Fair Housing Compliance.
You’ve likely come across the term.
You get that it’s important.
But do you truly comprehend its impact on your apartment community?
In the competitive realm of multifamily marketing, it can be easy to focus on retention, lead influx, and property management, but staying fair housing compliant is essential. Not only does it help you conduct business in an ethical and responsible manner, but adhering to the Fair Housing Act will allow you to steer clear of legal repercussions relating to discrimination.
At Brindle, we recognize the critical nature of fair housing compliance and want to straighten out the details.
Let’s start with the basics.
Understanding the Fair Housing Act
Enacted in 1968, the Fair Housing Act marked a pivotal milestone by unequivocally prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status.
This monumental legislation forced multifamily marketing strategies to evolve towards fairness, inclusivity, and compliance across a spectrum of avenues including print and online advertisements, marketing materials, television and radio ads, and even oral communication within the multifamily world.
As a result, your multifamily marketing efforts should adapt.
Here’s where you can start.
5 Tips to Ensure Your Multifamily Marketing Is Fair Housing Compliant
1. Language Matters
The language utilized in marketing materials plays a profound role in guaranteeing fair housing compliance. It’s imperative to avoid discriminatory language that serves to exclude certain groups.
When you’re creating that social post to showcase your amazing onsite playground, consider your words carefully.
❌ “With an onsite playground, these apartments are perfect for families with young children.”
Because you indicate that your apartments are perfect for families, you also imply that they are not great for single people, empty nesters, or seniors, excluding several populations.
✅ “Enjoy our onsite playground all year-long.”
Without the specification of families with young kids, your messaging can speak to a wider audience without excluding anyone.
When you write for your website, design items, social media, and more, your choice of language holds significant weight in resonating with a diverse audience.
2. Visual Representation
Effective communication of inclusivity hinges on diverse visual representation.
Ensure that your marketing materials, particularly on social media and websites, showcase individuals of various ages, religious backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities. This visual diversity communicates an open and welcoming community to everyone.
3. Targeting Responsibly
In your online marketing efforts, you’ll need to find ways to communicate with your audience in a fair and equal opportunistic manner.
Platforms like Meta have rules in place to prohibit specific demographic targeting based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or religion, so you will not be able to serve your ads to a preferred audience based on those factors. In fact, your ads will fall under a special category, “housing,” to prevent discriminatory ad delivery.
4. Add to Branding Visuals
If you’re multifamily marketing is fair housing compliant, show your audience. There are distinct icons that you can add to your website, print items, and graphics to indicate your status of compliance.
When designing various branding visuals, make sure to utilize the Equal Housing Opportunity logo (see below):
This signals your commitment to fair housing practices and convey a message of inclusivity to potential residents.
Are You Fair Housing Compliant?
By integrating these essential elements into your multifamily marketing strategy, you not only ensure fair housing compliance but also demonstrate a deep commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and ethical business practices.
Remember, fair housing compliance is more than just a legal obligation—it forms the bedrock for establishing a robust and reputable multifamily housing business. At Brindle Digital, we partner with multifamily communities to create an online presence that is not just visually appealing, but also fair housing compliant.
Get in touch with us to discover how we can help your business through professional apartment social media, apartment website design, and apartment SEO services.