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This month's issue addresses how you can get into fair housing trouble by relying on first impressions—that is, snap judgments about prospects, applicants, or residents—based on outward appearances.

This month, we are going to focus on preventing fair housing trouble based on national origin. According to the latest information available from HUD, national origin lags behind disability, race, and familial status as the basis for formal fair housing complaints. In fiscal year 2009, HUD reported that 13 percent of formal complaints were based on national origin—more than half of which (8 percent) involved Hispanic or Latino individuals.

This month, Fair Housing Coach focuses on a potential source of discrimination complaints based on familial status—your occupancy standards.

This month, we are going to discuss strategies to avoid fair housing trouble during the application process—beginning with initial contact and ending with approval or rejection of an application. Fair housing law prohibits communities from discriminating against prospects and applicants based on race and other protected characteristics. And each stage of the application process—showing units, filling out paperwork, performing credit checks, negotiating terms, and so on—has the potential to generate a fair housing complaint.

We have given you seven rules on preventing fair housing complaints during the application process. Now let's look at how the rules might apply in the real world. Take the COACH'S QUIZ to see what you have learned.

INSTRUCTIONS: Each of the following questions has only one correct answer. On a separate piece of paper, write down the number of each question, followed by the answer you think is correct—for example, 1) b, 2) a, and so on.

COACH'S TIP: The correct answers (with explanations) follow the quiz. Good luck!

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) bans housing discrimination based on familial status. Therefore, your community may not exclude families with children under 18, unless you comply with strict rules governing senior communities.

This month, we're going to look at how to avoid fair housing trouble when dealing with single mothers with children.

This month, we're going to look at how to avoid discrimination based on prospects' or residents' marital status—that is, whether they're married, separated, single, widowed, or divorced.