The question often arises whether is it okay to screen housing applicants on the basis of their citizenship status. This question seems to have come up more often in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Fair Housing Act does not prohibit discrimination based solely on a person's citizenship status. Accordingly, asking housing applicants to provide documentation of their citizenship or immigration status during the screening process would not violate the Fair Housing Act. In fact, such measures have been in place for a number of years in screening applicants for federally-assisted housing. For these properties, HUD regulations define what kind of documents are considered acceptable evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status and outline the process for collecting and verifying such documents. These procedures are uniformly applied to every applicant. Landlords who are considering implementing similar measures must make sure they are carried out in a nondiscriminatory fashion.
It is important to keep in mind that it is still unlawful to screen housing applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status, since those are protected classes under the Fair Housing Act.
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