Measuring Housing Discrimination in a National Study Report of a Workshop (2002) / Chapter Skim
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6 Auditing Discrimination in Underserved Communities
6 Auditing Discrimination in Underserved Communities
Pages 38-47
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From page 38... ...
In discussing the question of how discrimination in these communities can be audited, participants addressed issues of racial residential concentration, racial steering, racial preferences for neighborhood racial composition, and the distinction between statistical discrimination and individual incidences of discrimination. Reflecting on her own research, Nancy Denton noted an apparent middle-class bias to using a sample of advertisements to construct the audit.
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From page 39... ...
As noted earlier, these housing units may not be captured by the expanded methodology proposed for Phase II of the study. Additionally, Denton suggested that researchers should consider whether the auditors could realistically assume the identities of potential home seekers in underserved communities, whose members may possess characteristics that are difficult for an auditor from a major metropolitan area to assume or portray.
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From page 40... ...
She stressed that, while it is important to develop a valid, scientifically defensible estimate of the extent of housing discrimination in the national market, researchers will be unable to derive a proper estimate if they limit the scope of audit studies to the middle of the housing market. EFFECT OF NEIGHBORHOOD RACIAL PREFERENCE ON INTERPRETATION OF AUDIT RESULTS Lawrence Bobo, Department of Sociology, Harvard University, discussed his research in Los Angeles on urban inequality and the work of others in this research area.
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From page 41... ...
In response to Bobo's comments, Margery Turner of the Urban Institute stated that empirical experience from the 1989 HDS suggests that minority communities, especially those in the central city, are underrepresented in the HDS newspaper advertisement sample. It is not known whether protected white communities in the suburbs are also underrepresented.
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From page 42... ...
RACIAL STEERING Bobo noted that the existence of racial steering has implications for the current HDS study design and interpretation. If real estate agents have, and act upon, assumptions about housing seekers' racial preferences in residence, individual home seekers will not be shown housing units in certain neighborhoods as a result.
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From page 43... ...
Bobo noted that observed steering behaviors based on requests for advertised units vary by race. ISSUES SPECIFIC TO ASIAN AMERICAN AND AMERICAN INDIAN POPULATIONS As noted in Chapter 1, an important, new goal of the 2000 HDS is to develop estimates of housing discrimination for Asian Americans and American Indians.
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From page 44... ...
The current study estimates mainly discrimination by whites against African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and American Indians. It does not explore the pattern of discrimination exhibited by Asian or Hispanic housing providers.
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From page 45... ...
Conclusions about the penetration of various sources into underserved communities and the reasonableness of sending majority auditors to units advertised in ethnic papers may require going beyond the auditing framework to assess discrimi.
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From page 46... ...
Pilot testing has revealed that for American Indians, the definition of available housing stock must be expanded beyond the existing protocol to include manufactured housing. American Indian populations tend to be concentrated in small, rural metropolitan areas in which this form of housing is more prevalent.
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From page 47... ...
Participants also inquired about the extent to which HUD is interested in alternative methodology that could make it possible to estimate discrimination in underserved communities and provide supplementary information for the HDS on the relationship between race and housing search patterns, as well as other housing market characteristics. In addition, participants discussed the importance of research studies addressing the identification of an unbiased point of entry into the market that would allow for comparisons, measurement, and analysis of issues related to the sampling design and model estimates and other aspects of the study design.
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