News May 19, 2011 at 4:00 am

Which Properties Were Accused of Discrimination in a Recent Audit? Nick Fish Names Names.

Comments

1
Liberal Portland huh? Ha!
2
I know, right? These reports, no matter where they're conducted, all come to the same conclusions. Not at all surprising.
3
I'm a landlord and this makes me very sad. I think we've come a long way but clearly we still have far to go. I think training and education is a better way to fix this problem than blaming and naming through public intimidation. Discrimination against potential residents is unfair, but it is also unfair to require landlords to ignore their life experience without taking the situation into consideration. I treat everyone who walks in my door exactly the same way- under the same circumstances. When I have to be at the bank by 6 and someone drops in at 5:45, they are not going to get the same half-hour tour as someone who called and scheduled an appointment. It does not matter to me where they are from or what they look like, but according to FHCO, this is discrimination if the person who shows up at closing time is not white. I believe it would be more beneficial to all parties to be on the same side and present a united front.
4
Were the people who approached these landlords were paid for their time?
Would they then have an interest in getting results?
This is not meant to denegrate the study, as I'm sure discrimination in housing is a unfortunete fact of life.
5
Yes, the testers are paid. There are several secret shopping companies that do this type of work in Portland.
6
"When I have to be at the bank by 6 and someone drops in at 5:45, they are not going to get the same half-hour tour as someone who called and scheduled an appointment. It does not matter to me where they are from or what they look like, but according to FHCO, this is discrimination if the person who shows up at closing time is not white.'


----------------------------------------------------

You certainly have a point here. And yeah, if a person just does a walk-in during the late afternoon only to catch the landlord on his/her way out the door, then that's NOT descrimination. Which is why it's best to get the info., HOURS, phone number, and set something up for another day.

Frankieb, i'm sure YOU'RE a very fair and professional proprietor. But just know that, there are many other landlords who are NOT as such! While looking for apts. over the past several years, i've set up appointments with landlords only for them to NOT show up. The manager's office would be closed at the time of a scheduled appointment. I would set up appointments to see a particular apt./house/room only for it to be already rented to someone else before i had a chance to see it. One landlord (who was Black, actually) pretty-much STOLE a combined $70 from myself and another housemate after with paid for applications, then tried to set us up with a ONE-bedroom when we specifically asked for a TWO-bedroom, which he ended up renting to someone else. Many landlords are just down-right impossible to get ahold of. Many don't answer phones, don't return voice-mails, or just never seem to be on-sight. I'm just giving you a tiny piece of my experience and most of my White housemates/friends have had similar situations.

It's ridiculous what a person has to through just to find a simple place to live in the city - even when you have plenty of money up-front! I imagine it sucks for everyone, but it's just worse if you're not White.
7
D, I wish I was a landlord!
Question: landlord not showing for appt.? Can he tell you're black over the phone?
I know this girl with a black husband who said she learned years ago to just inspect the houses for rent by herself.
Fucked up.
8
My bad, i meant CL.

But who said anything about a phone? Sometimes appointments are set in person. But also, i never said that EVERY account of neglegance from [potential] landlords was race-based. As i've mentioned, one of the proprietors i dealt with was Black himself. And many Whites go through these same hassles whenever trying to find a place to live. Many White people - young Whites especially - are routinely descriminated against for all kinds of bullshit illegal reasons - from dyed hair to being a student to disabilities, etc. Many landlords aren't just out-right racist, many of them are assholes.

My point was/is, the situation OVER-ALL is awful, but for people of colour it's abit worse.
9
Very good point DamosA. I went to a seminar presented by fair housing and they mentioned that they did have a complaint about a landlord being a jerk, so they sent out testers, and found out the manager wasn't discriminatory, but was an ass to everyone equally.

frankieb: trust me, you don't want to be a landlord. I love my job but the industry in general doesn't pay very well. With nearly 10 years experience, I bring home under $1200 per month working 50+ hour weeks. The free rent rocks though!
10
I said landlord, not property manager. heh.
11
I've been using my maiden name when searching for apartments recently, since there have been at least two times when introducing myself as "Sanchez", where I heared an audible sigh/change in tone. Good times.
12
I recently moved into a REACH owned building only to discover that the building has had a bedbug infestastion since 2009. While they (half assedlly) treated my unit, all my furniture and possessions must be treated before I can move into a new place without bringing the bugs with me. The cost of this treatment is $700. I've sent a letter requesting that REACH pay for at least half of the treatment cost and they have stonewalled me. I may have to take them to small claims. If anyone has any tips or knowlegde, I would love to hear it. In the meantime I will say: DO NOT MOVE INTO THE GRAND OAKS OR WILSHIRE APARTMENTS ON SE GRAND AND STARK. There is no law stating that you have to be informed of a prior bed bug infestastion, we need to change this
13
Not told about bedbug infestation prior to moving in to (and putting up hundreds of dollars up-front) an apt. Having to use one's madien name for fear that a potential landlord will descriminate against them otherwise.

Siiigh... you see, THIS is just the type of shit people have to put up with all the time.
14
There are some bad landlords out there for sure, but there are a whole lot more deadbeat tenants and if you've ever actually been a landlord you know what I'm talking about. Oregon law is widely pro-tenant too, to the point where all you deadbeats should really consider withholding rent...it's practically legal!
15
Well to that, i and my other housemates had been in a situation several months ago, whereas our [then] landlord sold our house back to GMAC Morgage. But we did not find out about this for nearly 7 months! That whole time, he had continued to accept [and pocket] rent money from us.

So, at that point we stopped paying rent until we found another place to live.
16
I'd like to see the list of landlords and property managers that DIDN'T discriminate. I have a couple of rentals that are managed professionally and I'd like to know that they don't discriminate. Why only print the names of the accused? How about some kudos to those that obey the law and (what should be) everyone's personal ethics?
17
Why are landlords allowed to hustle people for a $45.00 application fee from multiple applicants at one time. Once they look at your applications and see your income they come up with huge fees that were not mentioned in the beginning

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.