Fair Housing & Non Discrimination

Prince William County is obligated under various laws not to discriminate in housing or services directly or indirectly on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, familial status, or disability. In addition Prince William county must comply with civil rights-related program requirements that affect nearly every aspect of each program. HUD's non-discrimination requirements are compiled from several different federal laws designed to protect each individual's right to fair housing and equal opportunity.

As the grantee of Federal Housing and Community Development funding, Prince William County must certify to HUD's satisfaction that we (1) awarded grants will be carried out and administered according to the Fair Housing Act, and (2) will work diligently to affirmatively further fair housing. This certification to HUD is implemented through the Consolidated Plan process.

Under the Consolidated Plan, HUD funded recipients are required to:

Examine and attempt to alleviate housing discrimination within their jurisdiction;
Promote fair housing choices for all persons;
Provide opportunities for all persons to reside in any given housing development, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin;
Promote housing that is accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities; and,
Comply with the non-discrimination requirements of the Fair Housing Act.

NEW Virginia Fair Housing Law

As a result of legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, the Virginia Fair Housing Law has added discrimination on the basis of a person's “source of funds” to the list of unlawful discriminatory housing practices. "Source of funds" is defined as any source that lawfully provides funds to or on behalf of a renter or buyer of housing, including any assistance, benefit, or subsidy program, whether such program is administered by a governmental or nongovernmental entity. This new provision has implications for the HUD Housing Choice Voucher Program administered by your agency by helping to expand housing choice options for assisted households.

The provision allows an owner or owner's managing agent to deny or limit a person's rental or occupancy of a rental dwelling unit based on the person's source of funds for that unit if such source is not approved within 15 days of the person's submission of the request for tenancy approval. In order to support the timeliness of the approval process, Virginia Housing has produced two informational videos to further advance housing choice for households. This first video is entitled “Initial Lease Up Process” while the second video discusses “Best Practices for Initial Lease Up”. The link below provides access to the new videos.