[CIVIL. REG.,032996,0800]

Housing Tests

(Iowa Civil Rights Commission; 03/29/96; 0800)


IOWA CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDUCTS HOUSING TESTS IN WEBSTER CITY

On February 7 and 9, 1996, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) conducted 12 housing tests in Webster City, Iowa and found no violations of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Everyone tested in Webster City passed, including a landlord who was tested twice.

In response to an ad in the local newspaper, ICRC testers called the landlord to arrange a viewing of her one bedroom upstairs apartment. Each of the "race" testers made appointments to see the unit. The landlord treated the two testers, one African American and the other White, equally well. Both were shown the apartment and both were given the same information about rent, deposit, lease, and availability.

The landlord clearly passed the race test, but she said something during each of the on- site testers' visits which prompted the testing coordinator to plan a second or follow-up "familial status" test. The landlord asked the first on-site race tester, "Do you have a family?" She asked the second, "Do you have children?" Because neither tester posed as an applicant with children, the landlord did not have to respond when the testers answered, "No." After the race test was completed, each of the testers reported to the testing coordinator that the apartment had two extra rooms which could be used as bedrooms. The testing coordinator was concerned that the landlord may be calling the unit a one bedroom when it was really a two or three bedroom in order to discourage families with children from inquiring or making application.

During the follow-up familial status telephone test a week later, the landlord not only didn't discourage the tester family with children but actually encouraged them to make application. She asked the "familial status" tester, "Do you have children?" When the tester answered, "Yes, two daughters, 3 and 5," the landlord volunteered to say that an elementary school was only four to five blocks away and that the apartment had a fenced-in backyard for the little ones to play in. In the follow-up test, the landlord appeared to welcome families with children; she expressed no discriminatory intent.

Under the "Iowa Civil Rights Act," a landlord cannot refuse to rent to persons because of race, sex, national origin, disability, religion, or familial status (the presence of persons under age 18 in the household). Also under the Act, landlords cannot discourage persons from making application or considering their rental property because of one of those protected personal characteristics.

Under the current testing program funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the ICRC is testing landlords and realtors in 51 Iowa communities to determine whether applicants for rental units are treated differently because of race, disability, or familial status.

Since February 15, 1995, the ICRC has conducted 767 tests of landlords and realtors in 41 communities and found 120 possible violations of fair housing laws.

The ICRC's purpose in testing is to educate and reform. Everyone who is tested is contacted and informed about the test and the test results. Persons who pass the tests are thanked for following the law and persons who do not pass are either counseled regarding the law or served with a complaint, depending on the seriousness of the violation.

The ICRC has recently published a new, 16-page Fair Housing Guide which is free upon request. For a copy, contact the ICRC's public education officer, Carol Leach, at 515-281-8354.