Investigators can’t claim rental discrimination if criteria changed

At least one Seattle company involved in a rental discrimination investigation disputed the findings, saying there were discrepancies.

The senior vice president at Pillar Properties told The Seattle Times that people posing as renters did not ask for the same criteria while searching for an apartment. There were differing interests to desired move-in dates, which affected availability and pricing.

If that’s true, then the findings from the Fair Housing Center of Washington’s investigation might need to be reexamined.

“If you really want to run it like a science experiment, everything needs to be the same,” KIRO Radio’s John Curley said. Everything except the person who is posing as the renter, of course.

The Seattle Office of Civil Rights, which contracted with the Housing Center, filed illegal-discrimination complaints against the owners of 13 properties, which included Ballard and South Lake Union properties. There are more than 2,800 rental units within those properties, the Times reports. Twelve of the 13 property owners have agreed to settlements that include training on fair-housing practices and paying thousands to compensate for the investigation.

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During the investigation, “testers” reported they were treated differently in 64 percent of 42 tests related to race, 67 percent related to national origin, 63 percent of 30 tests related to sexual orientation and 67 percent of nine tests related to gender identity, the Times reports.

For example, an African-American tester was quoted higher rent than a Caucasian tester who saw the same rental 90 minutes later, the Times reports. Rental agents also mentioned the company does criminal background checks more often to African-Americans than to Caucasians.

“This is pretty disturbing to think this is really going on,” KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney added.

But if rental agents are using software to determine pricing and availability, and the testers are providing different criteria, should the companies face discipline?

Maybe the Fair Housing Center should send former NAACP president Rachel Dolezal to pose as a potential renter instead, Curley suggested. You could have her walk in as an African-American first and then later as a Caucasian, he said.