON
Washington, D.C. 20530

(202) 514-4713
TTY - 202-305-1882
Fax: (202) 514-1116
Toll-free: (800) 896-7743