RACISM ALIVE AND WELL IN REAL ESTATE AS WHITE HOMEOWNERS REFUSE TO SHOW, SELL HOMES TO BLACK, HISPANIC HOMEBUYERS

And some even barred black realtors who were trying to show the home to white buyers as well..
Damn.. Talk about being racist. WHAT THE CRAP IS WRONG WITH WHITE PEOPLE!?
 Lord Help Us Jesus. 

Real state agents Leslie Hammond, left, and Cheryl Hilton say they encounter bias
all too frequently from other agents and homeowners

When Leslie Hammond became a real estate agent in 1993, some of her clients were first-time buyers moving out of the North End's old Stowe Village housing project.

The stories she would hear — and the people she met — let her know that when it comes to real estate, we haven't come very far. Even today, real estate agents are steering clients to (and away from) particular neighborhoods. White homeowners refuse to sell — or even show — property to African American or Hispanic clients. Landlords refuse to show rentals to Section 8 clients. The list is long, disheartening — and illegal.


People should be allowed to live where they choose. Ethical real estate agents do not serve as gatekeepers for neighborhoods or communities. They show clients the range of housing available.

Hammond and another agent, Cheryl Hilton, have been pushing for more mandatory fair housing training for their profession. Every two years, real estate agents and brokers are required to take 12 hours of training in topics such as realty security, listings and short sales. Fair housing law training has been tucked into a three-hour course on general real estate law, but other states — among them Ohio, Massachusetts and New York — have a separate training for fair housing.

I thought everyone is encouraged to sign a buyers agreement, I know I was.

On Wednesday, Hilton, Hammond and Erin Kemple, Connecticut Fair Housing Center's executive director, testified at the Connecticut Real Estate Commission to ask for more training. Commissioners acted surprised — and angry — at the ignorance behind the discriminatory practices the women discussed. They also seemed anxious to address the issue, and will return to it at the next meeting in October.

This is acutely important in segregated Connecticut. A February report from Connecticut Voices for Children said that in this state, a typical black student attends a school where the student body is 71 percent students of color, while Hispanic students attend schools that are 65 percent students of color. Meanwhile, white Connecticut students tend to attend predominantly (75 percent) white schools.

Segregated schools reflect segregated neighborhoods. Though the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination based on things like race, color, national origin, gender, disability, religion and familial status, the reality is that this stuff still happens. In Connecticut, other protected classes include ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, income, and gender identity or expression.

"There's been two times in my career where I've gone to the home, and the homeowner was there, but they wouldn't let me in," said Hilton. "My clients are white. I'm black. The agent was like, 'I'm so sorry.' 'So sorry' is not enough."

As the video below shows, racism in home buying has been around a long time.


Kemple's Connecticut Fair Housing Center just published a three-year study that looks at how our real estate market treats African Americans and Latino/Hispanics looking for housing in Connecticut. The report found, among other discriminatory practices:

•Less favorable treatment for African American testers in more than 75 percent of home sales tests. In rental tests, African American testers received less favorable treatment 55 percent of the time.

Latinos were treated less favorably than Caucasians in 61 percent of tests statewide, and in 73 percent of the tests in New Haven County.

Housing providers made it clear in 71 percent of the tests that they would not make housing available to a person unless he or she could prove that he or she could live independently.

"Even when they go into a real estate agency, have similar income and credit scores, and are pre-approved, there are still differences in the way they're treated," Kemple said. Her office found that compared to white testers, African American testers had to go to multiple appointments and often couldn't get a call back from realty offices. Black testers also had to sign a buyer's agreement — when white testers didn't. Sometimes, when black testers were allowed to see a house, they were asked for a photo ID.

Too often, in their enthusiasm to rent or sell, property owners ask real estate agents to do things those agents legally shouldn't. Ignoring the law gets in the way of a real estate agent's true purpose, Hilton says.

"With real estate, we are building community," Hilton said. "We are not selling homes. We're building community." Tough to do that through the fog of discrimination.

Susan Campbell teaches at Central Connecticut State University and Manchester Community College. She is the author of "Dating Jesus: Fundamentalism, Feminism and the American Girl" and "Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker." Her email address is isabellabeecherhooker@gmail.com.


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