6.1 Illinois Human Rights Act Additions

6.1 Illinois Human Rights Act Additions

Quick Answer: Federal Fair Housing Act classes still apply in Illinois, but the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) adds more housing protections. For leasing agents, the highest-yield add-ons are source of income (including Section 8 / Housing Choice Vouchers), ancestry, age (40+), marital status, military status, sexual orientation (including gender identity), pregnancy, order of protection status, immigration status, unfavorable military discharge, and arrest record in real estate transactions.

Federal fair housing is the floor, not the ceiling. The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability. The Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5) covers real estate transactions statewide and prohibits discrimination based on those federal classes plus additional Illinois-specific bases. On the leasing-agent exam, questions often ask which class is Illinois-only (not listed in the federal FHA seven) or whether a landlord may refuse a voucher holder.

Federal Baseline vs. Illinois Additions

Memorize the contrast. If a choice names only the federal seven, it is incomplete for Illinois practice. If a scenario involves a voucher, ancestry, marital status, or age 40+, think IHRA first.

Official Illinois Human Rights Commission materials list housing-relevant bases including ancestry; age (40+); marital status; military status; sexual orientation and gender identity; pregnancy; order of protection status; source of income (real estate); immigration status (real estate); familial status; disability; and arrest record (employment and real estate). Some IHRA categories (for example, family responsibilities or work-authorization status) are framed primarily for employment, not housing—do not invent a housing claim from an employment-only category on the exam.

Source of Income: The Leasing-Agent Hot Spot

Source of income discrimination is one of the most tested Illinois fair-housing traps for leasing agents. Effective January 1, 2023, Illinois law treats source of income as a protected class in real estate transactions. Lawful sources include wages, public assistance, and housing subsidies such as Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV / “Section 8”). A leasing agent or landlord may not refuse to rent, refuse to negotiate, impose different terms, or steer applicants because they will pay with a voucher or other lawful subsidy.

Practical examples that violate IHRA source-of-income rules:

1. Advertising “No Section 8” or “No vouchers.”
2. Telling a voucher applicant the unit is rented when it is still available to market-rate applicants.
3. Requiring higher deposits, shorter terms, or stricter credit cutoffs only for voucher holders.
4. Refusing to complete Housing Quality Standards (HQS) paperwork or PHA forms as a pretext to avoid voucher tenants.

What source-of-income protection does not mean: the owner must ignore every other lawful screening criterion. An applicant still can be denied for nondiscriminatory reasons that apply to everyone—insufficient income for the tenant’s share of rent, poor rental history under neutral criteria, or failure to meet published occupancy or credit standards applied uniformly. The illegal act is treating the voucher itself (or other lawful income source) as the reason for worse treatment.

Chicago and Cook County already had source-of-income themes before the statewide amendment; the statewide IHRA change means leasing agents outside Chicago must follow the same “no voucher refusal” rule across Illinois.

Other High-Yield Illinois Classes

Ancestry is broader than national origin. National origin focuses on the country a person (or their ancestors) came from; ancestry also covers ethnic lineage and related identity. Exam items may present a landlord who accepts “national origin” compliance but still discriminates based on ancestry stereotypes—that still violates Illinois law.

Age (40+) in housing means a provider cannot refuse to rent or impose different terms because an applicant is 40 or older. Do not confuse this with senior-housing exemptions that can lawfully limit occupancy to older adults under specific federal/state rules; those are narrow exemptions, not a license to discriminate against middle-aged or older renters in ordinary apartments.

Marital status protects single, married, divorced, and similarly situated applicants. Policies such as “married couples only” or “no divorced applicants” are classic IHRA violations.

Military status and unfavorable military discharge protect service members and veterans from housing discrimination based on those statuses. Do not use discharge characterization as a screening shortcut.

Sexual orientation under IHRA includes gender identity. Discriminatory advertising, misgendering policies used to refuse housing, or different terms based on LGBTQ+ status violate Illinois housing law.

Pregnancy is expressly protected. Denying a lease because an applicant is pregnant—or assuming a pregnant applicant will “damage” the unit or violate occupancy—is unlawful.

Order of protection status protects people who have sought or obtained an order of protection. Leasing agents must not refuse housing or retaliate because someone is a protected survivor using that legal status.

Immigration status (real estate, effective January 1, 2024) means a housing provider generally may not refuse to rent solely because of immigration or citizenship status. Pair this with careful FCRA/identity verification practice: verify identity and ability to contract under lawful, uniformly applied procedures—do not use immigration stereotypes as a stand-alone denial reason.

Arrest record in Illinois real estate transactions is a protected consideration area: do not deny housing based on an arrest alone. Convictions and local criminal-history ordinances (especially Cook County’s Just Housing Amendment) have their own rules covered in the next section.

Where Discrimination Shows Up in Leasing Work

IHRA covers the full rental lifecycle: advertising and MLS/marketing language; answering phone/email inquiries; scheduling showings; application forms and questions; screening criteria; approval/denial notices; lease clauses; security deposits and fees; maintenance response; and nonrenewal or eviction decisions when motivated by a protected basis. Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) materials emphasize that providers cannot use different application requirements, refuse vouchers, charge different rent/deposits based on protected characteristics, or retaliate against people who assert fair-housing rights.

Compliance Habits for Exam Scenarios

When a fact pattern names an Illinois-only class, pick the answer that says discrimination is unlawful under state law even if federal FHA is silent. When a broker says “we don’t take Section 8,” the correct compliance response is that Illinois source-of-income rules prohibit that policy. When local and state rules both apply, follow both; local ordinances never erase IHRA duties. Document neutral, written screening criteria and apply them consistently—exams reward agents who separate lawful credit/rental-history screening from illegal protected-class decision-making.