Testing, testing – are you sure you want to move to Park Ridge?

The Interfaith Housing Center of the North Suburbs deploys trained volunteers in matched pairs to test for instances of housing discrimination. The organization’s Fall 2010 Newsletter (PDF) reports that:

By far, African Americans are more likely than not to be denied or discouraged rental housing (55%). Unlike their white “matches” in the paired tests, Black testers were told that security deposits
would be higher, required additional application fees, not offered the same move-in perks, stood up in meetings with agents, and even asked, in one case, “Are you sure you want to move to Park Ridge?”

African Americans are also treated differently, about 35% of the time, in the sales market, primarily by being shown different properties in different neighborhoods than their white counterparts.