The federal Fair Housing Act is designed to protect the right of all persons to choose where they wish to live. The Fair Housing Act not only bans discrimination based on a variety of protected classes, but imposes on local governments accepting federal dollars an affirmative duty to proactively promote fair housing and to identify and overcome impediments to housing choice in their communities.

One of the Fair Housing Act's strengths is that it prohibits actions having the effect of discriminating against protected classes, even if those actions are facially neutral. Closely allied with the Fair Housing Act is the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA imposes an obligation on federally regulated lenders to ascertain and implement ways to meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate.

	Assessing Shawmut bank's record of meeting community credit needs in Boston.
	Identifying impediments to fair housing in Washington County (Oregon).
	Explaining the use of an "effects test" in proving discrimination.
	Documenting the applicability of the Fair Housing Act to competitive electric utilities.
	Explaining the use of Fair Housing principles to challenge a refusal of electric and natural gas utilities to offer residential rates and customer service protections to group homes for the disabled.
	Evaluating the applicability of qui tam actions to challenge local governments who, in the course of seeking federal funds, have made false representations about their actions to promote fair and affordable housing.