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Study: Minority renters face bias
By MICHAEL SANDLER, Times Staff Writer
The Pinellas County Office of Human Rights hired and trained 31 testers to visit 200 rental properties in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo and other parts of the county earlier this year. Visiting various apartments in pairs, four black testers returned 42 out of 57 times -- nearly 74 percent of the time -- to say they had experienced some form of differential treatment that the 24 white testers had not experienced. Three testers of Hispanic origin experienced differential treatment 27 out of 48 times -- or 56 percent of the time. The county also tested to see how apartments treated families, people with disabilities or accessibility issues and same-sex couples. Leon Russell of the Pinellas County Office of Human Rights said none of the applicants experienced overt denial. What they reported were subtleties. Black testers reported receiving different forms and different information and said they were shown different apartments and often quoted different prices. Some reported being asked more personal questions than whites. "Nobody said, 'We don't rent to African-Americans,' " Russell said. "Usually, we are dealing with terms or conditions, or specials." Russell, who has shared the results with city commissioners in Clearwater, will go before the Board of County Commissioners today and the Largo City Commission tonight. Largo showed the most differential treatment toward nonwhite applicants. In terms of race, blacks who inquired about an apartment in Largo said they experienced some form of differential treatment in 16 of 18 cases, or 89 percent of the time. The study showed that 67 percent of Hispanic testers -- 10 of 15 -- reported differential treatment. When Russell visits the Largo City Commission, the city's Community Development Department will ask if commissioners want to implement a more proactive approach to fair housing issues. Right now, the city merely forwards complaints to Russell's office. "I don't know what the role of (city) government is here," said City Manager Steven Stanton. "I guess it's what the community expectation is. Historically in Largo, there has been a desire for government not to be that intrusive." Stanton referred to the time he tried introducing safety inspections for city buildings. "We suggested that many years ago," he said. "It was very quickly not pursued." Largo is not alone. In Clearwater, 73 percent of black test applicants and 30 percent of Hispanic test applicants reported differential treatment, while St. Petersburg showed differential treatment 62 percent and 50 percent of the time, respectively. Clearwater City Manager Bill Horne said he had shared a personal experience with his commissioners in this area. Horne, who is black, said a real estate agent had tried to charge him three times the normal rent on a house in Hillsborough County when he relocated his family to the area from Japan in 1995. Then in the military, Horne was reassigned to MacDill on short notice and didn't have time to file a complaint. But he found another house for a fair price. "I only share that personal story to affirm what they had seen in the study," Horne said. "These things happen." The other Pinellas cities were included in the "county" category, with 67 percent of black applicants and 73 percent of Hispanic applicants reporting irregularities. Russell said his office did not plan to follow up with enforcement, but he will share the findings with the apartment complexes and invite them to participate in educational programs aimed at reducing the number of complaints. The study was sponsored by the Pinellas County Fair Housing Partnership, which includes all cities and county agencies receiving federal money for housing. -- Michael Sandler can be reached at 445-4174 or sandler@sptimes.com.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks Letters |
