[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: Toronto study finds the most vulnerable renters are the most likely to be refused

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Rae <rae at blindcanadians.ca>
Date: 2009/7/7
Subject: Toronto study finds the most vulnerable renters are the most likely
to be refused
To: members at blindcanadians.ca


Turned away at the door; Toronto study finds the most vulnerable renters are
the most likely to be refused

Laurie Monsebraaten
The Toronto Star, July 7, 2009

At first, Kristen Stewart thought it was just bad timing when several
apartments she was hoping to rent were no longer available when she showed
up to view them.

But when a landlord looked her in the eye and coldly said he didn't rent to
teens with babies, the truth hit like a slap in the face. As a young, black,
single mom on welfare, nobody wanted to rent to her.

And she is not alone.

A groundbreaking study, to be released today, estimates that about one in
four black, single parents and households on social assistance face moderate
to severe discrimination in Toronto's tight rental market. The same is true
for South Asians.

For those with a mental illness, more than one-third face discrimination
when they inquire about available apartments, the study found.

"Even when rental housing is available, thousands of marginalized
individuals and families cannot make it through the door," says the report
by the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation.

"Any strategies to address homelessness and housing insecurity must address
this reality."

The study, one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in Canada,
was funded through a $90,000 grant from the Atkinson Charitable Foundation,
established by former Toronto Star publisher Joseph E. Atkinson.

Ontario's Human Rights Code protects renters from discrimination on a
variety of grounds, including family status, age, disability, colour, ethnic
background and reliance on social assistance.

To test landlord compliance, the centre created five "renter profiles" - a
single mother with one child; a black single mother with one child; a single
South Asian man, a single man with a mental illness and a married woman on
provincial disability benefits.

Volunteers posing as these vulnerable renters made telephone inquires about
982 apartments listed for rent across Toronto last summer. Each call was
followed up within 11/2 hours by another volunteer with no discernable
grounds for discrimination.

Each pair asked the same 12 questions and the landlords' responses were
recorded and analyzed for mild, moderate or severe differential treatment.

For example, to gauge discrimination against the South Asian man, one caller
used a distinct South Asian accent and name, while the second caller had no
accent and used a Western European name.

Discrimination against the South Asian man ranged from not having his call
returned to being told the unit was already rented when it was still
available.

The South Asian man also faced extra application requirements such as being
asked for postdated cheques. And 31 per cent of the time, he was offered
fewer move-in incentives such as free cable TV, the study found.

"In some cases, the landlord makes the unit so unappealing that he doesn't
have to turn the person down," said John Fraser, the centre's program
director.

The centre's results are similar to those from studies in the United States,
where community-based organizations regularly monitor discrimination in
rental housing, Fraser said.

He hopes Queen's Park will fund local groups to use the centre's model to
track the situation.

The centre is also calling on the province to fund more human-rights cases
based on housing discrimination and to beef up support for local agencies
that help households facing these barriers.

Education is also key, says Barbara Hall, chief of Ontario's Human Rights
Commission, which held consultations on housing discrimination last year and
will release a related policy document this summer.

"I think it's fair to say most people are not aware there is a human rights
component to housing," Hall said in an interview.

"The commission has never focused on this issue and it's something we and
other commissions in Canada are just beginning to investigate."

The study's findings translate into tens of thousands of Torontonians
potentially facing discrimination, including about 6,000 single parents,
2,000 of whom are single black parents like Stewart.

About 10,000 South Asians and nearly 15,000 Torontonians receiving Ontario
Works or Ontario Disability Support Program benefits and more than 8,000
people with schizophrenia in Toronto experience significant discriminatory
barriers every year, the study says.

And the numbers likely are low because those who don't face discrimination
during the initial phone call could be treated unfairly when they view the
apartment or fill out an application, it adds.

That was Stewart's experience, and the incident two years ago left her hurt
and confused. "I was stunned. I couldn't believe someone would say something
like that."

Stewart, now 18 and living with her 2-year-old daughter in a subsidized
apartment in the city's east end, has just completed high school and is
about to
start college.

"I hope this study makes people more aware so this sort of thing stops," she
said.




-- 
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant.” June Callwood
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and
renders the present inaccessible.  Maya Angelou
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