A shopper watchdog filed complaints with California’s Civil Rights Division towards 200 companies after an undercover sting discovered that the vouchers had been refused repeatedly throughout the state.
Whether or not it’s refining your corporation mannequin, mastering new applied sciences, or discovering methods to capitalize on the following market surge, Inman Join New York will put together you to take daring steps ahead. The Subsequent Chapter is about to start. Be a part of it. Be a part of us and 1000’s of actual property leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
Coldwell Banker, eXp, Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty and RE/MAX had been amongst greater than 200 brokerages and landlords swept up in an undercover sting focusing on companies accused of rejecting tenants who depend on Part 8 Housing in California, in response to stories.
The investigation by the patron watchdog Housing Rights Initiative resulted in 112 complaints of brokerages and landlords rejecting potential tenants who sought to make use of Part 8 Housing Selection Vouchers as a supply of revenue to safe housing. These complaints had been filed Tuesday with California’s Civil Rights Division, the group mentioned in an announcement.
“Over the course of a year, HRI trained, equipped, and deployed an army of undercover investigators, who posed as prospective tenants with Section 8 vouchers,” HRI mentioned in an announcement Tuesday. “These investigators contacted hundreds of brokers and landlords by text message to determine compliance with California’s fair housing laws.”
A whopping 70 p.c of potential tenants who inquired about Part 8 vouchers in Los Angeles had been rejected, in response to the watchdog group. The Housing Rights Initiative additionally discovered that investigators had been discriminated towards 44 p.c of the time in San Francisco, 53 p.c in Oakland and 58 p.c in San Jose.
HRI launched a Google doc itemizing every case of alleged discrimination, together with timestamps, dealer names, listings and screenshots of textual content messages. The texts revealed a spread of responses from brokers, a few of whom expressed reluctance to cope with the “hassle” of working with the Part 8 program, whereas others claimed landlords weren’t registered with this system or that Part 8 was not eligible for explicit listings.
Textual content messages submitted as proof — although not independently verified by Inman — seem to indicate brokers from eXp and Sotheby’s rejecting candidates who inquired about Part 8 vouchers for particular listings.
Inman requested feedback on the allegations from eXp Realty, Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty and RE/MAX. A spokesperson for Coldwell Banker informed Inman it was reviewing the claims.
“Coldwell Banker Realty advocates for fair housing practices and we offer enhanced training, awareness and staffing measures to promote equitable access to housing for all,” a spokesperson for Coldwell Banker Realty informed Inman on Wednesday, “We are currently reviewing the claims.”
“The goal of these filings is to get the real estate companies to stop their discriminatory housing practices and exacerbating California’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis,” HRI mentioned in an announcement.
“Furthermore, the result of HRI’s investigation underscores the need for proactive and systematic enforcement to combat housing discrimination and for the State of California to provide adequate funding for the California Civil Rights Department to meet the scale of the problem,” the group added.
Analysis by the City Institute in 2018 discovered that as much as 76 p.c of landlords within the Los Angeles space refused to just accept Part 8 vouchers, with the speed rising to 82 p.c in low-poverty neighborhoods. Los Angeles Occasions reporting in 2019 confirmed landlords cited issues about crimson tape and economics as causes for refusing vouchers, noting they may cost greater than the federal government was keen to pay.
E mail Richelle Hammiel
