ACLU-Backed Complaint Says Not Renting to People With Past Evictions Is Illegal Race, Sex Discrimina

[PeteS in CA]

ACLU-Backed Complaint Says Not Renting to People With Past Evictions Is Illegal Race, Sex Discrimination

https://reason.com/2023/07/28/aclu-backed-complaint-says-not-renting-to-people-with-past-evictions-is-illegal-race-sex-discrimination/

A taxpayer-funded fair housing nonprofit in Illinois, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is demanding a federal crackdown on landlords who don't rent to tenants with eviction records.

In a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last week, the group HOPE Fair Housing Center argues that such policies amount to illegal discrimination based on race and sex, given the higher likelihood that black people, and particularly black women, will have an eviction record.

"A housing provider that enforces a policy that denies the opportunity to rent to anyone who has an eviction filing or judgment is disproportionately denying housing to Black households and Black women in particular," wrote HOPE Deputy Director Josefina Navar in a blog post published by the ACLU about the complaint.

I can't speak from experience, but I'm pretty sure that if I had had an eviction or three on my record this white guy would have had great difficulty finding a place willing to rent to me. Because I would have been a serious risk fo failing to pay rent.

[Kamaji]

[Smokin Joe]

ACLU-Backed Complaint Says Not Renting to People With Past Evictions Is Illegal Race, Sex Discrimination

https://reason.com/2023/07/28/aclu-backed-complaint-says-not-renting-to-people-with-past-evictions-is-illegal-race-sex-discrimination/


I can't speak from experience, but I'm pretty sure that if I had had an eviction or three on my record this white guy would have had great difficulty finding a place willing to rent to me. Because I would have been a serious risk fo failing to pay rent.

It isn't just a question of paying rent, though that is one factor. The guy I work for has a bunch of rentals in the next big town east of me, and evicted renters from four out of eight of them (meth heads), and is busy repairing the houses so he can rent them out again. Patching drywall, ripping out carpet, refinishing floors, replacing windows, etc., not to mention cleaning and painting.