The US National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has just released a report calling on Congress to put an end to “discriminatory” online housing advertisements by amending the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

The NFHA says the Act holds Internet advertising providers to a different standard than print media, and that while newspapers have been held liable for publishing advertisements with statements such as “no kids” or “couples only”, the publishers of similar online advertisements have not.

The NFHA’s report, titled “For Rent: No Kids! How Internet Advertisements Perpetuate Discrimination”, cites Craigslist as an example of a website that is not considered a publisher under current court decisions, and therefore cannot be prosecuted under the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, colour, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. The NFHA explains that because websites like Craigslist are not considered publishers, only the landlords who post the online advertisements can be held responsible.

The NFHA says more than 7,500 discriminatory advertisements were identified across the US over the past year, but that the time and resources necessary to tackle the problem on an ad-by-ad basis meant that only 1,000 complaints could be filed with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development during that time.

Shanna L. Smith, the NFHA’s president and CEO, had this to say in a statement from the organisation:

“At a time when 2 million children and their families have lost their homes to foreclosure and are desperately searching for a place to call home, these discriminatory advertisements slam the door in their face—denying them even the opportunity to apply for the apartment or home.

We must amend the Communications Decency Act so that Internet publishers are held to the same standard as newspapers under the Fair Housing Act. It is disgraceful that interactive Internet providers continue to receive a free pass to discriminate.

Every time a discriminatory housing advertisement appears online, it tells the reader that it is okay to refuse to rent to a family with a child and it turns back the progress of the Fair Housing Act. An amendment to the Communications Decency Act will rectify this injustice.”

The NFHA’s report found advertisements across all 50 states it says discriminated based on familial status, religion, disability and national origin. The report emphasised that many advertisements for larger apartments that could house families with multiple children exclude those applicants, and cited examples with statements such as: “no kids allowed”, “no children, pets ok” and “no families or anything”.