Group teaches tenants about housing rights
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
With a tight rental market already creating fierce competition for affordable housing, the Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i wants to make sure illegal discrimination is not making the search for a home any harder.
Betty Sugarman and Jessica DelaCruz, coordinators for the Fair Housing Education and Outreach Project, taught a handful of people yesterday about their rights when looking for a home or already renting. They want to reach an even larger audience.
"A lot of people don't know about housing discrimination," DelaCruz said.
DelaCruz said there is no way to gauge how prevalent housing discrimination is here, but noted the society's two-year-old fair housing hotline receives two to three calls a day.
According to state and federal law, real estate agents and owners cannot discriminate against people because of their color, race, religion, sex, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, marital status, familial status and HIV infection. That means that they cannot refuse to rent to someone in a protected class, set different terms on a lease, or lie about the availability of housing.
"Discrimination can be indirect, subtle or invisible. It can also be blatant. It is always painful," Sugarman said.
A landlord or real estate agent guilty of discrimination could have to make reasonable accommodations for the complainant, adopt a nondiscrimination policy, attend fair housing education or pay fines or damages to the victim. A landlord cannot evict a tenant for filing a housing complaint.
DelaCruz offered several examples of discrimination based on someone's name or a real estate agent's assumption about the applicant.
In one example, a person with a Samoan last name trying to buy a house in Kahala was told that buying in Kalihi or Waipahu would be better because of the real estate agent's assumptions about extended family.
In other examples, applicants with children were told they could not rent units above the ground floor or were advised to rent somewhere else.
However, some concerns renters have are not covered by discrimination laws, such as a landlord's refusing to let tenants keep pets.
For assistance with a complaint, call Legal Aid's Fair Housing Enforcement Program at 527-8024 from O'ahu or (866) 527-3247 from the Neighbor Islands. For more information about your housing rights, call 527-8063.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
