exclude or otherwise injure the prospect. In other words, all steering is illegal even when it is well intentioned. There are many fair housing cases where the housing provider was sincerely attempting to create a safer environment by suggesting that the family should live on the first floor, or away from a lagoon. The general rule is that it is up to the applicant to determine the safest location for their family, and efforts by a housing provider to encourage a wheelchair user to live only on the first floor, or to suggest that a single woman would be safer living in a different community, are illegal acts of steering and are prohibited by the Fair Housing Act. A housing provider should not participate in assisting a prospect to locate an apartment or home in an area without people of a certain protected category. Likewise, housing providers should not attempt to discourage a new resident by not offering a vacancy when one or more of the neighbors are known to be prejudice against people in the prospect’s protected category. Locations should be determined based only upon availability and any information provided by the
IT I S UP TO THE APPL I CANT TO DETERMI NE THE SAFEST LOCATI ON FOR THE I R FAMI LY.
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