Fair Housing, Equal Opportunity, and Nondiscrimination Policy
The WIN Project is committed to providing fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to affordable housing, housing navigation, and housing-related services.The WIN Project does not discriminate against any applicant, prospective applicant, resident, participant, household member, or person seeking housing assistance based on any characteristic protected by federal, California, or applicable local law.
Our Commitment Applies to All Housing Activities
This policy applies to every aspect of The WIN Project’s housing programs and services, including:
- Advertising, marketing, outreach, and community engagement
- Housing information, navigation, referrals, and landlord engagement
- Applications, screening, eligibility, and admissions
- Waiting lists and prioritization procedures
- Rent, security deposits, fees, and other housing-related charges
- Housing availability, unit selection, assignments, and transfers
- Rental assistance and housing subsidies
- Reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications
- Assistance-animal requests
- Accessibility and communication needs
- Rules, privileges, facilities, programs, and resident services
- Maintenance and repairs
- Lease enforcement and grievance procedures
- Terminations, nonrenewal, and evictions
Protected Characteristics
Federal fair-housing law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.
California law provides additional protections. The WIN Project prohibits discrimination based on actual or perceived protected characteristics, including, as applicable:
- Race or color
- Ancestry or national origin
- Religion or religious creed
- Sex
- Gender
- Gender Identity
- Gender Expression
- Sexual Orientation
- Marital Status
- Family Status
- Physical or mental disability
- Medical condition or genetic information
- Military or veteran status
- Source of income, including lawful rental assistance and housing subsidies
- Any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, California, or local law
The WIN Project will comply with additional protections that may apply under California or local civil-rights laws.
Source of Income and Housing Assistance
The WIN Project does not discriminate against an applicant, resident, or participant because that person receives or intends to use a lawful source of income or housing assistance.
This includes, as applicable, Housing Choice Vouchers, Section 8 assistance, VASH vouchers, public benefits, rental subsidies, security-deposit assistance, and other lawful federal, state, or local housing-assistance programs.
The WIN Project will not impose different application standards, housing terms, deposits, fees, services, or treatment because an individual uses lawful rental assistance or a housing subsidy.
Housing Navigation and Referrals
Fair-housing principles also apply to The WIN Project’s housing-navigation and referral services.
The WIN Project will provide housing information, referrals, landlord engagement, and placement assistance in a fair and consistent manner.
The WIN Project will not:
- Steer individuals toward or away from particular neighborhoods, properties, or housing opportunities because of a protected characteristic
- Withhold available housing opportunities based on a protected characteristic
- Provide materially different housing information or assistance to similarly situated participants
- Honor discriminatory preferences expressed by landlords, property owners, residents, partners, or other third parties
- Discourage individuals from applying for housing because they use rental assistance or another protected source of income
When The WIN Project refers an individual to housing owned or managed by an independent third party, the third-party housing provider is responsible for its own housing decisions. However, The WIN Project will not knowingly participate in or facilitate unlawful housing discrimination.
Reasonable Accommodations and Accessibility
The WIN Project will provide reasonable accommodations in its rules, policies, practices, procedures, and services when required to provide a person with a disability an equal opportunity to access, use, or enjoy housing or housing-related services.
The WIN Project will also address requests for reasonable modifications in accordance with applicable law.
Reasonable-accommodation requests may be made orally or in writing. An individual does not need to use any particular legal terminology to request an accommodation.
Requests will be reviewed promptly, individually, and in good faith. The WIN Project will request only information that is reasonably necessary to evaluate a request and will protect disability-related information as confidential to the extent required by law.
Reasonable accommodations may include accommodations involving assistance animals, including emotional-support animals, where required by applicable law.
Harassment, Intimidation, and Retaliation
The WIN Project prohibits discriminatory harassment, intimidation, coercion, interference, and retaliation.
No person will be penalized or treated adversely because they:
- Reported or opposed suspected housing discrimination
- Requested a reasonable accommodation or modification
- Requested assistance related to a disability
- Filed or considered filing a fair-housing complaint
- Participated in an investigation or complaint process
- Assisted another person in exercising fair-housing rights
- Contacted a government agency, attorney, advocate, or fair-housing organization
Equal Housing Opportunity, Intimidation, and Retaliation
The WIN Project is committed to providing equal housing opportunities and housing-related services without unlawful discrimination based on any characteristic protected by federal, California, or local law.
This policy applies to housing owned, operated, managed, or administered by The WIN Project, as well as housing-navigation, referral, placement, and related services provided to individuals seeking housing through third-party housing providers.