Escambia County’s Fair Housing Ordinance, the Florida Fair Housing Act and the Federal Fair Housing Act make it illegal for anyone to refuse to rent, sell, or make a housing loan because of the following factors:

• Race or color
• National Origin
• Religion
• Gender
• Familial status
• Disability
• Age (provided person has the capacity to contract)
• Military Status

• Marital Status

Based upon the above-listed factors (also known as “protected classes”), it is against the law to:

• Refuse to rent or sell housing.
• Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale or rental.
• Show apartments or homes in certain neighborhoods only.
• Advertise housing to preferred groups of people only.
• Refuse to provide information regarding mortgage loans, deny a mortgage loan, or impose different terms or conditions on a mortgage loan.
• Deny property insurance.
• Conduct property appraisals in a discriminatory manner.
• Refuse to make certain modifications or accommodations for persons with a mental or physical disability, including persons recovering from alcohol and substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS-related illnesses.
• Fail to design and construct housing in an accessible manner.

• Harass, coerce, intimidate, or interfere with anyone exercising or assisting others with their fair housing rights.

Additional Resources

• Escambia-Pensacola Human Relations Commission: 850-754-1500
• Florida Commission on Human Relations: 1-800-342-8170

• U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity Discrimination: 1-800-669-9777 (available in English and Spanish) or 1-800-927-9275 (TTD)

Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice

In 2012, the Escambia Consortium (Escambia County, the City of Pensacola, and Santa Rosa County) updated its Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, assessing private and public impediments to fair housing choice. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations require the Escambia Consortium to "affirmatively further fair housing" within their jurisdictions. One tool to demonstrate affirmatively furthering fair housing is the completion of an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) study. View the report here.