Racial Discrimination Evident When Trying to Buy a Home

Chicago, ILIt was only one real estate agent and only one real estate office, but the racial discrimination apparent against Latinos shopping for a new home is a direct affront to discrimination law. Discrimination of all kinds, including age discrimination has no place at the table in modern society.

But that didn't appear to be the case for one real estate agent working at a RE/MAX office serving DuPage and Cook Counties in Illinois. The agent in question is no longer active after being made to surrender his license. His former employer was also made to pay a fine to the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) in compensation for the incident.

The racial discrimination exhibited by the agent appeared blatant and was revealed after an NFHA investigation resulted in potential buyers, serving as 'testers', working undercover to prove or disprove discrimination.

They proved it.

The disgraced agent was found to comment in front of two Caucasian testers that homes they looked at in a predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhood were "dumps" and "repos." However those same homes shown to a Latin-American tester was described as potentially being "good for you."

It was also found that while the white testers received numerous follow-up calls from the real estate agent, the Latino tester received none.

In a related incident the RE/MAX agent showed a Latino tester three homes in a predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhood that were markedly less expensive than what the Latino tester could afford and was willing to pay. At the same time, he confessed to the Latino tester that he was busy and didn't have a lot of time for her.

And yet the same agent showed the Caucasian tester 9 homes in the same price range as the Latino tester could afford—only these homes were in a predominantly white area. What's more, the agent offered to show the Caucasian tester additional homes in a predominantly white neighborhoods as far away as 50 miles—all the while telling the Latino tester looking in the same price range that he didn't have time for her.

"Racial steering violates the federal fair Housing Act and perpetuates residential segregation," said Shanna L. Smith, NFHA's President and CEO. "Racial steering hurts buyers and sellers alike. We are proud to stand with the Justice Department to root out discrimination in our neighborhoods.

"While this case involves one agent, we hope this settlement sends a clear message to the housing industry that real estate agents and companies will be held accountable to the law. The Justice Department has moved swiftly to address this case and we hope to see more of the same from them in the future."

In February United States District Judge Ruben Castillo approved a consent decree requiring RE/MAX East-West Realty in Illinois to pay $120,000 to the NFHA along with 'substantive injunctive relief' to resolve a housing discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of the NFHA by the Department of Justice.

The lawsuit was the result of a charge of discrimination brought by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Chicago. The settlement also requires RE/MAX East-West to engage the services of a qualified organization to provide fair housing training to its agents, in addition to maintaining records and the submission of periodic reports to the Justice Department.

"This agent of RE/MAX East-West blatantly discriminated against Latinos," continued Smith. "NFHA intends to continue its real estate testing program and identify and prosecute agents who engage in racial steering and other discriminatory housing practices. Real estate agents receive high quality fair housing training from their local and national trade groups so when any agent or company violates the law, they do it willingly."

The complaint was filed in 2005.

Discrimination law is in place to protect against racial discrimination, as well as age discrimination in all sectors of society. For example, in the workplace an individual should not be negatively affected simply by his age if he is qualified to do the job. And many individuals of certain ethnic origins are stereotyped as being low-income. In the case of the racially-discriminating real estate agent, he was assuming his potential client could only afford low-income housing just because she was Latino, when the opposite was true.

It's ironic that this racial discrimination case comes to light in the same year that American elected its first African-American President. Discrimination, while it sadly still exists, is old news and remains completely out of place in today's globalized society. If you have been a victim of discrimination in any way—even when trying to buy a house—seek the services of a qualified attorney.