Which characteristic is NOT protected under the Fair Housing Act according to the material?

• A. Age
• B. Race
• C. Disability
• D. Sex

Answer: (A)

The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination in housing based on specific characteristics that society historically needed to guard against. Those protected groups include race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. The Act covers housing transactions—renting, selling, financing, advertising, and terms or conditions of housing—so times when someone is treated differently because of one of those attributes are illegal.

Age is not included in the FHA’s protected classes. If discrimination occurs because of age, it’s addressed under other laws, such as the Age Discrimination Act or state-level protections, not the Fair Housing Act. So the characteristic that isn’t protected under the FHA is age.