North Bay housing report finds discrimination against Latino renters in 3 counties

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- In the North Bay, a new fair housing report finds that landlords in Marin and two other counties are discriminating against Latino renters and families with children. Those findings have been uncovered by Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California.

The nonprofit says rental housing discrimination is a real thing in the North Bay.
"We wanted to see how Latinx parents were being treated at the pre-application rental inquiry stage," said Fair Housing Advocates Attorney Julia Howard-Gibbon.

Howard-Gibbon says between January and April of 2023, they investigated landlords at random, operating 60 rental properties in Marin, Solano and Sonoma Counties and found some level of discrimination at 58% of the properties.

Advocates say Marin County had the highest incidence of discrimination at about 66%. In its investigation, the organization says 52% of test calls to landlords made by trained testers reveled evidence of discrimination against renters with children, and 31% showed evidence of discrimination against Latino renters.

"The Latina called up and said she had two children. Landlord said, sorry that's too small for a family of three. The white tester called and (they) said, 'Sure, that should be no problem. We can make it work,'" said Howard-Gibbon.
The report says Sonoma County saw a 35% discrimination level against Latinos. Solano County showed the least overall bias, at 25% against renters with children.

"We want landlords to understand what the law is. Maybe they are unaware that people in their office are saying these thing," Howard-Gibbon added.

Canal Alliance reacted to the report saying in a statement:
"This issue has impacted our community for far too long, denying Latinos and families with children their right to equal housing. Marin deserves better, and it's time to dismantle these discriminatory barriers and build a truly inclusive community where everyone can thrive," said CEO Omar Cabrera.
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"I don't know what their bias was," said Joby Tapia, president of Marin Rental Property Owners Association.
Advocates for rental property owners question how the report was conducted.

"Most owners we talked to are well aware of fair housing laws. And regulations, racism is not the case," Tapia said.

"Finding one is significant. The fair housing act was passed in 1968. We still don't want to believe people are discriminating," Howard-Gibbon said.

Fair housing advocates say they will send letters to landlords who they believe discriminated against potential renters and could pursue legal action in the future.

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