Housing Discrimination Complaint Against Redfin in 10 Cities Including Baltimore

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has filed a federal complaint against the Redfin national real estate firm, alleging the company’s online listing services unlawfully favor white consumers and neighborhoods compared to their nonwhite counterparts in Baltimore and nine other cities.

The NFHA said that Redfin’s minimum home listing price guidelines violate the Fair Housing Act by denying service to customers in largely segregated communities: "Redfin redlines communities of color in this digital age by setting minimum home listing prices in each housing market on its website under which it will not offer any real estate brokerage services to buyers or sellers,” reads the complaint, adding that Redfin conducts much of its services online and has few in-person offices. “By disproportionately withholding its services to homebuyers and sellers in these communities, Redfin disincentivizes homebuying within these communities, reduces housing demand and values, and perpetuates residential segregation."

The NFHA complaint names Baltimore as one of 10 cities where Redfin is more likely to offer service in “Extremely White” ZIP codes (over 70% white) and less likely to list homes in “Extremely Non-White” ZIP codes (over 70% not white). The other cities named are Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, and Memphis, as well as Kansas City, Missouri; Newark, New Jersey; and Long Island, New York. 

The NFHA alleges that Redfin is over five times as likely to not offer services in Black neighborhoods in Baltimore, and more than six times as likely to offer its “Best Available Service” in white neighborhoods. The term “Best Available Service” refers to the most comprehensive level of service offered by the company, which connects buyers and sellers to Redfin agents and offers perks such as reduced listing commission fees and refunds.  

Redfin has denied the allegations.

Baltimore Sun

October 30, 2020

https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bs-bz-national-fair-housing-alliance-baltimore-complaint-redfin-20201029-zbkmdalxdndrtfltvvipi7o6xu-story.html

 New Book: 

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

by Martha S. Jones 

352 pages.

hardcover, $30.00

Basic Books, 2020.

This is an important book for all of us that has just been published in September, 2020. It interestingly tells the history of how black women fought for their right to vote, for overcoming various barriers restricting their vote, and the relevance for all voters. Anyone interested in civil rights, public access, and the political process should read this.

Like all civil rights laws, the Nineteenth Amendment was an achievement, but much remained - and remains - to be done.

From the Amazon description:

"In Vanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women's political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of black women -- Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more -- who were the vanguard of women's rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals."

STUDY FINDS LENDING DISCRIMINATION WITHIN THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM

A just-released study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has found that there has been racial discrimination in the implementation of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). 

The PPP is a lending program that provides money, in a potential grant format, to small businesses to help them weather the economic effects of the pandemic. The majority of the loan needs to be allocated for employee salaries and then the remainder can be used for other business expenses like rent and loan payments.

The study involved matched-pair testing for requesting loans in Washington, D.C. It was found that there was racial discrimination in levels of encouragement in applying for a loan, the products offered, and the information provided by the bank staffer.

To correct this, the NCRC proposes:

1. Financial institutions should implement rigorous compliance programs that include matched-pair testing of their bank branches and review of their decision to deny a PPP loan to ensure that there is no disparate treatment or impact. 

2. The federal government can aid compliance efforts by ensuring that data related to small business lending is made public. The SBA should immediately release the business name and address for businesses that were able to access a PPP loan for less than $150,000 and the terms of those loans, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should fast track its efforts to implement the Small Business Data Collection provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1071, that requires lenders to disclose small business loan data. 

Without these measures, it is concluded that existing disparities will continue, hampering economic development in minority  communities.

Read the study: https://ncrc.org/lending-discrimination-within-the-paycheck-protection-program/.

*****

Source: NCRC, November 6, 2020.