You know you’re having a hard time finding a landlord who’ll accept you as a tenant. It’s what you don’t know that may be hurting you.
You may be a victim of discrimination and not realize it. That’s because it has become a subtle business, despite changing laws and a bounty of fair housing organizations that discourage landlords from the practice.
Discrimination against renters in the Chicago area is still prevalent, say fair housing experts, despite tough federal fair housing laws, amended in 1988, and several cases decided by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
“It has gotten more subtle because those who engage in discrimination have become smarter about how to do it,” says Glenn Brewer, investigations manager of the Chicago-based Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities.
“Most people probably don’t even know when they’re being discriminated against,” says Bernie Kleina of the Hope Fair Housing Center, which serves Du Page and Kane Counties. “Oftentimes, people are turned down with a smile and a handshake as opposed to a landlord making some derogatory comment.”
Fair housing experts say tenants, ultimately, are the best weapon in the fight against rental discrimination. By schooling themselves in the subtleties of discrimination, apartment seekers can learn when and how they may be discriminated against as well as what course of action they can take.
Tenants can find their first tip by reading the advertisements promoting a rental unit. Housing advocates say discriminatory language is still used in classified ads printed in local newspapers, particularly community newspapers.
Under the amended federal Fair Housing Law, ads that state or imply a preference or limitation with regard to race, color, religion, handicap, sex or familial status can be subject to fines or litigation if they are deemed offensive.
While phrases such as “No Children,” “Singles Only” or “Hispanic Area” are so blatantly discriminatory that their use is limited, less subtle language such as “Near Synagogue,” “Integrated Neighborhood Racially” or “Prefer bright, healthy person” is also unlawful. Fair housing advocates say other phrases that may be considered discriminatory include: “a private community”; “exclusive”; “for mature adults” or “for active adults”; and “ideal for physically fit.”
The type of discriminatory language found in newspaper ads “usually isn’t blatant,” says Julia Goode, fair housing coordinator for the Chicago-based Metropolitan Tenants Organization. “But any time an ad talks specifically about children or a particular group like singles or adults, it’s usually a tipoff.”
Likewise, the language landlords use in person may be subtly discriminatory, say fair housing experts. Renters should recognize several key phrases that fair housing advocates say consistently show up in discrimination cases:
“We just rented the last apartment.”
“Your credit wasn’t good enough.”
“We allow families with children only on the first floor.”
“You wouldn’t like it in this building; it’s mostly older/younger/African-American/Asian, etc.”
“We only allow one person per bedroom.”
The reasons behind different phrases may vary, housing advocates say. By saying the last apartment has been rented, a landlord seems to be making a final, authoritative statement that doesn’t warrant discussion; however, evidence to the contrary such as continued advertising of the unit or the fact that a “For Rent” sign is still up may be a tipoff, says Goode.
Credit is also an often-peddled excuse by landlords because tenants may be more accepting of such explanations, particularly if their credit is marginal, says the Leadership Council’s Brewer.
Brewer advises would-be tenants who are denied leases on the basis of credit reports to ask exactly what on the report showed them to be inadequate. He also notes that spurned renters can request a free copy of their credit report to check that the landlord actually did make the credit inquiry. Each inquiry into a consumer’s credit shows up on the report.
Landlords can also discriminate by placing overly burdensome restrictions on certain tenants that would not be required of others, says Julie Ansell of the Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing. Such burdens might include writing overly restrictive lease riders that forbid children from playing in certain areas of the building or that don’t allow bicycles in apartments.
Often, say fair housing advocates, those types of riders are aimed directly at families.
“A lot of these things don’t seem discriminatory on their face,” says Ansell. “It’s understandable that a landlord would want to protect his own interests, but (landlords) should make the restrictions apply to all tenants.”
Ansell also notes that occupancy standards, where landlords limit the number of people who can live in a rental unit, are another method used to discriminate against families. She recently represented a family in a case where the Chicago Commission on Human Relations ruled that a landlord had set up an occupancy standard to keep families out of his building. The case is being appealed.
Other forms of discrimination may not be evident until tenants have actually moved into the building. Some landlords discriminate against families or minorities by charging them higher rents or demanding double security deposits, fair housing advocates say.
Other landlords steer families or minority groups to certain floors or areas of an apartment complex where units may not be as nice, says Ansell.
The most subtle form of discrimination may just smack of plain rudeness, according to the Leadership Council’s Brewer. Some tenants report having set up a showing, only to arrive at an apartment and have the landlord never show up. “They may ask you to show up, and when you do you may even notice someone drive by slowly a few times, but they never show up to meet you,” he says.
Brewer notes other subtle procedures that landlords employ such as applications that take endless weeks to complete or excuses that “someone else had better credit.”
“Apartments should be rented on a first-come, first-served basis, so try to find out when the person who got the apartment filed their application,” he advises.
Suspicion
Regardless of the type of discrimination a landlord may be using, fair housing advocates advise tenants to be skeptical of anything a landlord or property manager may say that doesn’t seem to fit your situation.
Always keep a record of any meetings or phone calls with all prospective landlords, including notes about the building’s address, unit number, rental amount, dates of meetings and information about the person showing the apartment.
Most any tenant would find the above practice helpful in apartment hunting, and in many discrimination cases victims aren’t even aware that they’ve been discriminated against until after the fact, says Kleina of the Hope Center.
“If someone’s been to five units before they realize they may have been discriminated against, they often have a difficult time remembering who they’ve spoken to or where they’ve been,” he says. “And at some point, all these (apartment) complexes begin to look the same.”
Housing experts agree on the next step: Contact a local fair housing center or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair housing hotline at 1-800-669-9777. Discrimination claims need to be proven with objective evidence and claims need to filed in a timely manner if a tenant wants to have a chance of renting the unit they’ve been denied.
“The best thing is just to contact one of the (fair housing) organizations because they have the expertise to conduct an investigation without tipping off a landlord or ruining evidence,” says Goode of the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.
Under federal fair housing laws, tenants can seek three types of legal relief in discrimination cases:
– Monetary damages, to either compensate you for losses or to punish the landlord.
– Injunctive relief, to prevent the discrimination from occurring.
– Affirmative relief, to train the housing provider in fair housing laws.
One form of injunctive relief that many tenants seek is a temporary restraining order, which lasts for 10 days and effectively prevents the housing provider from renting the apartment to anyone else until the claimant has had the opportunity to negotiate for rental of the apartment.
Legal counsel
In Chicago, tenants can also file a claim of discrimination at the City Commission on Human Relations. Tenants need to file the claim in person within 180 days of the allegedly discriminatory act. The process is free and the commission will provide a list of local fair housing organizations that may be able to take a case at no charge. Commission officials strongly encourage complainants to seek representation.
“Generally, the landlords are represented and that makes for an uneven playing field if one side is represented and the other is not,” says Constance Bauer, deputy commissioner of the Human Relations Commission’s adjudication division.
Lest tenants think landlords are easy targets for discrimination suits, housing experts warn that the key to the process is fair, objective evidence. An outside organization such as a fair housing group is likely the only source of providing that information.
