Rental Racism
I found this story below disturbing, although I’m sure it’s a story that is common and yet remains untold and, further, that echoes with the experiences of other groups — LGBTIQ, religious minorities, etc.
In South Africa, Section 4 (1) of the Rental Practice Act provides that it is illegal to discriminate against any particular group of persons when advertising a home for rent, or when negotiating the terms of the lease. The difficulty, of course, is that the prejudice is hard to prove because the motives behind a landlord’s actions may not be particularly apparent.
One of the core incidences of ownership is determining who or who may not enter or use your property. I would, however, argue that we reform our thinking that accords to property a level of sanctity, particularly when considering the broader impact property has on how we relate to each other in the city — which, essentially, is a relationship of racial division.
So how do we effectively root this practice out? Is it a practice the law can root out (can we force non-discrimination in rental practices?), or is it merely a practice which is best thwarted via societal condemnation through, for example, hellopeter.com?
