Sunday, November 20, 2005
By CRISTINA DE LEON-MENJIVAR
Register Staff Writer
NAPA VALLEY REGISTER
Housing experts can hear the sound of discrimination in Napa County. A recent study by a North Bay housing rights group found that rental seekers with an identifiable Latino voice will face discrimination or disparate treatment in Napa County 70 percent of the time.
The audit, including phone calls from testers pretending to be rental seekers, was performed earlier this year in Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties by Fair Housing of Marin.
Audit coordinators selected rental listings randomly, based on advertisements in the major newspapers of the counties and on Craigslist. Twenty sites were selected in each county. Telephone tests used paired teams of Caucasian and Latino testers, with each member matched closely as possible in age, gender and manner.
Testers followed a script and called a maximum of three times, leaving a message each time. Latino testers used Spanish names and pronunciations, and began phone calls using a Spanish word or phrase such as “bueno” instead of “hello.” Each tester recorded the results of the conversation in detail, including information revealed about the unit, terms and conditions, the application process and any prerequisites.
Stanford University linguistics professor John Baugh conducted a separate study finding that people can correctly identify race 80 percent of the time simply by the way the speaker pronounces the word “hello.”
Napa County results
“A total of 14 tests ... showed Latino testers encountering some discrepancies or disadvantages in treatment” in Napa, stated the FHM report.
According to the report, 5 percent of testers experienced differential treatment and 65 percent experienced mixed differential treatment. FHM defines differential treatment as having “a demonstrable discrepancy in the amount, quality or substance of the information the testers received, to the disadvantage of the Latino tester.” Mixed differential treatment is defined as “(having) a disparity between the information received, but it did not rise to the level of clear differential treatment, either because the discrepancies did not overall favor the Caucasian tester, or because the differences did not involve significant factors.
“Sadly, our agency is not surprised by the findings,” said Kathryn Winter, Fair Housing Napa Valley executive director. “It confirms the daily stories we hear from our Latino clients, and it highlights why the Napa community must be told that this type of discrimination happens. That way they can join us in fighting these housing practices that are unfair to Napa’s hardworking Latino families and damaging to the community’s social fabric.”
In one Napa County case, an agent, the person answering questions about the rental, offered the Caucasian tester a free credit check, but quoted a fee to the Latino tester.
In another test, an agent gave the Caucasian tester the options of a seven or 13-month lease, but told the Latino tester that a 13-month lease is required.
Another case found that an agent promptly asked the Latino tester whether he has children and asked where he works, what he does there, whether his wife works as well, and why they are moving. To the Caucasian tester, the same agent only asked whether she worked in Napa before revealing details about the unit, telling the tester she hoped to hear from her soon.
Follow-up procedures
According to the report, Fair Housing of Marin plans to send out letters to agents who the agency believes violated the law, stating that their actions will not be tolerated and offering information on Fair Housing Act training and education.
FHA also plans a countywide campaign to increase awareness and offer training to owners, managers and agents.
Peter Dreier, head of the Napa Valley Housing Authority, said the discrimination displayed in the study is “an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed.”
“The (training and education that Fair Housing) recommends for those who violated laws is important because it will educate (agents) that they are responsible and can be held liable for their actions.”