[nagdu] Housing discrimination continues in Washington State

Tue Feb 9 18:17:08 UTC 2010

Scary to hear that statistics continue to support what one observes to be
true but would rather not believe.  Still, every study like this that
results in action moves us all one more step ahead.

My first rental experience in the Portland area gave me a chance to learn
the hard way that enforcement of Fair Housing laws and other laws and codes
is all but nonexistent due to budget cuts.  I came out of my adventure with
icky landlords unscathed, if pretty unhappy about it all.  It was totally
not easy, and others end up very badly off because of the same bad behavior
and lack of enforcement.  Sigh.

For me, that's how I ended up here, in a move of desperation, and it has
turned out that everybody involved is very very happy, even the dogs.  You
never know where life is going to take you. 

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ginger Kutsch
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 12:09 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] Housing discrimination continues in Washington State

KPLU Local News
Housing Discrimination Continues in Washington
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/1/0/
1607868/KPLU.Local.News/Housing.Discrimination.Continues.in.Washi
ngton 
Paula Wissel (2010-02-08) 

SEATTLE, WA (KPLU) - 
If you're a landlord, it's illegal to refuse to rent to someone
because of their race, religion or disability. That has been the
law for more than forty years. But, apparently the message has
not gotten through to everyone. 

The Fair Housing Center of Washington, based in Tacoma, uses a
very simple investigative method. It will send a white woman and
an African American woman out and have them contact the same
landlords. Housing Center spokeswoman Lauren Walker says the
results are almost always disheartening.

"It shocks me every time when I see the differences in treatment.
The African American testers are told about higher prices for
apartments. They're told about fewer units and sometimes they're
told about later availability dates than the Caucasian testers,"
she said.

And, Walker says it isn't just race based discrimination that
continues to be a problem. 

In the past year, the Fair Housing Center has tested for
discrimination against people who have disabilities. The biggest
issue has been landlords unwilling to rent to someone with a
guide dog. Walker says people need to understand that a "no pets"
policy can not be applied to service animals.

The Fair Housing Center was just awarded one of two federal
grants in the state to help enforce the Fair Housing Act. The
grant is for $275,000.

The Fair Housing Act was signed into law by President Lyndon
Johnson back in 1968. For the past five years, Washington state
has averaged 270 complaints filed under the Fair Housing Act. 

Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ

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