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Senior Citizen Voice Triggers Housing Discrimination
Elderly-sounding voice does not get call backs in
Chicago
Oct. 25, 2005 - If you are a senior citizen looking
for a home to rent, you may be out of luck the moment you leave a
message on the landlord’s voice mail. At least that is what a research
team from the New York-based Perisphere Institute discovered when they
recently conducted a telephone audit of Chicago rental listings.
The Perisphere researchers (see Editor's note below
story) say they discovered age and gender discrimination based solely on
the sound of the prospective renter’s voice.
This project was modeled after a 2001 racial
discrimination phone-based study conducted by Professor Douglas Massey
when he was at the University of Pennsylvania.
In the Chicago study, four auditors (two females
and two males - one elderly and one “about 40” in each pair) made 272
calls to 68 agents/landlords who advertised their real estate in local
print media. The auditors followed a standard script with virtually
identical life histories, incomes, and rent requirements.
Results indicated, while the “40ish-sounding” male
was invited to inspect a rental 81% of the time, the elderly male was
offered an invitation only six out of ten times.
The “40ish-sounding” female was offered a rental
for inspection about three-quarters (76%) of the time while the elderly
female fared the worst (receiving an invitation to inspect a rental only
54% of the time).
Landlords of small buildings were more apt to
discriminate against the elderly than were agents from large,
corporately-owned complexes.
And, if the researchers did get to speak with an
agent, the elderly “prospective renters” were frequently quoted higher
security deposits and more unfavorable lease terms.
After the quantitative audit portion of the study
was completed, the researchers interviewed a sample of the
“discriminating” agents and landlords.
According to Perisphere principal investigator Mary
Frances De Rose, “Some of the landlords told us they didn’t want their
buildings to become ‘retirement homes.’ And many of them expressed
concern that older tenants might suffer from dementia or be physically
disabled. Sometimes it was a kind of ‘anticipatory discrimination’ in
which a landlord would tell us, ‘These people may not be demented or
handicapped now but that is probably where they are headed.’”
This biased assumption is important to note: While
(senior) age discrimination is illegal according to local and state
laws, the elderly are not a protected class under federal fair housing
laws.
But the physically and mentally disabled are
protected under all levels of government. Therefore, an elderly person
who is discriminated against for the reasons mentioned by these
landlords could pursue a federal remedy as well. However, it is the
researchers hope, they say, that lawsuits can be avoided through
educational interventions.
De Rose added, “The results of our Chicago study
were certainly disappointing but not surprising. I’ve worked with the
elderly on several unrelated projects and they frequently told me they
were having trouble finding rental housing even though they had a
guaranteed income and wonderful references.
“And, personally, I encountered this form of
discrimination about a decade ago when I tried to secure an apartment in
New York for my then 80-year old father.
“Because of his experience, I initially wanted to
conduct this exploratory study in Manhattan -- but the housing market
there, regardless of your age, gender, or income, operates in its own
Dantean circle.
“Therefore, I selected Chicago because it,
generally, is a more representative, friendlier market. We
hypothesized, if we found evidence of age discrimination here, then it’s
probably happening throughout the country.”
With this in mind, the Perisphere team recently
replicated this study in four additional U.S. cities. The combined
results will be published next year, they say in the news release.
Editor's Note: Mary Frances
De Rose is identified in this article as the investigator on this
project. The information for the story came from The Perisphere
Institute, which claims to be an interdisciplinary, independent applied
social science research and philanthropic development organization
funded by Columbia University alumni. Ms. De Rose is listed on a
one-page Website as the "chairperson." The Web URL is
www.perisphere-institute.org, which automatically takes you to -
http://www.geocities.com/mfderose/. There are articles written by
"Mary Frances De Rose" on the Internet that list her as a Chicago-based writer. She is
also listed as the owner of the perisphere-institute.org domain name and as
living in New York.
On the Web site it states, "The
official site for Perisphere/MetaFund is password protected. Current
programs include: MetaAnalytics ▪ Fortis Fellowships ▪ Doctor of Social
Justice Program ▪ VESTA Project ▪ Council on Ethical Leadership in
Higher Education ▪ Santé Services ▪ F2F Caregiving Fund ▪
ISAACollaboratory ▪ SEAChange ▪ Pinnacle Post-Doctoral Program ▪
ElderArts ▪ Legacy Theatre Workshop ▪ CauseCélèbre ▪ Social Service
Research Trust ▪ Columbiana Endowment ▪ 06511 Endowment ▪ Perisphere
Quarterly"
The Perisphere was a central
structure of the New York World's Fair of 1939-1940. The
tremendous sphere housed a diorama called "Democracity" which, depicted
a utopian city-of-the-future. Democracity was viewed from above on a
moving sidewalk, under movies displayed on the sides of the sphere.
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