13.2.1 Covered Dwellings

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in transactions involving “dwellings.”1  “Dwelling” includes any building occupied or intended to be occupied as a residence. In addition to houses and apartments, courts have held the following to be dwellings: mobile home parks,2  trailer courts,3  condominiums,4  summer homes,5  motels providing long-term shelter to homeless,6  homes for AIDS patients,7  group homes,8  shelters and transitional housing,9  and timeshares.10  Boarding houses, dormitories, and all other facilities whose occupants remain for more than a brief period are presumably covered as “dwellings” under the Act.

• 142 U.S.C. § 3602(b).
• 2United States v. Warwick Mobile Home Estates, 537 F.2d 1148 (4th Cir. 1976).
• 3Stewart v. Furton, 774 F.2d 706 (6th Cir. 1985).
• 4Robinson v. 12 Lofts Realty, Inc., 610 F.2d 1032 (2d Cir. 1979).
• 5United States v. Columbus Country Club, 915 F.2d 877 (3d Cir. 1990).
• 6Red Bull Assocs. v. Best W. Int’l, 686 F. Supp. 447 (S.D. N.Y. 1988). But see Johnson v. Dixon, 786 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1991).
• 7Baxter v. City of Belleville, 720 F. Supp. 720 (S.D. Ill. 1989).
• 8H.R. Rep. No. 100-711, at 24 (1988).
• 9Doe v. City of Butler, 892 F. 2d 315 (3d Cir. 1989).
• 10La. ACORN Fair Hous. v. Quarter House, 952 F. Supp. 352 (E.D. La. 1997).