Housing discrimination

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Housing discrimination refers to patterns of discrimination that affect a person's ability to rent or buy housing. This disparate treatment of a person on the housing market can be based on group characteristics or on the place where a person lives. [1]

Contents

The most straightforward form of housing discrimination involves a landlord who rejects offers from potential tenants based on factors such as race, age, gender, marital status, source of funding, [2] and others. The landlord may perform the discrimination explicitly or implicitly. Housing discrimination can also occur among existing tenants, who may face detrimental treatment in comparison to others for the same reasons. Housing discrimination can lead to spatial inequality and racial segregation, which, in turn, can exacerbate wealth disparities between certain groups.

Types

Sociologists Vincent J. Roscigno, Diana L. Karafin, and Griff Tester have determined that the variety of actions that constitute housing discrimination can be classified as either exclusionary or nonexclusionary. [3]

Exclusionary

Exclusionary discrimination practices refer to practices that seek to prevent certain individuals or families from obtaining housing, based on factors of discrimination. This includes explicit refusals (which may also include harassment and verbal abuse), proactive requests for or against specific minorities in advertising, [4] as well as implicit tactics such as like lying about standards for rental qualification to disqualify certain individuals, unfair financing or loan qualifications or terms, steering or restricting the choices of people seeking homes, and refusing to provide insurance, which would prevent the individual or family from acquiring a home. [3] Consumer advocate groups conducted studies and found that many minority borrowers who were eligible for affordable, traditional loans were often steered toward incredibly high-priced subprime loans that they would never be able to repay. [5]

The majority of discriminatory actors in exclusionary discrimination are landlords and landowners, as they have the positional power and direct access to the individual or family and the housing being sought. Other discriminatory actors or institutions responsible for exclusion include real estate, insurance, and banking and lending agents and institutions. [6]

Nonexclusionary

Nonexclusionary discrimination practices refer to "actions and practices that occur within an already established housing arrangement, most often entailing racial harassment, differential treatment of tenants, or disparate application of contractual terms and conditions of residency." [3] Individuals and families already housed experience ongoing intimidation, differential treatment, and harassment, and nonexclusionary discrimination often results in distress for victims since the victim is often legally bound to the home and usually has direct contact with the perpetrator on a regular basis. Landlords and owners are still responsible for the majority of this type of housing discrimination, but neighbors and banking and lending institutions participate more. For instance, even without institutionalized exclusionary power, residential neighbors can harass and intimidate tenants. [3]

Most nonexclusionary discrimination cases involve applying discriminatory terms and conditions within the victim's current residential setting. The majority of these cases involve terms, conditions, and privileges relating to a current rental arrangement. These cases are often seen as unfairly raising the rent of a select group or allowing certain tenants privileges, like using a facility after hours or being lenient on pet policies. [3] Many nonexclusionary discrimination cases involve the failure to provide equal access to services and facilities, such as purposely delaying or completely forgoing fixing a broken pipe. More terms and conditions cases involve discriminatory financing, loans, and appraisals of the individual or family's property, which is when the discriminatory actor takes advantage of the victim financially. [3]

Other forms of nonexclusionary discrimination include the use of harassment, intimidation, and coercion toward victims. [3] This includes racial slurs and threats of violence, both of which create an uneasy environment in which the victims live. [7] These forms can cause excessive anxiety and stress for the individual or family affected. If an individual holding a position of an authority, such as the landlord, is responsible for the nonexclusionary discrimination, the victim is left with a feeling of powerlessness and lack of ability to get help. [3]

Gender discrimination

In many countries, structural discrimination in housing disadvantages men and favors women. This is typically studied by correspondence studies, where fictitious applications are sent to landlords and real-estate agents. The experimenter can then manipulate the name of the applicant to change gender or ethnicity while keeping everything else identical. In 2018, a meta-analysis of 25 correspondence studies in 15 OECD countries (totalizing over 110,000 letters) found that women are 30% more likely than men to be chosen, [8] everything else being equal. There is an interaction between sexism and racism, so that sexist discrimination in stronger against men of ethnic minorities. However, men from the dominant majority also suffer from discrimination compared to women.

Consistently, men make up the vast majority of homeless people [9] and a 2019 French study found that 90% of homeless people who die in the street are men. [10]

By country

Canada

In Ontario, housing discrimination is addressed under the Ontario Human Rights Code. [4]

United States

In the United States, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is charged with enforcing fair housing laws, based on the Fair Housing Act of 1968. [11]

A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that "the greatest share of discrimination for Hispanic and African American home seekers can still be attributed to being told units are unavailable when they are available to non-Hispanic whites and being shown and told about less units than a comparable non-minority." [12]

Turkey

In Turkey, the Human Rights and Equality Institution is charged with enforcing fair housing laws, based on the law of the same name as the institution, which published in April 2016. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discrimination</span> Prejudicial treatment based on membership in a certain group

Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, religion, physical attractiveness or sexual orientation. Discrimination typically leads to groups being unfairly treated on the basis of perceived statues based on ethnic, racial, gender or religious categories. It involves depriving members of one group of opportunities or privileges that are available to members of another group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Housing Administration</span> U.S. government agency responsible for mortgage insurance

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, established in part by the National Housing Act of 1934. Its primary function is to provide insurance for mortgages originated by private lenders for various types of properties, including single-family homes, multifamily rental properties, hospitals, and residential care facilities. FHA mortgage insurance serves to safeguard these private lenders from financial losses. In the event that a property owner defaults on their mortgage, FHA steps in to compensate the lender for the outstanding principal balance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redlining</span> Systemic denial of services to some areas

Redlining is a discriminatory practice in which services are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as "hazardous" to investment; these neighborhoods have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, and low-income residents. While the best-known examples involve denial of credit and insurance, also sometimes attributed to redlining in many instances are denial of healthcare and the development of food deserts in minority neighborhoods. In the case of retail businesses like supermarkets, the purposeful construction of stores impractically far away from targeted residents results in a redlining effect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil Rights Act of 1968</span> United States law

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots.

Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937, often called Section 8, as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of low-income households in the United States. 68% of total rental assistance in the United States goes to seniors, children, and those with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development manages Section 8 programs.

Racial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race. The term is used in the context of de facto residential segregation in the United States, and is often divided into two broad classes of conduct:

  1. Advising customers to purchase homes in particular neighborhoods on the basis of race.
  2. Failing, on the basis of race, to show, or to inform buyers of homes that meet their specifications.

Institutional discrimination is discriminatory treatment of an individual or group of individuals by society or institutions, through unequal consideration of members of subordinate groups. These unfair and indirect methods of discrimination are often embedded in an institution's policies, procedures, laws, and objectives. The discrimination can be on grounds of gender, caste, race, ethnicity, religion, or socio-economic status.

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is a consortium of American law firms in Chicago that provides legal services in civil rights cases

Mortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks, governments or other lending institutions denying loans to one or more groups of people primarily on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion.

Reitman v. Mulkey, 387 U.S. 369 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court decision that set an important legal precedent that held that a state could not authorize invidious discrimination by private landlords without entangling itself in the ensuing discriminatory private decisions. Thus, the state constitutional amendment by referendum purporting to authorize landlord freedom was unconstitutional.

An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides relief to individuals with "psychiatric disability through companionship." Emotional support animals may be any type of pet, and are not recognized as service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housing</span> Living spaces

Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing is a basic human need, and it plays a critical role in shaping the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities.

Residential segregation is the physical separation of two or more groups into different neighborhoods—a form of segregation that "sorts population groups into various neighborhood contexts and shapes the living environment at the neighborhood level". While it has traditionally been associated with racial segregation, it generally refers to the separation of populations based on some criteria.

In the United States, housing segregation is the practice of denying African Americans and other minority groups equal access to housing through the process of misinformation, denial of realty and financing services, and racial steering. Housing policy in the United States has influenced housing segregation trends throughout history. Key legislation include the National Housing Act of 1934, the G.I. Bill, and the Fair Housing Act. Factors such as socioeconomic status, spatial assimilation, and immigration contribute to perpetuating housing segregation. The effects of housing segregation include relocation, unequal living standards, and poverty. However, there have been initiatives to combat housing segregation, such as the Section 8 housing program.

Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral reasonableness. In the legal sense, these are behaviors that appear to be disturbing, upsetting or threatening. Traditional forms evolve from discriminatory grounds, and have an effect of nullifying a person's rights or impairing a person from benefiting from their rights. When these behaviors become repetitive, it is defined as bullying. The continuity or repetitiveness and the aspect of distressing, alarming or threatening may distinguish it from insult.

Housing discrimination in the United States refers to the historical and current barriers, policies, and biases that prevent equitable access to housing. Housing discrimination became more pronounced after the abolition of slavery in 1865, typically as part of Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. The federal government didn't begin to take action against these laws until 1917, when the Supreme Court struck down ordinances prohibiting blacks from occupying or owning buildings in majority-white neighborhoods in Buchanan v. Warley. However, the federal government as well as local governments continued to be directly responsible for housing discrimination through redlining and race-restricted covenants until the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Source of income discrimination describes when landlords refuse to rent to tenants using housing vouchers or other government assistance. Housing advocates argue the practice keeps vulnerable communities from accessing housing, although landlords point to lack of protections for tenants as their right to refuse service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eviction in the United States</span> Landlord removals of rental housing tenants in the North American country

Eviction in the United States refers to the pattern of tenant removal by landlords in the United States. In an eviction process, landlords forcibly remove tenants from their place of residence and reclaim the property. Landlords may decide to evict tenants who have failed to pay rent, violated lease terms, or possess an expired lease. Landlords may also choose not to renew a tenant's lease, however, this does not constitute an eviction. In the United States, eviction procedures, landlord rights, and tenant protections vary by state and locality. Historically, the United States has seen changes in domestic eviction rates during periods of major socio-political and economic turmoil—including the Great Depression, the 2008 Recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic. High eviction rates are driven by affordable housing shortages and rising housing costs. Across the United States, low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods have disproportionately higher eviction rates. Certain demographics—including low income renters, Black and Hispanic renters, women, and people with children—are also at a greater risk of eviction. Additionally, eviction filings remain on renters' public records. This can make it more difficult for renters to access future housing, since most landlords will not rent to a tenant with a history of eviction. Eviction and housing instability are also linked to many negative health and life outcomes, including homelessness, poverty, and poor mental and physical health.

A nuisance ordinance, also referred to as a crime-free ordinance or a disorderly house ordinance, is a local law usually passed on the town, city, or municipality level of government that aims to legally punish both landlords and tenants for crimes that occur on a property or in a neighborhood. These laws impose penalties under programs referred to as nuisance abatement when crimes are reported, regardless of whether crimes actually occurred or what the police action entailed. The result of these ordinances is for landlords to tell tenants to not report crimes, refuse to renew the lease of anyone involved in reporting a crime, and eviction of tenants involved in any crimes, even if the tenants were the victims of said crimes.

Affordable housing refers to housing that is considered economically accessible for individuals and families whose household income falls at or below the median income level, as evaluated by either national or local government authorities through an officially recognized housing affordability index. In the United States, the widely accepted standard for identifying households with extremely low incomes is either income at or below the federal poverty guideline or 30% of the area median income (AMI), whichever is higher.

References

  1. ↑ Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 351.
  2. ↑ "A pervasive form of housing discrimination that's still legal". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Roscigno, Vincent J., Diana L. Karafin, and Griff Tester, 2009 “The Complexities and Processes of Racial Housing Discrimination,” Social Problems, Vol. 56, No. 1. University of California Press. pp.49-69.
  4. 1 2 Boesveld, Sarah (2011-10-06). "Landlords face no punishment for discrimination in online ads". National Post. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  5. ↑ "Fair Lending and Accountability" New York Times, September 7, 2011.
  6. ↑ South, S. J., & Crowder, K. D. (1998). Housing discrimination and residential mobility: Impacts for blacks and whites. Population Research and Policy Review, 17(4), 369-369-387.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2019-03-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ Flage, Alexandre (2018-09-01). "Ethnic and gender discrimination in the rental housing market: Evidence from a meta-analysis of correspondence tests, 2006–2017" (PDF). Journal of Housing Economics. 41: 251–273. doi:10.1016/j.jhe.2018.07.003. ISSN   1051-1377. S2CID   158093957 . Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  9. ↑ "The 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness" (PDF): 100.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ↑ Collectif des Morts de la Rue (2019). "Mortalité des personnes sans domicile: enquête dénombrer et décrire" (PDF).{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ↑ "About FHEO". hud.gov. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  12. ↑ "Discrimination in Metropolitan Housing Markets: National Results from Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 of the Housing Discrimination Study (HDS) - HUD USER" . Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  13. ↑ "Türkiye İnsan Hakları ve Eşitlik Kurumu". Istanbul Bilgi University . Retrieved 2021-07-31.

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