How to Ensure Your Social Media Complies with Fair Housing Laws | Resident First Focus

How is this applicable to multifamily owners and property management companies?

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in advertising. It is unlawful to produce, publish, or distribute housing ads that distinguish, limit, or deny equal access to housing because of a connection to any federally protected class. But “advertising” doesn’t just apply to conventional promotions, such as newspaper and Internet ads, banners and signs, and commercials. Social media communications are often viewed as advertisements.

Here are some pointers to help guarantee your social media accounts are utilized in a way that complies with Fair Housing Laws. 

Train everyone in Fair Housing. Before being given access to your social media accounts, each person should finish Fair Housing instruction and accept your company’s policies and procedures. Do the same for any agency or service that has access to your social media on your behalf.

Show heterogeneity in images. Consider all federal, state, and locally shielded classes. For example, show males and females, characters of various cultures, folks with disabilities, a fusion of ages, and families with and without children. Show multifariousness when using avatars, animated characters, and illustrations, too.

Use welcoming language. Social media messaging must not position your community as more or less fitting for someone based on association with a preserved class. Avoid things like phylogenetic or ethnic terms, attributions to faith, dismissals predicated on disability, and constraints based on familial state. A good rule of thumb is to represent the community, not the people. Everyone should be well received.

Designate a point person to analyze all social media posts regularly. Considerations should entail looking for words or images that victimize, limit or disallow an equal path to your community based on membership in any federally, state, or locally safeguarded group. Also, look for posts in which prospective or current residents indicate they feel they’ve been maltreated, don’t feel esteemed at your community, or feel they are being dissuaded from being a resident.

Display the Equal Housing Opportunity Logo. Always show the Equal Housing Opportunity slogan, logo, or statement on your social media pages and your website.

Make sure employees recognize that it is vital to be just as heedful of Fair Housing Laws when dispensing information and interacting with customers online as it is when sharing documentation and communicating in print and in-person. The same rules apply: they are accountable for complying with anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, no matter what form of communication they are using. To take a deeper plunge into FHEO, click here for a 20-page booklet provided by The Department of Housing and Urban Development.