Woman Breaks Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Code - Faces $25,000 Fine - This Can Happen to You

A Michigan woman posted a simple card on her church bulletin board requesting a Christian woman roommate for her 900 square foot pad. 


Now she is facing a $25,000 fine from  the Michigan's Department of Civil Rights because she broke HUD's fair housing code. She could have put on the card that she was a Christian, but as soon as she started requesting a certain type of roommate for her 900 square foot pad, she is breaking Fair Housing Laws.


Harold Core, the state’s Civil Rights spokesman, defended the action and said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s codes were clear: One cannot “…make, print or publish or cause to be made, printed or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference” based on religious beliefs.

Joel Oster, lead counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund – and representing the Christian woman –said that the government’s actions blatantly violated her First Amendment rights to freedom of association and asked that the complaint be immediately dismissed.

“She is not prohibited by either federal law or state law from seeking a Christian roommate,” Oster said. “Neither Title VIII of the U.S. Fair Housing (Act), (the) Civil Rights Act of 1968 nor the Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act No. 453 prevents a woman like (her)] from seeking a Christian roommate.”

The unidentified person who filed the complaint is being protected by the state. That person apparently turned over the information to the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan (FHCWM), a nonprofit “fair housing” organization, which took the matter to the state housing authorities.

According to FHCWM’s website, it trains people to “play the role of a home seeker – a person who is looking for a housing unit in which to live” – and teaches these “Testers” to file complaints of discrimination.

“Christians shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for being Christians,” Oster said. “Not content to just lock Christians and their beliefs into the four walls of their church or home, some groups also want to invade those walls and force their own ideas upon them by force of law.

Where are we headed when a church going person places an ad for people in their church on the church bulletin board seeking a roommate for their own residence?

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