Investigation calls attention to housing discrimination in Sonoma, Marin, Solano counties

A four-month investigation in three North Bay counties found that housing discrimination based on national origin was more common in Sonoma County than Marin or Solano counties, but that Marin had the highest rate of discrimination overall.

Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, or FHANC, examined rental practices at 20 properties in each county, using testers who posed by phone or email as either Latina or white potential renters with children.

The investigation tested for discrimination at the pre-application stage based on familial status (the presence of children) or national origin or a combination of both. It did not name specific properties, landlords or property management companies.

A small number of tests in Marin and Solano counties were discarded because of inconclusive results.

At four properties tested in Sonoma County, or 20%, managers, agents or landlords showed clear evidence of discrimination against the Latina tester based on her origin, according to the investigation; three other properties, or 15% of those tested, showed “some or potential evidence” of discrimination on the basis of national origin.

In Marin, 5% of properties tested showed clear evidence of national origin discrimination, while 26%showed some or potential evidence.

One of the Sonoma County examples of discrimination took place in Penngrove, said Caroline Peattie, executive director of San Rafael-based FHANC, a housing rights and advocacy group.

There, a Latina tester who called to inquire about an apartment was invited to view it, but after she mentioned she had two children, she was told it was too small and “it wouldn’t work.”

However, when a white tester later called and expressed interest in the unit for herself and two children, the owner said nothing about family size and offered to show her the apartment that night.

In an example from the city of Sonoma, a tester posing as a Latina with two kids responded to a listing and, Peattie said, was told by the landlord that he was prioritizing applicants with one or two occupants.

He said he would show her the unit but already had many interested applicants, many of them single occupants. When a tester posing as a white woman with two kids inquired about the same property the next day, the same person offered to show her the unit the next day. The landlord did not mention wanting to prioritize smaller households.

The investigation was conducted January through April 2023 and made public last month. FHANC serves only Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties.

‘Additional barriers’
“Particularly for single Latinx mothers, both familial status and national origin discrimination end up posing additional barriers to housing at a time when the Bay Area housing market is already extraordinarily tight,” said Peattie.

The most overall housing discrimination occurred in Marin County — where 67% of the tests revealed at least some evidence of discrimination — the FHANC investigation concluded. Marin also had the most discrimination based on familial status, 53% of the properties tested, the investigation found.

“What this tells me is that in both (Marin and Sonoma) counties there's a lot more work that needs to be done around educating housing providers about fair housing laws,” Peattie said.

Jennie Rihl, president of the 66-member Marin/Sonoma chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers, or NARPM, said the findings were not surprising — with a caveat.

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