The role of Shoppers or Testers in reducing discrimination in the housing industry

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The role of Shoppers or Testers in reducing discrimination in the housing industry Discrimination Although racism and discrimination have a long history in the USA, there are people who still behave badly toward other people based on their race, gender, or nationality today. A growing number of people of color, immigrants, and people from different religions are subject to discrimination today, and reverse racism is also a problem.

When some people want to rent a property or buy property they face this discrimination. In order to counter this discrimination in the housing sector, the Fair Housing Act is enforced, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and family status when renting or buying a property.

Shoppers/Testers Testers are people who pretend to be prospective renters or purchasers of real estate without a bonafide intention to do so. To find out the relevancy of this discrimination by the property owners or agents or other related people Shoppers/Testers are used.

In order to determine if housing providers are complying with fair housing laws, these individuals gather information. Testers play a critical role in ensuring that fair housing laws are enforced fairly and vigorously.

Members of local communities, professional actors, volunteers, and non-attorney department employees are used as Testors after they successfully complete their training. These testers are either hired by a private company or hired by HUD-financed offices for the purpose of testing.

How shoppers or testers conduct their testing investigations and fight

discrimination ● Mobile: The tester calls the property owner or the company that is selling the property or making it available for people to rent it after they received the fair housing complaints or even without them to check if you are following the fair housing laws. They call the landlord or the agent and ask different questions related to the apartment or house like size, price, rooms, rent, amenities, pets, etc. After asking questions they also give some information about themselves such as their family, criminal background, and income. A similar test is conducted by the other tester with a non-native accent, who tells things about themselves that could lead to discrimination from the property owner or

Article Source https://complianceprime.wordpress.com/2022/11/23/the-role-of-shoppers-or-testers-in-reducing-discri mination-in-the-housing-industry/

company handling the property. Whenever they find something discriminatory, the justice department takes appropriate legal action. ● Face-to-face: While phone testing is more common, face to face testing is more reliable and gives more compelling evidence. In this type of testing the tester visits the property in person and shows interest in buying the property or renting it, and like in phone testing here also multiple testers can be used, one that is white and another is a person of color. They all notice and ask different questions and mention things like children, pets, disabilities, family size, and gender, and if they witness anything that is against fair housing then they collect all the evidence of the discrimination and then government agencies take appropriate legal action against them if they found guilty of not following the fair housing laws.

Besides HUD-financed offices, many private and non-profit organizations conduct these tests.

Call recordings, voice recordings, video recordings, emails, and messages are all used by testers to gather information.

The final note: Everyone should follow the fair housing practice and not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, gender, religion, religion and language otherwise they have to face legal action. If someone is not following the fair housing practice then Testers and fair housing organizations find such people and collect the necessary evidence, and assist authorities to take legal action against them for their discriminatory practices.