8. Discrimination based on family and relationship structure

Discrimination based on family or relationship structure

Discrimination based on family or relationship arrangements

Potential discrimination by professionals, lenders, city officials or neighbors based on your family or relationship arrangements is not bound to any one phase of the project. Unfortunately, relationship structure, including the number of partners, are not specifically protected at the federal level or at most state levels.

However, a growing list of municipalities, like Somerville, MA; Cambridge, MA; Oakland, CA; Berkeley, CA and others have passed ordinances banning discrimination against people for practicing polyamory or nonmonogamy or for having nontraditional family structures in various spheres, including housing and insurance. If you are interested in spearheading a campaign to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance in your locality, see our Family and Relationship Structure Non-discrimination Legislative Toolkit.

One consequence of the lack of protections for relationship structure in most places is that there are not many statistics about how often it happens. With that said, anecdotally, most of the people who’ve bought property with nontraditional families that we spoke with did not describe discrimination as being the major barrier. Lack of finances, alongside a lack of expertise with co-ownership amongst professionals, are far more likely to create obstacles.

National Protections Against Mortgage and Insurance Discrimination

The Fair Housing Act prohibits insurance companies and mortgage lenders from discriminating based on:

Race or color
Religion
Sex (including gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual harassment)
Familial status (which at the federal level is interpreted to mean “whether or not you have legal custody of children”)
National origin
Disability

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination by insurers, mortgage lenders, department stores and credit card issuers based on:

Race or color
National origin
Religion
Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation)
Marital status (which means whether or not you are married)
Age (provided the applicant has the capacity to enter a contract)
Applicant's receipt of income from a public assistance program
Applicant's exercise, in good faith, of any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

Some states also protect against discrimination based on age, ancestry, sexual orientation, children, marital status (which just means married or not), veteran status or the receipt of public assistance.

Complaints by Neighbors

Polyamory is often socially stigmatized. There’s the potential for neighbors to weaponize noise complaints, parking rules, zoning laws, or other ordinances to make complaints to the city because they disapprove of your relationship structures.

If this does happen, you should be aware that discriminatory attitudes toward polyamory could impact any legal resolution of a dispute that might arise. Places with non-discrimination ordinances protect you from discrimination by businesses and the state itself, but not by fellow residents - and even if the initial complaint is based on discriminatory animus or ill will, if you are in fact in violation of a rule, the city then enforcing the rule would likely not be considered discriminatory.

Talking to a lawyer can help you determine what options you have in your particular situation.

See How to Find the Right Lawyer in Resources. And as always, forming community connections to decrease the likelihood of complaints is a prudent course of action.

That’s it! You’ve made it through the entire co-buying timeline.

Think something’s missing?
Please email info@polyamorylegaladvocacycoalition.org.