WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.819 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We have quite 00:00:03.819 --> 00:00:05.820 the stack on the table today. We certainly do. 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.539 I spent the entire weekend just reading through 00:00:08.539 --> 00:00:10.759 these reports, these sociological studies, all 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:13.179 the HUD data. And I have to be honest with you, 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:15.960 I walked away looking at my own neighborhood, 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:19.519 my own apartment complex, in a completely different 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:24.379 light. It's one of those topics where you think 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:27.120 you know the score, you know, but then you peel 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:29.449 back that first layer and you just... you realize 00:00:29.449 --> 00:00:31.789 you were only seeing a tiny fraction of the picture. 00:00:31.949 --> 00:00:33.670 Well, that's the goal, isn't it? To take something 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:35.570 that feels familiar, something that almost feels, 00:00:35.689 --> 00:00:38.450 you know, normal, and actually look at the machinery 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:41.289 underneath it all. Yeah. Because usually when 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:43.030 we talk about housing, the conversation is so 00:00:43.030 --> 00:00:45.070 surface level. We talk about interest rates. 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:47.450 We talk about location, location, location. We 00:00:47.450 --> 00:00:49.149 talk about, I don't know, the paint color in 00:00:49.149 --> 00:00:51.549 the kitchen. Right. But today we are talking 00:00:51.549 --> 00:00:53.810 about access. We are talking about who gets in, 00:00:53.869 --> 00:00:57.329 who gets kept out, and... And maybe most disturbingly, 00:00:57.329 --> 00:00:58.890 and this was the part that really stuck with 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:02.270 me, what happens to people once they are actually 00:01:02.270 --> 00:01:05.090 inside? We are talking about housing discrimination. 00:01:05.329 --> 00:01:07.829 It's a massive topic. And it's one of those things 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:10.209 where if you were to just walk down the street 00:01:10.209 --> 00:01:13.370 and ask the average person to define housing 00:01:13.370 --> 00:01:16.030 discrimination, they'd probably give you a very 00:01:16.030 --> 00:01:20.409 specific, almost vintage cinematic answer. They 00:01:20.409 --> 00:01:22.010 have a picture in their head. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:22.129 --> 00:01:25.290 The slam door, the do not enter sign, the landlord 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:27.590 shouting on the porch. It feels like a scene 00:01:27.590 --> 00:01:30.329 from a black and white movie or a history textbook 00:01:30.329 --> 00:01:33.909 about the 1960s. Exactly. And don't get me wrong, 00:01:33.969 --> 00:01:35.930 our sources show that definitely still happens. 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:38.950 It's not gone. The slam door is real. It is not 00:01:38.950 --> 00:01:43.719 gone. But, and this is the key. What we're going 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:46.219 to find out today is that if that is the only 00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:48.420 thing you are looking for, you are going to miss 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:50.799 about 90 % of what is actually happening in the 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:54.700 housing market right now. The reality is so much 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:57.680 more complex, so much more subtle, and frankly, 00:01:57.739 --> 00:02:00.420 just much more pervasive than just a single rude 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:03.040 landlord. It's the difference between a sign 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:07.079 in the window and like a silent algorithm. That's 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:10.039 it. Or a quiet administrative decision that no 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:13.169 one ever sees. Precisely. Our mission for this 00:02:13.169 --> 00:02:16.370 deep dive is to move beyond those obvious refusals. 00:02:16.409 --> 00:02:18.629 We really need to look at the structural patterns, 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:21.509 the sources we have today, and this includes 00:02:21.509 --> 00:02:24.669 detailed sociological classifications, government 00:02:24.669 --> 00:02:27.069 reports from HUD in the U .S., and international 00:02:27.069 --> 00:02:30.889 data from the OECD. They paint a picture of a 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:33.789 system that dictates not just where people sleep 00:02:33.789 --> 00:02:36.389 at night, Right. But how they accumulate wealth 00:02:36.389 --> 00:02:38.569 and what their economic trajectory looks like 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:41.469 for their entire lives. It's the difference between 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:43.729 just having a roof over your head and actually 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:46.409 building a future. I think that's the stake we 00:02:46.409 --> 00:02:48.210 need to set right at the top here. Yes. This 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:49.990 isn't just about comfort. It's about destiny 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:52.030 in a way. It is. So we're going to look at the 00:02:52.030 --> 00:02:54.949 mechanisms of how this works. The how. We're 00:02:54.949 --> 00:02:56.030 going to look at the different types because, 00:02:56.110 --> 00:02:58.879 spoiler alert. It is not just about getting in 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.199 the door. It happens once you're inside, too, 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:03.400 which creates a sort of trap. And we have some 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:05.460 data coming up later in the discussion regarding 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:09.599 gender that I... I honestly found shocking. I 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:11.460 had to read it three times to make sure I wasn't 00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:14.919 misinterpreting the charts. It completely challenges 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:18.000 the common assumptions we tend to hold about 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.500 who gets favored in the housing market. It really 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:22.639 does. It's a bit of a paradox, and it raises 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:25.560 some really, really difficult questions about 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:28.240 homelessness and, frankly, about our societal 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:30.300 blind spots. I'll get there. We will get there. 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.020 But first, we need to lay the groundwork. Okay, 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:34.860 let's unpack this. Let's start with a baseline 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:38.050 definition. When we look at the source material, 00:03:38.270 --> 00:03:40.889 specifically the breakdown from the sociological 00:03:40.889 --> 00:03:44.490 definitions provided, what are we actually talking 00:03:44.490 --> 00:03:46.870 about when we say housing discrimination? Because 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:48.789 it feels like a term that gets thrown around 00:03:48.789 --> 00:03:51.629 so loosely in political debates, but we need 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:53.590 the technical definition here. Okay, so let's 00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:56.810 tighten it up. At its core, based on the source 00:03:56.810 --> 00:04:00.210 material, housing discrimination refers to patterns 00:04:00.210 --> 00:04:02.849 of discrimination that affect a person's ability 00:04:02.849 --> 00:04:06.319 to rent or to buy housing. But here is the key 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:10.099 distinction. This disparate treatment is based 00:04:10.099 --> 00:04:12.080 on group characteristics. So we're talking about 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:17.040 race, age, gender, marital status, or the source 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:18.939 of their funding like. whether they're using 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:21.980 a housing voucher or their own cash. And interestingly, 00:04:22.139 --> 00:04:24.220 the sources also mentioned it can be based on 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:26.680 the place where a person currently lives. Yes. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:28.740 That seemed unique to me. I hadn't really thought 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:31.160 about that angle. Right. It's that bias against 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:34.100 someone based on their address, which often acts 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:36.540 as a proxy for those other characteristics. Ah, 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:39.480 I see. So if a landlord sees an application coming 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:43.300 from a specific zip code or a specific housing 00:04:43.300 --> 00:04:46.379 project, they might apply a bias based on that 00:04:46.379 --> 00:04:49.029 location, assuming... It signals class or race 00:04:49.029 --> 00:04:52.290 or economic stability. It's a way of discriminating 00:04:52.290 --> 00:04:55.110 against a demographic without explicitly naming 00:04:55.110 --> 00:04:57.329 the demographic. Exactly. You're judging the 00:04:57.329 --> 00:04:59.810 address, not the person. Which creates this vicious 00:04:59.810 --> 00:05:02.449 loop then. You live in a disadvantaged area, 00:05:02.569 --> 00:05:04.470 so you can't get into a better area because of 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:07.350 where you live. So you just stay in the disadvantaged 00:05:07.350 --> 00:05:10.449 area. Exactly. And this isn't just about hurt 00:05:10.449 --> 00:05:12.670 feelings or, you know, the inconvenience of having 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:15.009 to apply to a few more places. The source material 00:05:15.009 --> 00:05:18.629 is very clear about the stakes here. This discrimination 00:05:18.629 --> 00:05:23.189 leads to two major sociological outcomes, spatial 00:05:23.189 --> 00:05:27.110 inequality and racial segregation. Spatial inequality. 00:05:27.370 --> 00:05:29.730 OK, that sounds like a jargon term you'd hear 00:05:29.730 --> 00:05:32.389 at an urban planning conference. But let's break 00:05:32.389 --> 00:05:34.290 that down. What does that actually mean for the 00:05:34.290 --> 00:05:37.009 person listening right now? It means that where 00:05:37.009 --> 00:05:40.069 you are geographically located, your physical 00:05:40.069 --> 00:05:43.449 place on the map determines your access to resources. 00:05:43.829 --> 00:05:47.120 So schools, jobs. All of it. Think about it. 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:49.360 Better neighborhoods generally have better funded 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:51.399 schools. They have better access to high paying 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:54.100 jobs. They have cleaner air. They have appreciating 00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:56.600 property values. Right. If discrimination sorts 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.040 people into specific areas, if it creates segregation, 00:05:59.339 --> 00:06:02.980 it directly exacerbates wealth disparities. So 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:05.339 if you're locked out of neighborhoods with appreciating 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:08.360 property values or good schools or jobs, you 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:10.420 aren't just losing a house. No. You're losing 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:12.920 economic momentum. You're losing the ability 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:16.089 to pass wealth on to your children. You're losing 00:06:16.089 --> 00:06:19.250 trajectory. It is about the trajectory of your 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:21.870 life. It is the difference between buying a house 00:06:21.870 --> 00:06:24.910 that doubles in value over 10 years and buying 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:29.129 a house that stagnates or even loses value. It's 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:31.990 not just shelter. It's an asset class. And if 00:06:31.990 --> 00:06:34.170 you're barred from the good asset classes, you 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:36.829 fall behind. You fall behind. Period. So if the 00:06:36.829 --> 00:06:39.410 stakes are that high, we need to know who is 00:06:39.410 --> 00:06:41.889 manning the gates. Who are the people pulling 00:06:41.889 --> 00:06:44.649 the levers here? Who are the gatekeepers? Well, 00:06:44.750 --> 00:06:46.670 the most obvious one, and the one the sources 00:06:46.670 --> 00:06:49.250 identify as the primary actor, is the landlord. 00:06:49.470 --> 00:06:52.189 Makes sense. The owner. They hold what the text 00:06:52.189 --> 00:06:54.720 calls positional power. They have the scarce 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.360 resource, the housing unit, and they have direct 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:59.620 access to you. They're the ones who say yes or 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:01.759 no. But they aren't the only ones, right? It 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:03.879 feels like the system has to be bigger than just 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.439 one guy with a set of keys. No. And this is where 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:10.439 the web gets wider and more bureaucratic. You 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:13.040 have real estate agents who decide which houses 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:16.540 to show you and which ones to hide from you. 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:18.939 You have insurance providers who decide which 00:07:18.939 --> 00:07:21.709 homes are insurable. And crucially, you have 00:07:21.709 --> 00:07:24.750 banking and lending institutions who decide who 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:26.490 gets the capital to buy the home in the first 00:07:26.490 --> 00:07:29.149 place. Right. The money. All of these entities 00:07:29.149 --> 00:07:32.050 act as gatekeepers. It's like a chain link fence. 00:07:32.269 --> 00:07:35.129 If any one of those links, the bank, the insurer, 00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:38.430 the agent decides to hold firm, you aren't getting 00:07:38.430 --> 00:07:41.829 through. Exactly. If the insurance provider refuses 00:07:41.829 --> 00:07:44.569 to insure a home for a specific type of family 00:07:44.569 --> 00:07:48.470 or in a specific neighborhood, well, the landlord 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:51.319 might not rent to them. or the bank certainly 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.019 won't finance them. So it's an ecosystem. It 00:07:54.019 --> 00:07:56.939 is an ecosystem of denial. A landlord might be 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:59.279 perfectly willing to rent to you, but if the 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.199 bank won't give you the loan or the insurance 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.879 company redlines the block, you're still out. 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:06.319 It really highlights how many hurdles there are. 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:08.259 I mean, it's not a single sprint. It's an obstacle 00:08:08.259 --> 00:08:10.879 course. It is. And that brings us to the first 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.339 major category of discrimination we need to discuss. 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:16.379 The sociologists mentioned in our source material. 00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:20.079 Vincent Racino, Diana Karafin, and Griff Tester 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:22.579 have a really useful way of classifying this 00:08:22.579 --> 00:08:25.060 to help us understand the mechanics. They split 00:08:25.060 --> 00:08:28.459 discrimination into two camps, exclusionary and 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:31.180 non -exclusionary. Okay, let's start with exclusionary. 00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:33.200 This sounds like what it says on the tin. It 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.240 is. It's pretty straightforward. Exclusionary 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:37.820 discrimination involves actions that seek to 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:39.539 prevent people from obtaining housing in the 00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:41.480 first place. So this is the getting in the door 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:44.539 phase. Exactly. This is what stops you from becoming 00:08:44.539 --> 00:08:46.620 a tenant or an owner. And this is where we see 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:49.080 the explicit stuff we touched on earlier. Yes. 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:52.639 Explicit refusals. This includes things like 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.519 harassment during the application process, verbal 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.539 abuse, or proactive requests and advertising. 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:01.720 You know, ads that might explicitly say no minorities 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:05.659 or specify exactly who they do want, which effectively 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:09.090 bans everyone else. Which, frankly, sounds like 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:11.309 something from 50 years ago. I think most listeners 00:09:11.309 --> 00:09:13.909 would assume that kind of overt racism is illegal 00:09:13.909 --> 00:09:16.389 and therefore gone. Right. But the sources imply 00:09:16.389 --> 00:09:18.809 this is still a mechanism that exists. It absolutely 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:20.789 exists, though often in more private channels 00:09:20.789 --> 00:09:24.330 or like whisper networks. But you are right. 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:26.549 The laws have made that harder. So discrimination 00:09:26.549 --> 00:09:29.570 evolves. It has to. It gets smarter. It shifts 00:09:29.570 --> 00:09:32.830 to what the sources call the implicit or stealth 00:09:32.830 --> 00:09:35.850 tactics. And I think this is where it gets really 00:09:35.850 --> 00:09:37.870 interesting and really frustrating for the victim, 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:41.649 because implicit discrimination is designed to 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:44.730 be deniable. Right. It's the I'm not discriminating. 00:09:44.730 --> 00:09:46.710 I'm just conducting business defense. That's 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:48.629 it. Give us some examples of what that looks 00:09:48.629 --> 00:09:52.230 like in the real world. OK, so one major tactic 00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:55.730 is lying about availability. This is a classic. 00:09:55.950 --> 00:09:58.950 A landlord tells a specific applicant, oh, I'm 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:00.950 so sorry, that unit just got taken this morning. 00:10:00.990 --> 00:10:03.679 We haven't taken the sign down yet. But if a 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.320 different applicant, someone from a different 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.940 demographic group, maybe a different race, walked 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:10.860 in 10 minutes later, suddenly that unit would 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:13.299 be available again. That is so insidious because 00:10:13.299 --> 00:10:15.639 how would you know? You wouldn't. Unless you 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:17.500 had a friend go in right after you or unless 00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:19.320 you were part of some kind of sting operation, 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:21.200 you just walk away thinking it was bad luck. 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.320 You think, oh, I was too slow. Exactly. It gaslights 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:27.620 the victim. It internalizes the failure. You 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:30.279 don't leave angry at the system. You leave disappointed 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.539 in your timing. Another implicit tactic is lying 00:10:33.539 --> 00:10:36.860 about rental qualification standards. This is 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:38.700 where they move the goalposts. How does that 00:10:38.700 --> 00:10:41.120 work? Well, they might tell one person, okay, 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:43.320 for this unit, you need a credit score of 800, 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:46.360 three months rent up front, and three references. 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:48.899 An impossible standard for most people. Right. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.440 They make the barrier so high that they know 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:53.879 the person will likely fail or just walk away. 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:56.679 But for another applicant, the preferred applicant, 00:10:56.940 --> 00:10:59.360 they might say standard credit check and one 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.480 month deposit. So they aren't... Technically 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:05.360 saying no. Oh. They're just making yes impossible 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:08.039 for that specific person. Precisely. It's a soft 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:11.019 ban. And then there's a really big one. Steering. 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:13.879 Yes. Steering. I wanted to highlight this because 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.340 the source material brings up a very specific 00:11:16.340 --> 00:11:20.259 pernicious form of this involving finances. This 00:11:20.259 --> 00:11:22.279 isn't just about showing someone the wrong neighborhood. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:25.080 It's about messing with their money. This is 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:27.789 a critical point. Consumer advocate groups conducted 00:11:27.789 --> 00:11:30.490 a number of studies on this. What they found 00:11:30.490 --> 00:11:33.110 was that minority borrowers who actually qualified 00:11:33.110 --> 00:11:35.710 for affordable traditional loans. So people who 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:37.809 did everything right. People who did everything 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:40.690 right, had the credit, had the income, had the 00:11:40.690 --> 00:11:44.029 stability, they were often steered toward high 00:11:44.029 --> 00:11:46.610 -priced subprime loans. Wait, let me make sure 00:11:46.610 --> 00:11:48.570 I understand this. So they qualified for the 00:11:48.570 --> 00:11:51.230 good loan, the safe loan with the low interest 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:54.279 rate. Yes. But the lenders push them toward the 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:58.299 risky, expensive one. Correct. Why? I mean, is 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:01.700 it just pure malice? Well, often there were financial 00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:04.620 incentives for the brokers to sell the riskier 00:12:04.620 --> 00:12:06.940 products, things like yield spread premiums and 00:12:06.940 --> 00:12:09.940 whatnot. But the effect was predatory discrimination 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:13.419 based on race. The source explicitly says these 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:15.240 were loans that they would never be able to repay. 00:12:15.460 --> 00:12:17.580 So it's also setting a trap. It is a financial 00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:20.620 trap. This is a form of exclusion that pretends 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:23.220 to be inclusion. Right. We're helping you. Oh, 00:12:23.299 --> 00:12:25.080 we are giving you a loan. We are helping you 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:27.820 buy a house. But it's a loan that is designed 00:12:27.820 --> 00:12:31.379 to fail. It leads to debt. It leads to foreclosure. 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:34.320 It's not just denying housing. It's granting 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.399 access on terms that guarantee you will lose 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:39.860 that housing eventually. And presumably destroy 00:12:39.860 --> 00:12:41.620 your credit in the process, which makes it even 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:44.340 harder to get housing next time. Of course. It's 00:12:44.340 --> 00:12:46.259 a machine that generates failure. It becomes 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:49.399 a cycle. And we also have to mention insurance 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.909 refusal here again. It's another. key gate if 00:12:52.909 --> 00:12:55.529 you can't get insurance you usually can't get 00:12:55.529 --> 00:12:58.320 a mortgage So if an insurance company decides 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:00.620 they don't want to underwrite in a certain neighborhood 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:03.740 or for a certain demographic, that is an effective 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:07.039 ban on ownership, even if the bank said yes and 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.539 the seller said yes. It really just emphasizes 00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:11.919 how many hurdles there are. You have to clear 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:14.539 the landlord, the bank, the insurance agent, 00:13:14.740 --> 00:13:18.220 and any one of them can trip you up. And that 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:21.320 is just to get the keys. That is just exclusionary 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:23.480 discrimination. Right. And that leads us to the 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:26.620 second category. Which was a massive. aha moment 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:28.399 for me when I was reading the research because 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:31.360 I think most of us assume you know once you sign 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:33.259 the lease once you have the keys in your hand 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:35.720 and your boxes are in the living room you won 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:38.679 you're in you beat the system you're safe and 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:41.919 that is such a dangerous assumption because discrimination 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:44.720 doesn't stop at the threshold this is what the 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.740 researchers call non -exclusionary discrimination 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:50.240 so define that for us what does that actually 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.809 look like non -exclusionary discrimination refers 00:13:53.809 --> 00:13:57.450 to differential treatment, harassment, or the 00:13:57.450 --> 00:13:59.269 disparate application of terms and conditions 00:13:59.269 --> 00:14:02.269 for those who are already housed. Okay. It occurs 00:14:02.269 --> 00:14:04.889 within an established housing arrangement. So 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:07.629 you are in, but you're being treated differently 00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:09.490 than your neighbor. Exactly. And I would argue 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:11.789 this can be psychologically worse in some ways. 00:14:11.970 --> 00:14:14.029 How so? Well, think about the power dynamic. 00:14:14.450 --> 00:14:17.129 If a landlord denies you at the door, you walk 00:14:17.129 --> 00:14:19.629 away, and maybe you never see them again. You're 00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:22.309 angry, sure, but you're free. Right. But in this 00:14:22.309 --> 00:14:25.389 case, as the text notes, the victim is legally 00:14:25.389 --> 00:14:29.149 bound to the home. You have signed a lease. You 00:14:29.149 --> 00:14:31.149 can't just walk away without a huge financial 00:14:31.149 --> 00:14:34.389 penalty. And you have regular ongoing contact 00:14:34.389 --> 00:14:36.669 with the perpetrator. Right. This is the person 00:14:36.669 --> 00:14:38.570 who holds the keys to your apartment. You see 00:14:38.570 --> 00:14:40.129 them in the hall. You send them a check every 00:14:40.129 --> 00:14:42.350 single month. You are essentially trapped in 00:14:42.350 --> 00:14:45.009 a business relationship with someone who is discriminating 00:14:45.009 --> 00:14:47.629 against you. It creates a profound feeling of 00:14:47.629 --> 00:14:51.840 powerlessness, anxiety, and stress. You're trapped 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.659 in a contract with someone who is actively mistreating 00:14:54.659 --> 00:14:57.399 you. It attacks your sense of safety in your 00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.480 own sanctuary. Let's run through the specific 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:02.059 manifestations mentioned in the text. How does 00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:04.379 a landlord actually do this? Because again, they 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:06.559 have to be somewhat careful not to be blatantly 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.580 illegal, right? Sometimes. Yeah. But often it's 00:15:09.580 --> 00:15:12.440 in the gray areas. One common method is changing 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:15.940 the terms of the deal. Unfairly raising rent, 00:15:16.100 --> 00:15:20.179 but only for a select group. So everyone else's 00:15:20.179 --> 00:15:22.580 rent stays flat or goes up by a standard 2%, 00:15:22.580 --> 00:15:25.159 but yours suddenly goes up by 10%. They're trying 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:29.159 to force you out. Exactly. Or privileges. The 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:31.500 text mentioned things like using facilities after 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:33.899 hours. Right. Like imagine you live in a complex 00:15:33.899 --> 00:15:36.500 with a gym or a pool. Exactly. The landlord might 00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:38.240 let some tenants use it whenever they want, maybe 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.440 look the other way if they bring a guest or stay 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:42.600 a little past closing time. But for the targeted 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:44.799 tenant, they enforce the rules to the letter. 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:49.179 Pool closed at 8 .00 p .m. sharply. Show me your 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:53.299 ID. Or they might be really lenient on pet policies 00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:55.860 for some, but crack down on others. It's the 00:15:55.860 --> 00:15:57.919 weaponization of the rulebook. That is a perfect 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.039 way to put it, yes. It's applying the rules selectively 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:04.519 to make life uncomfortable. And then there's 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:08.000 the maintenance issue. This one is brutal. The 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.539 failure to provide equal access to services. 00:16:11.139 --> 00:16:14.240 The example given is deliberately delaying or 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.980 completely foregoing repairs. Like a broken pipe? 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.320 I can't imagine the stress of that. A broken 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:22.720 pipe. Imagine you have a leak. It's damaging 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.159 your stuff. It smells. It's causing mold. You 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:27.440 call the landlord. If you are a favorite tenant, 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.000 maybe the plumber's there in an hour. If you're 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:31.820 being discriminated against, maybe they don't 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:33.919 answer the phone. Maybe they say, we'll get to 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:35.879 it next week. Maybe they blame you for the break. 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:38.059 That's not just an inconvenience. That impacts 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:40.360 your health. That impacts the livability of your 00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:43.279 home. It denies you the value of what you're 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:45.639 paying for. You are paying full rent for a broken 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.570 product. And then there is the more direct aggression. 00:16:48.769 --> 00:16:51.490 We have to talk about harassment and intimidation. 00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:53.950 And the sources mentioned that this isn't just 00:16:53.950 --> 00:16:56.330 the landlord's game, right? It's not just top 00:16:56.330 --> 00:16:59.470 down. Correct. And this is important. While landlords 00:16:59.470 --> 00:17:01.830 are the main actors because of their positional 00:17:01.830 --> 00:17:05.230 power, neighbors play a significant role in non 00:17:05.230 --> 00:17:08.049 -exclusionary discrimination. So even without 00:17:08.049 --> 00:17:11.109 the institutional power to evict you. Even without 00:17:11.109 --> 00:17:13.369 that, neighbors can make your life a living hell. 00:17:13.690 --> 00:17:17.009 The text lists things like racial slurs, threats 00:17:17.009 --> 00:17:20.470 of violence, coercion. It creates an uneasy environment. 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:22.930 That's the phrase the source uses. And I think 00:17:22.930 --> 00:17:25.589 it's almost an understatement. It's about safety 00:17:25.589 --> 00:17:28.329 and dignity. Yeah. If you are afraid to walk 00:17:28.329 --> 00:17:30.630 from your car to your front door because of a 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:32.950 neighbor or because the landlord is harassing 00:17:32.950 --> 00:17:35.109 you, you don't really have a home. You just have 00:17:35.109 --> 00:17:38.269 a shelter that you're anxious to be in. And if 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:40.710 the person doing the harassing is the landlord, 00:17:40.950 --> 00:17:43.769 someone in a position of authority. The victim 00:17:43.769 --> 00:17:46.490 feels completely stuck. Who do you call? The 00:17:46.490 --> 00:17:48.450 person attacking you is the person who owns a 00:17:48.450 --> 00:17:50.970 roof over your head. It strips away your agency 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:55.210 completely. So we have exclusionary keeping you 00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:58.609 out and non -exclusionary making you miserable 00:17:58.609 --> 00:18:02.049 once you are in. That's the framework. Now, I 00:18:02.049 --> 00:18:04.230 want to pivot here because usually when we talk 00:18:04.230 --> 00:18:06.109 about housing discrimination, we have a certain 00:18:06.109 --> 00:18:08.349 set of assumptions about who the victims are 00:18:08.349 --> 00:18:11.269 and who the beneficiaries are. We tend to think 00:18:11.269 --> 00:18:13.670 about this largely in terms of race, which is 00:18:13.670 --> 00:18:16.589 obviously a huge, huge factor. It is the dominant 00:18:16.589 --> 00:18:18.410 factor in much of the literature, absolutely. 00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:20.809 But there is a segment in our source material 00:18:20.809 --> 00:18:23.250 regarding gender that really throws a wrench 00:18:23.250 --> 00:18:25.849 in the standard narrative. It's honestly, it's 00:18:25.849 --> 00:18:28.130 surprising. It is. And we need to look at this 00:18:28.130 --> 00:18:30.230 data carefully because it challenges our assumptions 00:18:30.230 --> 00:18:33.210 about power and privilege in this specific context. 00:18:33.529 --> 00:18:35.109 So what are we looking at? We're talking about 00:18:35.109 --> 00:18:38.329 a meta -analysis conducted in 2018. This wasn't 00:18:38.329 --> 00:18:41.250 a small study. They looked at 25 correspondence 00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:44.650 studies across 15 OECD countries. And just to 00:18:44.650 --> 00:18:46.769 remind everyone, correspondence studies are where 00:18:46.769 --> 00:18:49.289 they send out fake applications to test the market, 00:18:49.369 --> 00:18:52.130 right? Yes. It's an audit study. They send out 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:55.930 over 110 ,000 letters. They manipulate the name 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:58.640 of the applicant. to signal gender or ethnicity, 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.799 but keep the income, the credit score, the job 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.880 history, everything else identical. So it's the 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:07.079 gold standard for testing discrimination. It 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:09.240 is because it isolates the variable. So they 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:12.779 send out a John and a Jane or a David and a Sarah 00:19:12.779 --> 00:19:15.460 with the exact same resume. What did they find 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:18.660 regarding gender? Okay, so get this. They found 00:19:18.660 --> 00:19:21.099 that women are 30 % more likely than men to be 00:19:21.099 --> 00:19:24.039 chosen for housing, all else being equal. 30%. 00:19:24.539 --> 00:19:27.279 That is a massive margin. Usually in social science, 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:29.160 you're looking for these tiny little variances. 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:31.440 It is statistically huge. In the world of social 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.559 science, a 30 % preference is a landslide. It 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:37.140 implies a significant structural preference for 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:40.039 female tenants. So does this mean men are the 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:43.519 only victims? Or that men are the primary victims 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.019 of housing discrimination? I mean, how do we 00:19:46.019 --> 00:19:48.359 square that? Well, we have to be careful with 00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:50.849 the nuance here. It's not a zero -sum game. The 00:19:50.849 --> 00:19:52.730 expert analysis shows there's an interaction 00:19:52.730 --> 00:19:55.990 between sexism and racism. OK. The text specifically 00:19:55.990 --> 00:19:58.890 says, and I'm quoting here, sexist discrimination 00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:01.789 is stronger against men of ethnic minorities. 00:20:02.029 --> 00:20:04.730 So it's intersectional. If you are a minority 00:20:04.730 --> 00:20:07.450 man, you are facing a compounded penalty. Exactly. 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:10.849 You're getting hit by the racial bias and this 00:20:10.849 --> 00:20:13.750 gender bias simultaneously. You are viewed as 00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:17.430 the least desirable tenant by these gatekeepers. 00:20:17.890 --> 00:20:20.400 However. And this is the part that often gets 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.019 overlooked. The data shows that even men from 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:25.720 the dominant majority suffer discrimination in 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:27.880 the rental market when compared to women. Why 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:29.640 do we think that is? I know the text doesn't 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:31.759 explicitly speculate on the landlord's psychology, 00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:34.660 but the pattern is so clear. It implies a stereotype. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:37.579 Landlords seem to view women as better tenants. 00:20:38.220 --> 00:20:41.059 perhaps perceived as cleaner, quieter, more reliable, 00:20:41.140 --> 00:20:43.740 or maybe less threatening. And men as riskier. 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:46.200 And conversely, they view men as riskier, maybe 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:48.440 louder, messier, more likely to cause damage. 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:51.339 It's a stereotype. It's a form of what some would 00:20:51.339 --> 00:20:54.720 call benevolent sexism that benefits women in 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:57.720 this specific context, but penalizes men. Exactly. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:00.880 You know, in the workplace, those same stereotypes 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:03.440 might hurt women. Oh, she's too quiet to be a 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.549 leader. But in housing, quiet is a premium asset. 00:21:06.849 --> 00:21:10.210 So the bias completely flips. And this isn't 00:21:10.210 --> 00:21:11.750 just about, you know, oh, it's a little harder 00:21:11.750 --> 00:21:13.589 for a guy to find a cool apartment. This has 00:21:13.589 --> 00:21:16.150 serious life or death consequences. We can't 00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:17.930 talk about this without looking at the outcome. 00:21:18.170 --> 00:21:20.690 It does. We have to connect this to the homelessness 00:21:20.690 --> 00:21:23.089 statistics provided in the source. The numbers 00:21:23.089 --> 00:21:26.369 are just. They're stark. Men make up the vast 00:21:26.369 --> 00:21:29.029 majority of homeless people. The source cites 00:21:29.029 --> 00:21:32.529 a 2019 French study that is truly grim. It found 00:21:32.529 --> 00:21:34.990 that 90 % of homeless people who die in the street 00:21:34.990 --> 00:21:39.109 are men. 90%. Yeah. That is staggering. It forces 00:21:39.109 --> 00:21:41.849 us to ask a difficult question. Is structural 00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:44.069 discrimination in housing selection significantly 00:21:44.069 --> 00:21:47.170 favors women? That 30 % advantage we just talked 00:21:47.170 --> 00:21:49.779 about. How much has that contributed to the fact 00:21:49.779 --> 00:21:51.519 that men are so disproportionately represented 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:53.700 in the homeless population? It's a dot that needs 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.359 connecting, isn't it? If you are consistently 00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:59.339 the second choice or the rejected choice for 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:02.200 an apartment, eventually you, you run out of 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:04.960 options. Exactly. If the gatekeepers we talked 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.119 about earlier, the landlords, are systematically 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:09.680 closing the door on men more often than on women, 00:22:09.819 --> 00:22:12.660 the inevitable result is that more men will end 00:22:12.660 --> 00:22:15.259 up on the street. It's a harsh reality that doesn't 00:22:15.259 --> 00:22:17.059 get discussed enough when we talk about housing 00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:19.720 equity. We focus on things like the pay gap, 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:23.319 but we rarely talk about this. housing gap. It 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:25.000 really complicates the narrative. It shows that 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.720 discrimination isn't a monolith. It shifts and 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:30.259 it changes depending on the context. Right. In 00:22:30.259 --> 00:22:32.400 the labor market, we often see different patterns. 00:22:32.660 --> 00:22:35.019 But in the housing market, specifically regarding 00:22:35.019 --> 00:22:38.259 selection, the bias runs differently. And if 00:22:38.259 --> 00:22:40.420 we really want to solve homelessness, we have 00:22:40.420 --> 00:22:43.279 to look at that selection bias. So we've covered 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.680 the types of discrimination, exclusionary and 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.119 non -exclusionary, and the demographics, including 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:51.240 this gender paradox. Now, I want to zoom out 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:53.700 a bit. We've touched on studies from OECD countries, 00:22:53.940 --> 00:22:56.619 but let's look specifically at the enforcement 00:22:56.619 --> 00:22:59.460 and the global landscape. What is happening in 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:02.559 the United States specifically? OK, so in the 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:05.539 U .S., the legal framework is grounded in the 00:23:05.539 --> 00:23:09.619 Fair Housing Act of 1968. This was a landmark 00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:12.559 piece of civil rights legislation. Right. The 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.819 agency responsible for enforcing this is the 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:17.660 Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:19.980 which is part of HUD, the Department of Housing 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:22.190 and Urban Development. So the laws are on the 00:23:22.190 --> 00:23:25.230 books. It is illegal to discriminate. But does 00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:27.750 that mean it's fixed? Far from it. And this goes 00:23:27.750 --> 00:23:29.369 right back to what we said at the beginning about 00:23:29.369 --> 00:23:32.269 the slamming door changing shape. HUD conducted 00:23:32.269 --> 00:23:34.609 a comprehensive study finding that the nature 00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:36.650 of the beats has evolved. OK, so what did they 00:23:36.650 --> 00:23:39.109 find? They found that the greatest share of discrimination 00:23:39.109 --> 00:23:41.450 against Hispanic and African -American home seekers 00:23:41.450 --> 00:23:44.640 is now being told units are unavailable. when 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:46.559 they're actually free. It's that stealth tactic 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.900 we mentioned. The bureaucratic no. Yes. Or being 00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:53.400 shown fewer units than non -minorities. So if 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:55.720 a white tester goes in, the agent shows them 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:57.339 five houses in three different neighborhoods. 00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:00.339 If a minority tester goes in, they show them 00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:02.759 two houses in one specific neighborhood. Which 00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:06.059 limits choice. It just completely restricts their 00:24:06.059 --> 00:24:09.000 options. It's a bureaucracy of exclusion. It 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:12.740 limits mobility. It effectively decides for you 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:15.359 where you are allowed to live. And because it's 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:17.480 done with a smile and a handshake, it's incredibly 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:19.980 hard to detect. And looking beyond the U .S., 00:24:19.980 --> 00:24:22.359 this isn't just an American problem. The source 00:24:22.359 --> 00:24:24.799 material highlights that this is a global issue. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.299 It is, absolutely. We have data from Canada, 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:29.920 for instance. In Ontario, housing discrimination 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.079 is treated under the Ontario Human Rights Code. 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:34.940 The framing there is very much about human rights 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:37.900 housing as a right, not just a commodity. And 00:24:37.900 --> 00:24:40.779 Turkey. The notes mentioned some recent developments 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:42.759 there. Turkey has seen more recent developments. 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:44.759 They established the Human Rights and Equality 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:47.700 Institution in 2016. This body is specifically 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:50.960 charged with enforcing fair housing laws. It's 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.680 interesting to see that institutional timeline. 00:24:53.079 --> 00:24:56.519 I mean, 2016 is relatively recent. It shows the 00:24:56.519 --> 00:24:59.880 nations are still waking up to the need for specific 00:24:59.880 --> 00:25:02.700 dedicated bodies to handle this because general 00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:05.319 laws aren't enough. You need enforcement mechanisms. 00:25:05.539 --> 00:25:08.000 You need teeth. You need teeth. You need a body 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:10.380 that can actually investigate and penalize. So 00:25:10.380 --> 00:25:12.599 whether it's the Ontario Human Rights Code, the 00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:15.420 U .S. Fair Housing Act or this new Turkish institution, 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:19.049 the battle is fundamentally the same. The core 00:25:19.049 --> 00:25:22.230 issue is universal. It is the power imbalance 00:25:22.230 --> 00:25:25.130 between the provider, the landlord, the bank, 00:25:25.250 --> 00:25:28.869 the insurer, and the seeker. As long as that 00:25:28.869 --> 00:25:31.690 imbalance exists, and as long as there is bias, 00:25:31.849 --> 00:25:33.990 whether it's conscious or unconscious, explicit 00:25:33.990 --> 00:25:36.849 or implicit, discrimination will find a way to 00:25:36.849 --> 00:25:39.309 manifest. It's like water. It finds the crack 00:25:39.309 --> 00:25:40.990 in the wall. So what does this all mean? We've 00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:42.670 covered a lot of ground today, if you had to 00:25:42.670 --> 00:25:45.309 boil it down. We have. Yeah, if we try to synthesize 00:25:45.309 --> 00:25:47.190 this deep dive, a few things really stand out. 00:25:47.250 --> 00:25:49.509 First, that distinction between exclusionary 00:25:49.509 --> 00:25:52.289 and non -exclusionary is just. It's crucial. 00:25:52.769 --> 00:25:55.569 Absolutely. You have to understand that the battle 00:25:55.569 --> 00:25:58.849 isn't over once you get the keys. Exclusionary 00:25:58.849 --> 00:26:01.730 keeps you out through explicit bans or that stealth 00:26:01.730 --> 00:26:04.150 steering and lying about availability. Right. 00:26:04.210 --> 00:26:07.490 But non -exclusionary discrimination, the harassment, 00:26:07.670 --> 00:26:09.829 the neglected repairs, the unfair rent hikes, 00:26:09.910 --> 00:26:12.910 that makes you miserable once you are in. It 00:26:12.910 --> 00:26:16.200 traps you. It attacks your peace of mind. Second, 00:26:16.339 --> 00:26:18.660 the tactics themselves have evolved. Right. We 00:26:18.660 --> 00:26:20.940 aren't seeing as many whites -only signs. We 00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:23.180 are seeing subprime loan steering. We are seeing 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:27.119 unavailable units that are actually empty. Discrimination 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:29.339 has gone underground, which makes it harder to 00:26:29.339 --> 00:26:31.940 fight, but just as damaging. And third, that 00:26:31.940 --> 00:26:34.440 gender data really does flip the script. It really 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:36.900 does. The fact that women are 30 % more likely 00:26:36.900 --> 00:26:39.440 to be selected for housing forces us to rethink 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.109 power dynamics in this specific market. And the 00:26:42.109 --> 00:26:44.490 connection to the massive disparity in male homelessness, 00:26:44.769 --> 00:26:46.470 you know, 90 percent of deaths on the street 00:26:46.470 --> 00:26:48.450 in France being men, that cannot be ignored. 00:26:48.650 --> 00:26:50.829 It seems like housing discrimination acts as 00:26:50.829 --> 00:26:53.009 a kind of filter. That is the perfect word for 00:26:53.009 --> 00:26:57.150 it. It is a filter for wealth instability. When 00:26:57.150 --> 00:27:00.289 you steer someone to a subprime loan, you aren't 00:27:00.289 --> 00:27:01.970 just giving them a house. You're giving them 00:27:01.970 --> 00:27:05.410 a financial time bomb. When you refuse to fix 00:27:05.410 --> 00:27:08.829 a pipe for a specific tenant. You are eroding 00:27:08.829 --> 00:27:10.690 their mental health and their physical environment. 00:27:10.890 --> 00:27:13.450 You are systematically disadvantaging them. It 00:27:13.450 --> 00:27:15.190 prevents people from building the foundation 00:27:15.190 --> 00:27:17.789 they need to succeed in every other part of life. 00:27:18.029 --> 00:27:20.890 I mean, if your housing is unstable, your job 00:27:20.890 --> 00:27:23.569 suffers, your health suffers, your family suffers. 00:27:23.690 --> 00:27:27.089 Precisely. It is the bedrock. And when the bedrock 00:27:27.089 --> 00:27:29.529 is cracked by discrimination, the whole house 00:27:29.529 --> 00:27:32.460 metaphorically and literally is unstable. This 00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:34.500 has been an eye -opening look at something we 00:27:34.500 --> 00:27:36.579 encounter every single day. Our neighborhoods, 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:40.000 our apartment complexes, our cities. It definitely 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.180 makes you look at a for -rent sign a little differently, 00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:43.940 doesn't it? It does. You realize the invisible 00:27:43.940 --> 00:27:46.740 machinery behind it. It does. And I want to leave 00:27:46.740 --> 00:27:49.339 our listeners with a thought to mull over. We 00:27:49.339 --> 00:27:51.920 talked about that gender gap, the 30 % preference 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.559 for women in housing selection, and how it might 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:56.839 link to the fact that the vast majority of homeless 00:27:56.839 --> 00:27:59.259 people are men. It's a correlation that demands 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:02.279 more attention. So here's the question. If the 00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:04.420 data shows that structural housing discrimination 00:28:04.420 --> 00:28:07.880 favors women significantly in selection, yet 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:10.579 we rarely discuss it in the public square, what 00:28:10.579 --> 00:28:13.460 other invisible biases are shaping the demographics 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:16.740 of our cities and specifically our streets? That 00:28:16.740 --> 00:28:18.759 is the question. What else are we not seeing 00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:20.900 because it doesn't fit the story we think we 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:22.920 know? Something to think about. Thanks for joining 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:25.180 us on this deep dive. Always a pleasure. Camp 00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:26.839 asking questions. See you next time.