April 14, 2022

A new Zillow report finds Black, Latinx, and Asian Americans pay $294 more in applications fees and security deposits, on average, than white renters. The disparities occur as soon as renters enter the market and continue through  move in. 

Home values in California increased by 180 percent in the past two decades while household incomes rose by only about 23 percent. This gap is affecting California’s Latinx households, who make up nearly 4 in 10 residents. Many have had to cut back on other necessities, like food and education, and it limits their future chances of homeownership. “They [Latinos] rent at higher shares than some other groups. And this is a challenge because it makes it difficult to save up for a down payment or to pay a mortgage because homeownership costs have risen so much,” said David Garcia, a policy director at the Terner Center. 

Homelessness among Americans ages 50 and older is rapidly growing as many struggle to pay surging rents after experiencing a job loss, divorce, death of a family member, or health crisis during the pandemic. One study projects the US population of people ages 65 and older experiencing homelessness will nearly triple by 2030, from 40,000 to 106,000. “We’re seeing a huge boom in senior homelessness. These are not necessarily people who have mental illness or substance abuse problems. They are people being pushed into the streets by rising rents,” said Kendra Hendry, a caseworker at Arizona’s largest shelter. 

A complaint filed this week by the Equal Rights Center in Washington, DC, accused a Cleveland Park apartment building of housing discrimination after it turned away applicants who hold housing vouchers. “Today marks 54 years since President Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act into law and in spite of that, neighborhoods in the District exhibit South African apartheid era levels of racial segregation,” said Kate Scott, executive director at the Equal Rights Center. “Source of income discrimination as detailed in the complaint we filed today is a primary modern-day mechanism continuing to drive those outcomes.”