Legal Aid of North Carolina is pleased to release its new Report “The State of Fair Housing in North Carolina 2000-2003“
Discrimination based on disability and race continued to account for the vast majority of housing discrimination complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban alleging housing discrimination in North Carolina in 2023.
In 2023, a total of 200 housing discrimination complaints were filed statewide. More than half (58.5% or 117 complaints) were filed in just five counties: Mecklenburg (39), Guilford (24), Wake (21), Durham (20), and Forsyth (13). In 40 other counties, there were between 1 and 6 complaints filed, while the remaining 50 counties in North Carolina did not have a housing discrimination complaint filed in 2023.
Just over half of the 200 complaints filed in 2023 alleged disability discrimination (103 complaints, or 51.5%). More than one third alleged race discrimination (76 complaints, or 38%). Together, complainants alleging disability or race discrimination accounted for almost 90% (or 179) of the 200 HUD complaints filed in 2023 in North Carolina. Sex discrimination accounted for 13.0% (or 26 complaints filed), familial status discrimination accounted for 10.0% (20 complaints), and national origin discrimination accounted for 9.0% (18 complaints).
Between 2000 and 2023, a total of 4,163 fair housing complaints have been filed with HUD alleging housing discrimination in North Carolina, with an average of 177.8 per year, and with a high of 255 filed in 2010 and a low of 125 filed in 2017. The most common basis of discrimination alleged in complaints during this period was race discrimination (1,750, or 40.5%), closely followed by disability (1,740, or 40.3%), national origin (730, or 16.9%), familial status (566, or 13.1%), and sex (518, or 12.0%).1
Although overall more complaints have been filed based on race discrimination than disability discrimination from 2000 – 2010, between 2011 and 2023, disability discrimination complaints have outnumbered race discrimination complaints in all but two years (2011 and 2013). As of 2023, total 2000-2023 race discrimination complaints exceed disability discrimination complaints by 10. The five counties with the most complaints filed between 2000 and 2023 were Mecklenburg (654 complaints), Durham (551), Guilford (366), Wake (315), and Forsyth (241).
Research has demonstrated the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted members of a number of protected classes, including people with disabilities and members of certain racial and national origin groups. In addition, court closures and eviction moratoria may have led to fewer fair housing complaint filings in North Carolina in 2020 (136 complaints). Complaint filings increased in 2021 (201 complaints), returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 (162 filings), and increased again in 2023 (200 filings). Complaint filings increased in 2021 (201 complaints), returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 (162 filings), and increased again in 2023 (200 filings). More complaints were filed in 2021 than in the previous 10 years. Race discrimination complaint filings were higher in 2021, 2022, and 2023, than in the 9 years prior. For the first time since 2000, disability discrimination complaints in 2021 and 2023 each exceed 100.
Studies have also shown that housing discrimination is vastly underreported and that millions of incidences of discrimination occur each year.2 Underreporting can occur for a variety of reasons, including a lack of education about fair housing rights and enforcement procedures, resources available to assist victims of discrimination, fear of retaliation, and inadequate time or resources to pursue a complaint.
