Fair Housing in New Orleans: What Every Landlord Needs to Know

Fair housing in New Orleans is stricter than in most of the country, and a well-meaning landlord can violate it without ever intending to discriminate. The rules are not about your intentions — they are about your consistency and your paper trail. After 40 years, I can tell you the single best protection against a fair housing complaint is treating every applicant exactly the same way, and being able to prove it.

The Protected Classes Fair Housing in New Orleans Covers

The federal Fair Housing Act protects seven classes: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Louisiana’s Equal Housing Opportunity Act mirrors those. But New Orleans goes further — the city ordinance adds protected classes beyond the federal set, which can include categories such as age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status. That means a screening practice that is legal in another state can still land you in trouble here. Because the local list is broader than most and can change, confirm the current categories with the city or a fair housing expert before you set your policy.

You Cannot Discriminate Even by Accident

Fair housing violations are usually not villains twirling a mustache. They are small, careless things: a comment about a family with kids being “a lot for the unit,” an ad that says “perfect for a single professional,” steering an applicant toward or away from a neighborhood, or applying a rule to one applicant that you waived for another. None of those require bad intent. All of them can be violations.

Fair housing is not about your intentions. It is about whether you treated every applicant the same way — and whether you can prove it.

How to Screen Everyone the Same Way

The defense is a consistent, written process applied identically to every applicant:

• Set your criteria in writing before anyone applies — income, credit, rental history, background
• Apply those exact criteria to every applicant, with no exceptions based on who they are
• Keep your questions to the property and the qualifications, never a person’s protected characteristics
• Write your ads about the unit, not the ideal tenant
• Document every application and every decision, so you can show your reasoning

That consistency is exactly what serious tenant screening is built around, and the same documentation habit protects you everywhere else — from deposits to disputes.

Where Owners Get Caught

The owners who end up in front of the Fair Housing Action Center are almost always the ones who handled screening loosely, made a verbal exception, or kept no records and had to rely on memory. I once had an applicant claim discrimination after I declined them — and the reason I was fine is that the file showed exactly why: a documented history of unpaid rent, the same standard I apply to everyone. The paper trail ended it. Assistance animals are their own fair housing minefield, which I covered separately in the guide to service and support animals.

This article is general information, not legal advice. For the current rules and real help, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center are the authorities. If you want screening handled consistently and correctly, call David directly at 504-232-1672.

David Coxe is a licensed Louisiana real estate broker and the owner of Coxe Property Management and Leasing. He has managed residential property in New Orleans and Metairie for over 40 years. This article is general information, not legal advice. Call him directly at 504-232-1672.