Fair Housing

Still at this landlord training, I’m om-nom-nomming on a tiny roast beef sandwich. It starts out pretty much how you’d expect-

• Here’s the application for the license you need
• Here’s what a sample lease looks like
• Don’t just copy this sample lease
• Seriously, don’t
• Get a lawyer for your lease
• Here’s what happens when you didn’t get a lawyer for your lease

But then the topic of Fair Housing comes up, and that’s where a solid hour of this two-hour presentation went.

Not in describing what fair housing (laws against housing discrimination) is, but mostly a discussion on this sentence:

Landlord states that there is a discount for members of the Italian-American Club.

And then we’re supposed to discuss whether or not that’s discriminatory. It went into a million specific branches:

Person 1: Well, you don’t really know the nationality of the people in that club, do you?

Person 2: See, it’s not a race thing because it’s a club. There are black Italians, you know!

Person 3: I don’t get it. Participation in the Italian-American club is voluntary… so this should be okay, right?

So. It’s not okay. This conversation went on way too long, but I suppose it’s necessary for everyone to get on the same page.

Presenter: Okay. So we’re all settled on this right? That’s discrimination.

All: Yeah.

Presenter: Next sample: Landlord states the apartment is in a good Christian community.

Person 1: That’s not discrimination- it’s a statement of who lives in the area.

Person 2: What, renters don’t want a breakdown of demographics in their potential area?

Me, quietly: Oh, Christ.