Washington, DC – This Friday marks the 40th anniversary of passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, the broadest and least enforced of our nation's civil rights laws. Although more than 3.7 million people are discriminated against in housing transactions every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued only 31 charges of discrimination in 2007 and the Department of Justice filed just 35 cases.

On April 11, 1968, just days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congress passed and the President signed into law the federal Fair Housing Act, which now prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, national origin, religion, color, sex, familial status, and disability.

Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) issued its 2008 Fair Housing Trends Report, which documents how communities remain segregated and discrimination continues 40 years after this landmark civil rights legislation was passed. The report, which catalogues widespread under-enforcement of federal fair housing and lending laws, highlights the link between the lack of fair housing enforcement and our current foreclosure crisis.

 Read 2008 Fair Housing Trends