One week after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Congress passed Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act, known as the federal Fair Housing Act. This legally prohibited race and religion-based discrimination against people seeking to rent or buy a home. In 1988, the act was amended to include people with children and people with disabilities. Seven years later, the Department of Housing and Urban Development pronounced certain gray-area phrases (“master bedroom,” which suggests a household hierarchy; “bachelor apartment,” which suggests the absence of family) acceptable.
Because gray areas are many, a lot of realtors and real estate editors maintain their own lists of words and phrases to avoid. David Schlamm, president of City Connections, told the New York Times that his firm had flagged seemingly innocuous turns of phrase such as “perfect for shares or families.”
According to the Times, similar “fair housing lists” forbid such obviously offensive criteria as “no crippled,” “no AIDS,” “English only,” and “sophisticated,” as well as less volatile expressions like “fisherman’s retreat” (code for “men only”) and “empty nesters” (which is a subtle way of saying children are not allowed, according to housing lawyer Diane Houk). “Traditional neighborhood” can be seen as discriminatory, for traditional reasons, as can “No Appalachians,” for obvious ones.
It’s hard to imagine looking at an apartment and being told, “This is a traditional neighborhood, so no Appalachians,” but the Times asked its online readers for tales of housing discrimination, and some of the responses are rather chilling. One, posting as “DG,” was told that the management of one building in Rosedale “didn’t want to smell fried chicken and see a line of clothes drying in the yard.”
Another, posting as “Oculus,” considers fair housing laws “nice PC baloney,” and expressed incredulity that Craigslist had removed postings in which he’d specifically sought gay tenants for his rental properties.
In my own experience, I once responded to an ad for an apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant which expressed a preference for “those who want to live in Bed-Stuy because of its importance to African-American culture.” And another New York landlord once told me he didn’t allow his tenants to burn incense, because “incense usually means you’re doing something bad.” I couldn’t help but think of the Catholic Church.
