According to the National Fair Housing Alliance's 2022 Fair Housing Trends Report, there were more than 31,200 fair housing complaints in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. This is the highest number of complaints in at least 25 years. The majority, 82 per cent, involved rental housing.

"Housing discrimination is pervasive in housing markets across the country," said Morgan Williams, general counsel for the NFHA." Discrimination is significantly underreported. Good data is hard to come by.

In 1968, the federal Fair Housing Act was passed, making rampant discrimination in the housing market illegal. It initially protected people based on race, colour, nationality and religion. Since then, family status, disability and gender (including sexual orientation and gender identity) have also been added as protected categories.

This is to ensure that everyone is treated equally when renting or buying a home, receiving a home loan or insurance, and having their home assessed. However, people are still being denied housing and pregnant women are being denied mortgages because of their race or sexual orientation.

The NFHA commissioned a report in 2004 that estimated that there may be more than 3 million fair housing violations against Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans in the rental and for-sale housing markets. This does not include violations against other protected groups or in other areas of the mortgage, appraisal and real estate industries. If these are added, he estimates that there are over 4 million victims of housing discrimination each year.

Much discrimination goes unreported. Many people do not realise they are victims or do not know how to file a fair housing complaint. Those who do know often face an uphill battle in proving that they are victims. And some fear they will lose their housing if they complain.

"It's a real problem in the marketplace," Williams said.

According to the NFHA report, the majority of fair housing complaints received in 2021 are disability-related. These complaints account for about 54.2 per cent. This is followed by race, family status, gender, nationality, colour and religion. The report collects complaints filed with non-profit fair housing organizations and government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"There is still a great deal of ignorance, and conscious and unconscious bias against people with different abilities," said Stephen Beard. He is a real estate agent with Keller Williams in Oakland, California, who specialises in working with people with disabilities." Some landlords and other decision makers do the bare minimum they can get away with."

Some of the problems faced by people in the disabled community include being denied rentals because of their views, not being given reasonable access to ramps, lift chairs and closer parking spaces, and landlords not allowing service animals. Sometimes light fixtures and countertops are out of reach for people in wheelchairs, or kitchens are not wide enough to accommodate chairs.

"There simply isn't enough accessible housing for people with physical disabilities, and there is a bias against people with cognitive impairments (such as autism) or mental health issues," Beard says. Many people "can't find housing. If they have housing, they sometimes cannot afford to move or make their homes accessible.

Securing housing is also often a challenge for members of protected classes. For example, families may report that their landlord has illegally prohibited their children from using the facilities in the complex. People of colour are denied mortgages or charged higher loan fees than white borrowers in similar financial situations. Transgender renters report being evicted because of their gender identity.

"Housing absolutely affects everything you do," said Marlene Zarfes, executive director of Westchester Housing Opportunities. The civil rights agency works on fair housing complaints in Westchester County, N.Y., which is located just north of New York City." If you don't have the right housing, how are you going to get to work? How are your kids going to go to school?"