HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) handles tens of thousands of housing discrimination complaints annually. The agency's enforcement priorities significantly affect how resources are allocated and which violations receive the most scrutiny.
Disability Is the Largest Category
Disability discrimination consistently represents 55-60% of all fair housing complaints — more than all other protected categories combined. Within disability complaints, assistance animal accommodation requests are the fastest-growing sub-category.
Current Enforcement Focus Areas
- Landlords who charge fees to ESA owners for accommodation processing
- Landlords who apply breed and size restrictions to ESAs
- Landlords who deny requests without engaging in the interactive process
- Property managers using third-party screening in ways that create fee barriers for ESA owners
Pattern and Practice Authority
HUD can investigate systematic violations by corporate landlords across multiple properties. Large REIT portfolios with standardized pet fee systems that violate ESA rights are prime pattern-and-practice targets. These cases result in significantly larger penalties and systemic operational changes.
Maximizing Your Complaint's Impact
- File with both HUD and your state fair housing agency simultaneously
- Reference FHEO-2020-01 specifically in your complaint narrative
- Provide thorough, organized documentation from the start
- Request conciliation for faster resolution with a refund