Tenants who adopt or plan to adopt a child are protected under the Fair Housing Act's (FHA) ban on familial status discrimination. If you didn't know that, read about the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) second announced charge of Fair Housing Month.
When a single mother renting an apartment outside Philadelphia decided to adopt an 11-year-old boy, her landlords allegedly responded by terminating her tenancy, according to HUD's April 15 release. This caused the family to move far away, denying the boy his school, friends, and aunts whom he visited regularly.
Charged with discrimination, the landlords will need to defend their actions in front of a HUD administrative law judge and possibly face thousands of dollars in damages.
Return tomorrow for the sixteenth part of this special "Fair Housing Month" feature at Fairhousingblog.com.
Fair Housing vs. Unfair Housing
Do you know the difference?
Knowing the difference between fair housing and unfair housing isn't as obvious as you might think. This blog aims to present a variety of important and interesting fair housing issues.
If you're an apartment professional, avoid costly mistakes by reading the stories of others who — even with good intentions — learned compliance lessons the hard way. (For the easy way, click here.)
If you live in an apartment, get familiar with your rights when it comes to housing discrimination, as well as your options for seeking justice.
Do you know the difference?
Knowing the difference between fair housing and unfair housing isn't as obvious as you might think. This blog aims to present a variety of important and interesting fair housing issues.
If you're an apartment professional, avoid costly mistakes by reading the stories of others who — even with good intentions — learned compliance lessons the hard way. (For the easy way, click here.)
If you live in an apartment, get familiar with your rights when it comes to housing discrimination, as well as your options for seeking justice.
Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Another Study Shows Voice Profiling's Prevalence
In October, I wrote about the results of a survey conducted by a fair housing advocacy agency in Marin County, California, which showed that black testers (posing as prospects) were often treated less favorably than white testers under similar circumstances.
On Tuesday, The Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia (FHCSP) released a report, entitled "FHCSP Testing Audit: Housing Discrimination Trends in the Philadelphia Region," which includes an analysis of its own Voice Profiling Project, in which black and white testers posing as prospects contacted landlords and realtors in the Philadelphia area between 2006 and 2008.
The results show that voice profiling occurred at least 54% of the time, with some black testers being asked to pay higher security deposits and application fees, not being told about certain vacancies, and not being told about any apartment discounts. In 23% of the tests, black testers received inferior service, such as not getting their calls returned or being given the opportunity to learn more about available apartments.
Do you think these surveys imply that voice profiling is prevalent across the United States, or is it limited to certain communities? Can you ever guess someone's race based only on the person's voice over the phone? Can most landlords?
What do you think?
On Tuesday, The Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia (FHCSP) released a report, entitled "FHCSP Testing Audit: Housing Discrimination Trends in the Philadelphia Region," which includes an analysis of its own Voice Profiling Project, in which black and white testers posing as prospects contacted landlords and realtors in the Philadelphia area between 2006 and 2008.
The results show that voice profiling occurred at least 54% of the time, with some black testers being asked to pay higher security deposits and application fees, not being told about certain vacancies, and not being told about any apartment discounts. In 23% of the tests, black testers received inferior service, such as not getting their calls returned or being given the opportunity to learn more about available apartments.
Do you think these surveys imply that voice profiling is prevalent across the United States, or is it limited to certain communities? Can you ever guess someone's race based only on the person's voice over the phone? Can most landlords?
What do you think?
Posted by
Ron Leshnower
at
April 18, 2009
Labels:
apartments,
Fair Housing Act,
Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia,
race,
testing
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