Fair Housing for Survivors Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Fair Housing for Survivors Act makes actual or perceived status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, or a severe form of human trafficking a protected category under the Fair Housing Act. Domestic violence includes dating violence, stalking, and threatened domestic violence. Sexual assault includes threatened assault, and survivor status includes a person perceived to have experienced covered abuse or trafficking.
Housing providers may not refuse to sell or rent, alter terms, publish discriminatory advertising, misrepresent availability, or engage in other conduct prohibited by section 804 because of survivor status. The protection also reaches residential real-estate lending, brokerage services, and HUD's administration of housing programs.
The bill expands the federal criminal civil-rights provision for force, threats, and interference with housing rights. It adds coercion and survivor status to the covered conduct and imports definitions from the Violence Against Women Act and Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
A new safe harbor confirms that federal, state, local, or other assistance and preference programs may be designed specifically to help survivors secure or maintain dwellings, shelters, or other housing, including survivor-focused notices and advertisements. A savings provision preserves survivors' ability to bring other Fair Housing Act claims, including sex-stereotyping and disparate-impact claims affecting women.
Who Benefits and How
Domestic-violence, sexual-assault, stalking, dating-violence, and trafficking survivors gain direct federal housing rights even when a landlord, lender, or broker merely perceives survivor status. Survivor housing and shelter programs gain an express safe harbor. HUD, advocates, and courts gain statutory definitions and enforcement hooks.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Landlords, property managers, sellers, lenders, appraisers, brokers, and advertising platforms must update policies and avoid decisions based on survivor status. Violators face administrative, civil, and in qualifying force or threat cases criminal exposure. HUD, courts, investigators, and housing providers must distinguish legitimate safety or underwriting issues from prohibited survivor-based treatment.
Key Provisions
- Defines domestic violence to include dating violence and stalking.
- Defines sexual assault to include threatened assault.
- Protects actual and perceived survivor status.
- Prohibits survivor discrimination in housing sales and rentals.
- Prohibits survivor discrimination in housing advertising.
- Prohibits survivor discrimination in real-estate lending.
- Prohibits survivor discrimination in brokerage services.
- Expands criminal protection against force, threats, and coercion.
- Authorizes survivor-focused housing assistance and preferences.
- Preserves other sex-discrimination and disparate-impact claims.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds actual or perceived survivor status involving domestic violence, sexual assault, or severe human trafficking as a protected class throughout federal housing sales, rentals, advertising, lending, brokerage, HUD administration, and criminal interference law while preserving survivor-focused housing programs and other discrimination claims.
Key Policy Areas
Fair Housing, Domestic Violence Survivors, Sexual Assault Survivors, Human Trafficking Survivors, Housing Discrimination
Primary Purpose
Adds actual or perceived survivor status involving domestic violence, sexual assault, or severe human trafficking as a protected class throughout federal housing sales, rentals, advertising, lending, brokerage, HUD administration, and criminal interference law while preserving survivor-focused housing programs and other discrimination claims.
Policy Domains
Sections 2 and 3 findings, survivor definitions, housing and lending protections, program safe harbor, criminal enforcement, and savings clause
Identified Gains
- Domestic-violence survivors seeking housing
- Sexual-assault survivors seeking housing
- Stalking survivors seeking housing
- Dating-violence survivors seeking housing
- Human-trafficking survivors seeking housing
- People perceived to be survivors
- Survivor shelter programs
- Victim-services housing organizations
Identified Costs
- Landlords screening rental applicants
- Property managers enforcing tenancy rules
- Home sellers evaluating purchasers
- Residential mortgage lenders
- Real-estate brokers
- Housing advertising platforms
- HUD fair-housing investigators
- Federal courts hearing survivor claims
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself, Ms. Malliotakis, Ms. Adams, Ms. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Dating-violence survivors seeking housing, Domestic-violence survivors seeking housing, Human-trafficking survivors seeking housing
Positive-direction: Dating-violence survivors seeking housing, Domestic-violence survivors seeking housing, Human-trafficking survivors seeking housing, People perceived to be survivors, Sexual-assault survivors seeking housing, Stalking survivors seeking housing
Negative-direction: Landlords screening rental applicants, Property managers enforcing tenancy rules, Real-estate brokers
Survivor shelter programs, Victim-services housing organizations
Federal courts hearing survivor claims, HUD fair-housing investigators
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "broker"
- → Person providing covered housing brokerage services
- "lender"
- → Institution making a residential real-estate transaction
- "enforcer"
- → HUD or Justice official enforcing survivor protections
- "survivor"
- → Person who experienced or is perceived to have experienced covered violence or trafficking
- "housing_provider"
- → Owner or manager selling or renting a dwelling
Note: {'scope_ids': ['survivor_fair_housing_protection'], 'description': 'The bill protects both actual and perceived survivor status across Fair Housing Act transactions while expressly allowing survivor-only assistance programs; it does not erase neutral qualification rules, but providers must show that decisions are not based on covered status or abuse committed against the applicant.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A person who experienced or is perceived to have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, or a severe form of trafficking in persons.
A government or other program designed to help covered survivors seek, secure, or maintain dwellings, shelters, or other housing.
The VAWA-defined conduct, expanded to include dating violence, stalking, and threatened domestic violence.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology