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Interesting article in Newsdays regarding LI's housing discrimination practices. I grew up on LI and I am not surprised.
"In 2004, Kirk and Orlandina Carter, a young African-American couple soon to marry, started to look for a house to buy in a "good neighborhood."
"We probably had about three to five Realtors," said Orlandina Carter, 32. "They would always lead us to neighborhoods that were low-income, rundIn 2004, Kirk and Orlandina Carter, a young African-American couple soon to marry, started to look for a house to buy in a "good neighborhood."
"We probably had about three to five Realtors," said Orlandina Carter, 32. "They would always lead us to neighborhoods that were low-income, rundown."
A new study released today suggests the Carters' experiences were not unusual.
In "Racial Equity Report Card: Fair Housing on Long Island," the Syosset advocacy group Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate Racism criticizes real estate brokers and federal, state and local government agencies, which the group says do not act aggressively on discrimination complaints or enforce fair housing laws.
own."
A new study released today suggests the Carters' experiences were not unusual.
In "Racial Equity Report Card: Fair Housing on Long Island," the Syosset advocacy group Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate Racism criticizes real estate brokers and federal, state and local government agencies, which the group says do not act aggressively on discrimination complaints or enforce fair housing laws...................."
Well, it's interesting to know that the sun still rises in the East.
This report really doesn't tell you ANYTHING new, does it ?
1. You have to be careful of these "public advocacy" groups. Remember, their existence is founded, on finding this kind of stuff, publishing it, and reprimanding citizens about it. It's a grim job, when yo think about it.
Instead of feeling...negative, and looking for the negative...which, at the essence, is their Mission. AND they wouldn't get...ATTENTION...or publicity, if they didn't "play into" a person's Darker Side. Again, kind of a depressing job, they have there, what ? I mean, how would you feel, going to work every day ?
2. People are NOT perfect, unfortunately, for the High expectations of others, who are stationed on a Higher Perch, if you will.
3. Contrary to the people of the New Political Order, that was elected and installed on January 20, people in general ARE "good"...though you are not going to hear this from THESE groups and people. IT IS ABOUT RACE, in case you didn't know.
What is evident in all of this political discourse, is the mean-spiritedness of these advocacy groups, WHO, when you think about it, survive on a person's lesser attractive characteristics. I wouldn't be surprised if you would find one of those REVERSE smiley faces, on their cubicle walls.
Yes, back in the 1970s real estate brokers and salespeople were responsible for destroying neighborhoods on LI (Uniondale, Roosevelt, etc.) by blatant block busting and steering. These days, however, I doubt the practices are so widespread because real estate salespeople are taught about the laws against these practices.
This article is an example of incomplete reporting being used to show "the fact" of discrimination. They deliberately leave out important details such as:
What was the budget of this couple for a home? If it was low, then naturally they will be shown run-down homes in run-down areas. (Whites with a low budget will also get the same thing.)
Where were the real estate brokers located that they visited? If they were in areas that served run-down low income areas, then naturally that is what the brokers would have in their inventory.
Towards the end of the article, it said the couple bought a home in Amityville and were happy with it. While Amityville has some nice neighborhoods, it also has some dumps. The school district is also notoriously crappy. So this couple acts like they wanted "a great neighborhood" and were shown crap, but they ended up somewhere mediocre by LI standards and are satisfied there. So their expectations were low to begin with and without the two questions above being honestly answered, I would not write an article using this couple as an example of someone being racially discriminated against.
While there is racial discrimination in the Long Island real estate industry (last year a Garden City firm was brought up on charges), I do not believe that it is rampant. If somone can afford it, I believe most agents are happy to show them houses where ever they choose.
It is definitely still a problem here, and there have been cases where black and white couples with equal budgets and qualifications were shown totally different homes.
Realtors should know about the Fair Housing Act and be trained to act on it, but the fact is, I've seen Craigslist ads that were purportedly by brokers which violated it (usually on family status).
While there is racial discrimination in the Long Island real estate industry (last year a Garden City firm was brought up on charges), I do not believe that it is rampant. If somone can afford it, I believe most agents are happy to show them houses where ever they choose.
I've seen Craigslist ads that were purportedly by brokers which violated it (usually on family status).
You were probably looking at rental ads. That is where the majority of violations occur. Your right, you cannot discriminate based on family status under NYS law (it is not protected under federal law). You also cannot refuse to rent to people because they have children. This is another one where many ads violate the law on their face.
Yeah, it was rentals. The Fair Housing Act does prohibit discrimination based on family status except in certain exempt cases (senior housing, generally):
Basically, all those ads saying "professional couple preferred" are illegal, and they're rampant.
The Craigslist forums are full of people whining about getting caught by HUD for expressing discriminatory preferences in their ads. It kills me because Craigslist has a whole big section on this, and yet people complain when their ads are yanked.
You have to be very careful what you put in an ad. The rule of thumb is to talk about the property, not about the people. But even there, it can get a little tricky. For example, you can say "No Smoking", but you can't say "No Smokers" (discriminates against smokers). You can say "Close to Town" but you can't say "Walk to Town" (discriminates against people who can't walk).
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