Racial and Ethnic Minorities Facing Housing Discrimination

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Monica White, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

From being told about available housing, to getting in-person viewings, to simply setting up an appointment, minorities are at a disadvantage when it comes to their housing searches.

Black, Hispanic, and Asian renters and homebuyers are experiencing housing discrimination across the country, according to a new report released by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The report applies studies done in 28 metropolitan areas to examine how often and to what extent minorities face discrimination when in the market for a rental or a new home.

Black homeseekers are told about 17% fewer available housing units than white homeseekers, and shown 17.7% fewer homes. Among Asians, 15.5% fewer are told about housing units, and shown 18.8% fewer. For Hispanic renters, the rate is about 12.5% fewer and 7.5% fewer, respectively.

"Inhumane and undemocratic"

Darnell Williams, President and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, takes the report as evidence that we still have a long way to go as a nation. "I think this confirms that we're not in a post-racial society, even after the elections of President Obama," he said. "It's inhumane and undemocratic." His researchers are taking advantage of the report and studying them in order to further understand how this problem is impacting Massachusetts. "We want to be encouraged that it's not happening in our neck of the woods, but we need to let the evidence speak for itself."

Stark patterns of housing and neighborhood inequality have long been established by discrimination on the parts of private real estate agents and rental property owners. "When well-qualified minority homeseekers contact housing providers to inquire about recently advertised housing units, they generally are just as likely as equally qualified white homeseekers to get an appointment and learn about at least one available housing unit. However, when differences in treatment occur, white homeseekers are more likely to be favored than minorities," says the report.

Minorities that are seeking new homes were found to be told about and shown fewer homes and apartments than white people. Some agents and rental property owners event refuse to meet with minorities homeseekers or provide information about any available units. These forms of discrimination affect minorities by restricting their housing options and raising the costs of housing searches.

HUD's methodology

To gather its results, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development utilized a pair-testing methodology, which has two people–one white and one minority–pose as equally qualified homeseekers inquiring about available homes or apartments.

In the vast majority of cases, both testers were told about at least one available unit. However, whites were highly favored in comparison to all three minorities when it came to being told about the most available units, as well as being shown available units.

In about half of the in-person visits, the white tester was told about more available units than the other. Blacks and Hispanics were told about one fewer unit for every five in-person visits, and Asians were told about one fewer for every six. In a third of in-person visits, the white tester was shown more units than his or her counterpart, with blacks shown about one fewer unit for every 25 visits, Hispanics shown one fewer for every 14 visits, and Asians one fewer for every 13 visits.

Even the identifiability of minorities played a part in experiences of discrimination. According to the study, "black and Asian renters whose race is readily identifiable based on name and speech are significantly more likely to be denied an appointment than minorities perceived to be white." The same goes for homebuyers and those that come in for in-person visits.

Trends over time

While blatant racial discrimination have been in decline since the 1968 Fair Housing Act, other less detectable forms of discrimination persist. The report asserts that fair housing policies need to continue to adapt to address the patterns of racial disparities against minorities. Instead of relying on individual complaints of discrimination, "HUD should encourage the local fair housing organizations it funds to conduct more proactive testing," says the report. "Proactive testing can reveal discriminatory practices that would otherwise go unpunished, and when housing providers know that testing is ongoing, they are more likely to comply with the law. Another suggestions made was too strengthen relationships with the Hispanic and Asian communities, as fair housing has been predominantly focused on blacks.

Williams thinks that the Department's report shows that racial disparity has and is causing long-term damage in our society. "This is impacting our ability to live and work with one another. Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians don't want anything different than white people," he said. "They want to make a home, work, pay their taxes, raise their children, and have some money left over. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor just like anyone else. And for someone to try and lessen that based on their race–there's something wrong with that picture."