Social Service Workers’ Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Fair Housing Laws

The purpose of this study was to explore social service workers’ awareness, knowledge, and attitudes about fair housing in Utah. Using a fair housing awareness scale, a fair housing knowledge scale, a fair housing attitude scale, and fair housing vignettes, 195 social service workers were surveyed in Utah. Descriptive results demonstrated that although social service workers knew about fair housing laws, they did not know whom to contact for fair housing violations. In addition, while they had a basic knowledge of the Fair Housing Act provisions, they were unsure of the specifics of the Act (e.g., who was protected and how that protection worked). ANOVA results indicated that nonprofit social service workers had higher pro–fair housing opinions than social service workers in government agencies as did social service workers who work directly with clients. These results indicate that further trainings to educate social service workers about fair housing are needed. Drawing on the findings, future research should focus more on the client's perspective of the effectiveness of services received.