Legal Aid presentation from One Minneapolis: A Call to Action! conference December 2, 2011 hosted by the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights

1. 2011 FAIR HOUSING
AUDIT

4. FOR THE FAIR HOUSING
IMPLEMENTATION COUNCIL
By: The Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis
Housing Discrimination Law Project

5.  At 5 of the 17properties, testers were treated equally (29%).
At 12 of 17 properties (71%), testers experienced materially
differential treatment. Differential treatment –
 when testers received different information concerning the
availability of a rental or
 where the calls of one tester were not returned but another was
invited to view the home.
 In 9 of 12 cases, differential treatment favored White testers
over African American testers or persons perceived to be
immigrants. In 3 cases, the opposite: White testers got
worse treatment.

6. Status Tested Number of # D.T. # E.T. # Poor C.S. Incomplete
Tests
Race 9 6 3 1 1
National Origin 2 2 0 0 0
(Somali)
National Origin 5 4 1 1 0
(Latino)
Disability 1 0 1 0 0

7. Location Status Tester 1 Tester 1 Tester 1 Tester 2 Tester 2 Tester 2
tested Voicemails Callback? Voicemails Callback?
1. Cottage National White 0 N/A (site Latino 3 Showing
Grove origin visited) canceled.
(may not be
subsidized
property)
2(a). Eagan National White 0 N/A (site Latino 0 N/A (site
origin visited) visited)
Told “2 Told “no
openings.” openings.”
2(b). Eagan National White 0 N/A (site Latino 3 Never
(same) origin visited)
3. Coon National White 2 Yes Somali 3 Never
Rapids origin

8. 1. Cottage Grove
 Testers: White and Latino
 Favored: White
 Differences:
1. White tester completed a site visit; was told a unit was available
2. Latino tester left 3 messages; no call back
3. Latino tester called for the 4th time; was given an appointment
4. Latino tester was called on the day of appointment to cancel
5. Latino tester was told the apartment had been rented
Conclusion: This test shows differential treatment. Tests may have
been at an unsubsidized property.

9. 2(a). Eagan
Testers: White and Latino
 Favored: White
 Differences:
1. White tester completed a site visit; told two units available
2. Latino tester was given an appointment; told one unit available
3. Latino tester was told in person the unit had been rented
 2(b). Another set of tests was completed:
1. White tester completed a site visit; told two units available
2. Latino tester left 3 messages; no call back
Conclusion: This test shows differential treatment. accent. (Reported
as a single finding of differential treatment.)

10. 3. Coon Rapids
 Testers: White and Somali
 Favored: White
 Differences:
1. White tester left 2 messages; received a call back
2. White tester completed a site visit; told one unit available
3. White tester was told other units available in March
4. Somali tester left 3 messages; did not receive call back
Conclusion: This test shows differential treatment.

11.  Three properties tested:
 1. Test for disability – no differences.
 2. Test for race - white tester given
application, African American not given
application. 2010 test showed difference by
race when AA person’s calls were not returned.
 3. Test for national origin - white tester told to
call back in a month, Latina told no openings
for rest of year.

14.  1. A single instance of different treatment may
have been a mistake.
 2. These rentals were chosen because the
complex had gov’t. money -- most had no
openings and could not be tested.
 3. The Fair Housing Implementation Council
and its member cities and counties are
considering actions this fall.

16.  More testing and enforcement.
 Adopt a comprehensive equal housing
opportunity policy. A model policy may
be obtained from Legal Aid, a FHIC
member organization.

17. Do an employee performance review concerning fair
housing expectations. At a minimum, persons who
failed to provide equal treatment to potential renters
should be told that such behavior is unacceptable and
will not be tolerated.
Adopt an affirmative marketing plan which ensures
that your business attracts rental applicants from the
entire range of populations in the metropolitan area,
in particular finding ways to bring in home-seekers
who are now least likely to apply. Use the free rental
marketing services of HousingLink:
http://www.housinglink.org .

18. Take an inventory of your renters. Do you serve a
diverse population? Audit your records of inquiries
and applicants to determine whether all persons have
gotten good customer service when they inquired
about renting from your business. If this review
shows short-comings, come up with a remediation
plan that addresses those problems.
See that your staff is regularly trained for fair housing.
FHIC can recommend experienced trainers.

19.  The Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis
 James Wilkinson
 jewilkinson@midmnlegal.org
 612-746-3784
 www.mylegalaid.org
 www.lawhelpmn.org