The Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) has filed director’s charges of illegal discrimination against 13 property owners after on-site fair housing testing showed evidence of housing discrimination.
According to SOCR, twelve of the property owners have agreed to settle the charges, which the City of Seattle filed with the Washington State Human Rights Commission. Property managers have agreed to reimburse the city for the costs of testing, require their employees to attend fair housing training, provide funding for a fair housing campaign, and post fair housing notices in their properties to inform residents of their rights.
“Unfortunately, housing discrimination is not a thing of the past, but a reality for too many people in Seattle,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. “These test results tell us that we still have work to do to share information with landlords on their responsibilities and with tenants, so they understand their rights.”
In addition to the charges, the testing conducted revealed that prospective renters experienced different treatment from Seattle landlords over half the time across all four tested categories: race, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity.
SOCR contracted with the Fair Housing Center of Washington to conduct the tests between January and June 2014. In most cases, the Fair Housing Center used paired testers posing as prospective renters to measure differences in the services they received from leasing agents, as well as information about vacancies, rental rates, and other conditions. The matched pairs of testers had similar rental profiles in every respect except for their race or disability. Test sites were selected at random from all geographic areas of the city.
A total of 124 tests, focusing on four different groups protected under fair housing laws. Test findings revealed the following results:
- Race (42 tests): 64% showed evidence of different treatment.
- National origin (43 tests): 67% showed evidence of different treatment.
- Sexual orientation (30 tests): 63% showed evidence of different treatment.
- Gender identity (9 tests): 67% showed evidence of different treatment.
For testing purposes, SOCR has testers posed as prospective renters, so the different treatment they experienced depended on the information they received from landlords and the questions they were asked. For example, African American and Latino testers were told about criminal background and credit history checks more frequently than the White testers. They also were asked more often about their spouses’ employment history — especially with Latino testers. In addition, they were shown and told about fewer amenities, provided fewer applications and brochures, and were shown fewer vacant units. In some cases, the prices quoted were higher for the same unit. Testers for sexual orientation and gender identity had similar results.
“We have filed charges in 13 cases where the differences in treatment were undeniable,” said Patricia Lally, Director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. “These test results are not isolated incidents – they demonstrate patterns of behavior that have profound impacts on people’s lives.”
According to Lally, SOCR sent letters to all tested property owners informing them of their individual test results. SOCR has offered to meet with managers whose test results showed some evidence of discrimination to evaluate their rental process and to provide fair housing resources to help them to improve their policies and procedures.
“The result from this survey is evidence why we continue to educate our members,” said Bill Hinkle, Executive Director of the Rental Housing Association of Washington (RHA) located in West Seattle. “We believe this is a key ethic in our business to treat everyone equally with dignity and respect and according to the law. The RHA has agreed to partner with SOCR to promote fair housing with its members and throughout the city.”
SOCR is launching a Fair Housing Campaign to address housing discrimination in Seattle. The campaign will include print and radio ads, workshops for both landlords and the public, and a Fair Housing Hotline. The Hotline will provide rapid responses by phone or email to landlords’ questions about housing discrimination laws. SOCR also will provide free training to property management staff on request, and schedule fair housing workshops for community organizations and the general public.
