A client watchdog filed complaints with California’s Civil Rights Division in opposition to 200 corporations after an undercover sting discovered that the vouchers had been refused repeatedly throughout the state.
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Coldwell Banker, eXp, Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty and RE/MAX had been amongst greater than 200 brokerages and landlords swept up in an undercover sting concentrating on corporations accused of rejecting tenants who depend on Part 8 Housing in California, in keeping with studies.
The investigation by the patron watchdog Housing Rights Initiative resulted in 112 complaints of brokerages and landlords rejecting potential tenants who sought to make use of Part 8 Housing Alternative Vouchers as a supply of revenue to safe housing. These complaints had been filed Tuesday with California’s Civil Rights Division, the group stated in a press release.
“Over the course of a year, HRI trained, equipped, and deployed an army of undercover investigators, who posed as prospective tenants with Section 8 vouchers,” HRI stated in a press release Tuesday. “These investigators contacted hundreds of brokers and landlords by text message to determine compliance with California’s fair housing laws.”
A whopping 70 p.c of potential tenants who inquired about Part 8 vouchers in Los Angeles had been rejected, in keeping with the watchdog group. The Housing Rights Initiative additionally discovered that investigators had been discriminated in opposition to 44 p.c of the time in San Francisco, 53 p.c in Oakland and 58 p.c in San Jose.
HRI launched a Google doc itemizing every case of alleged discrimination, together with timestamps, dealer names, listings and screenshots of textual content messages. The texts revealed a spread of responses from brokers, a few of whom expressed reluctance to take care of the “hassle” of working with the Part 8 program, whereas others claimed landlords weren’t registered with this system or that Part 8 was not eligible for specific listings.
Textual content messages submitted as proof — although not independently verified by Inman — seem to indicate brokers from eXp and Sotheby’s rejecting candidates who inquired about Part 8 vouchers for particular listings.
Inman requested feedback on the allegations from eXp Realty, Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty and RE/MAX. A spokesperson for Coldwell Banker instructed Inman it was reviewing the claims.
“Coldwell Banker Realty advocates for fair housing practices and we offer enhanced training, awareness and staffing measures to promote equitable access to housing for all,” a spokesperson for Coldwell Banker Realty instructed Inman on Wednesday, “We are currently reviewing the claims.”
In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed laws prohibiting housing discrimination based mostly on private traits, together with revenue supply. The legislation is designed to guard individuals in housing voucher packages and guarantee they obtain a good and thorough vetting course of when making use of for housing, in keeping with the invoice.
“The goal of these filings is to get the real estate companies to stop their discriminatory housing practices and exacerbating California’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis,” HRI stated in a press release.
“Furthermore, the result of HRI’s investigation underscores the need for proactive and systematic enforcement to combat housing discrimination and for the State of California to provide adequate funding for the California Civil Rights Department to meet the scale of the problem,” the group added.
Analysis by the City Institute in 2018 discovered that as much as 76 p.c of landlords within the Los Angeles space refused to simply accept Part 8 vouchers, with the speed rising to 82 p.c in low-poverty neighborhoods. Los Angeles Occasions reporting in 2019 confirmed landlords cited issues about crimson tape and economics as causes for refusing vouchers, noting they might cost greater than the federal government was keen to pay.
