III. Consumer Protection

Because students, often first-time home buyers, confront myriad issues as they enter the housing market, they need help understanding discrimination and fair housing law, landlord/tenant rights, protection from the predatory market and fringe banking, and the abatement or containment of hazardous construction substances. The tools in this section address these topics.

By describing and paraphrasing the laws that protect potential home buyers from discriminatory housing practices and that describe the responsibilities of landlords and tenants, the following tools will aid students as they prepare to become homeowners and, in some cases, landlords.

The predatory market and fringe banking are other areas that should be brought to the attention of your students. With the tools provided, along with some of the other resources listed below, you can help your students avoid falling prey to any kind of unsavory lending practices. Other resources are available from the following organizations:

• The Fannie Mae Foundation offers a free consumer guide,
  Borrowing Basics: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You.
  The toll-free Foundation number is listed in Appendix 2,
  Fannie Mae Foundation Free Home-Buying Resources.
  
  
• Consumer Federation of America Foundation
  
  
• Consumers Union
  1666 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 310
  Washington, DC 20009
  
  
• Council of Better Business Bureaus
  4200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 800
  Arlington, VA 22203
  
  
• Federal Trade Commission
  600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
  Washington, DC 20580
  (800) FTC-HELP (382-4357)
  

As your students prepare to buy, and in some cases renovate, their new houses, they may encounter lead paint and other hazardous substances. Additional tools in this section will help your students detect hazardous substances in their new homes and take appropriate measures to abate and/or alleviate the potential harm these substances can cause.

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