Airbnb: Accountability And Racial Discrimination

Many professionals recognize the benefits of assistive animals for people with physical disabilities. This includes seeing-eye dogs that are trained to alert owners to environmental hazards. Some policies may be hard to change, but are required if needed. One well known policy

AirBnB gives platform for people to offer and rent their homes, apartments or rooms to strangers.

“You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have.” Was a famous quote said by Kerry Washington on her hit show Scandal. The quote was said in reference to Kerry having to work twice as hard to get half of what her Caucasian co-workers have. This quote relates to a black person everyday struggle. As a black person, they are constantly competing for equality with their Caucasian counterparts. Equality in things such as the work-force, food industry but more importantly in the housing area. Housing discrimination amongst blacks has been one of the biggest issues in the United States. Because of the discrimination, Blacks still have a greater struggle finding housing more than their equally qualified Caucasian counterparts. The

In 2011, the Los Angeles Human Right to Housing Collective joined together with citywide residents to protest unfair housing practices, and increasing rents at Los Angeles City Hall. Over the past four years, Los Angeles residents have seen rapid increases in rent, which is leading to more and more people moving out of L.A. in the hopes of finding more affordable living arrangements. The three percent rental increases that Los Angeles residents are accustomed to have been climbing this past year, and in 2016 many Angelenos could be seeing a four or maybe even five percent cost of living increase. Studies from the U.S. Census will show that Los Angeles renters occupy not even 50 percent of Los Angeles county housing units. In comparison to the percentage LA renters are taking home per paycheck, it is now becoming more affordable to buy property in Los Angeles, rather than rent.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968, also known as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968; prohibits the selling, renting, and financing of properties based on race, color, sex, or nationality. In 1988, Congress passed the Fair Housing Amendments Act, which expanded the law to prohibit discrimination based on disabilities and family status. Since that act was established, what has the been the correlation between housing and poverty for African-Americans in Cleveland, Ohio?

The American dream, the right to own land, build a home, and start a family. Unfortunately this was not always the case as Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities were discriminated from the early 60’s to the late 80’s and even still today. Segregation plagued the U.S., placing minorities in lower classes than whites, restricting certain rights and freedoms that our constitution laid by our forefathers has been implemented to protect U.S. citizens.

In “The Complexities and Processes of Racial Housing discrimination” by Vincent J. Roscigno, Diana L. Karafin, and Griff tester, the main concept of racial disparity and inequality among neighborhoods is discussed, and how those inequalities became to be. They first highlight the wide range of potentially exclusionary practices, through qualitative and quantitative data comprised of over 750 verified housing discrimination cases (Roscigno, p. 162). Citing the U.S. Census, it is found that Blacks, compared to Hispanics and Asians, continue to experience high levels of residential segregation. This is done through discriminatory practices, whether they be by exclusionary or non-exclusionary methods. Even after the passing of the Fair Housing Act in 1988, discrimination against Blacks and Hispanics decreased somewhat, though African Americans still appeared to take part in racial steering, and Hispanics continued to have limitations in regards to opportunities and access to rental units (Roscigno, p. 163).

It was 1947, eight years before Mississippi lynched Emmett Till. The Great Migration was a mass exodus of six million African Americans out of the South that spanned most of the 20th century. Blacks did not journey north seeking better wages and work. Rather, they were fleeing the acquisitive warlords of the South. They were seeking the protection of the law. From the 1930-60s Blacks across the country had no access to legitimate home mortgages. This happened through means both legal and extralegal. In 1935, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) asked Home Owners ' Loan Corporation (HOLC) to look at 239 cities and create "residential security maps." The purpose was to show the level of security for real-estate investments in each city. The resulting redlining caused a large increase in residential racial segregation and urban decay. Redlining denies services to residents of certain areas based on racial or ethnic criteria. John McKnight, a sociologist and community activist, coined the term in the late 1960s. The term comes from the practice of marking a red line on a map to delineate the area where banks would not invest. In addition to redlining, many Chicago Whites employed other measures to keep their neighborhoods segregated and to discourage non-white home buyers, including restrictive covenants and even bombings. Further, such local measures received broader support, including from a prominent national real estate

Nowadays, due to specific laws like the Title IV of the Civil Rights Act which does not allow discrimination due to race, age or sex has made America slowly accept diversity and other cultures. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commision which investigate and prosecute cases due to discrimination against minorities has made the corporation revise their guidelines so

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the “largest public housing authority in the nation” (Developments, 2015). In existence since 1934 (About NYCHA: NYCHA at 70, 2015), NYCHA is a low to moderate income public housing initiative consisting of 328 developments throughout all five boroughs of New York City. More than 400,000 residents benefit from these developments through the receipt of not only apartments but additional services provided by each development and New York City overall. Over recent years the NYCHA developments have been experiencing a reduction in government funding, forcing the organization to re-evaluate strategies addressing maintenance of old buildings (About NYCHA, 2015).

This all seems great, a savior program that allows people who cannot afford to pay rent normally. Section 8 is utilized by the elderly, disabled, and families with and without children but is it really a golden program? Stated above, section 8 provides for vouchers for all types of apartments and even condos in certain states; however, are these opportunities open to all races? 41.6 percent of African Americans are on housing assistance programs, as in this county’s displaced history on minorities, the voucher program produces elements that affect minorities. Although African Americans make up the overall higher percentage when it comes to housing assistance programs, according to National Low-Income Housing Coalition, surprisingly Caucasians make up 49 percent of the project-based section 8. Yet, National Low-Income Housing Coalition mentions that African Americans as of 2010 shows that black and Hispanic public housing residents are four times more likely than their Caucasian counterparts public housing residents to live in high-poverty neighborhoods. Black and Hispanic voucher recipients are about three times as likely as their white counterparts to live in high-poverty neighborhoods. Analyzing this data; furthermore, as of 2010, 28 percent of white voucher recipients live in the lowest poverty neighborhoods! Reviewing this data Caucasians obtains overall nationwide more voucher approvals that African Americans living in the highest of poverty neighborhoods and that comes

The Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) instituted eviction proceedings in state court against William lee, Barbara Hill, and Pearlie Rucker alleging that they violated their lease agreement with OHA. The OHA allege that the grandsons of Lee and Hill were caught smoking marijuana in the apartment complex parking lot, Rucker’s daughter had cocaine and crack cocaine pipe within in her possession near Rucker’s apartment, and on three separate instances within a two-month period, seventy-five-year-old Herman Walker’s caregiver and two other individuals were found with cocaine in Walkers apartment. Lee, Hill and Rucker claimed ignorance to their family’s illegal drug abuse. Walker fired his caregiver upon receiving eviction notice. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 provides that each public housing agency shall utilize leases that state any criminal activity that threatens the health, safety, or right of peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other tenants or any drug related criminal activity on or off the premises involving any member of the household, a guest or another person under the tenants control; whether the tenant is aware or unaware of their actions shall have their lease agreement terminated and evicted from the premises. OHA contends that the terms of the lease agreement that each tenant signed fully explains its drug use policy (HUD v. Rucker et al,

Since the start of American history, immigrants came here and brought their traditions and cultures with them. The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Others come alone with nothing but determination. Racial discrimination against minorities and immigrants is an underlying problem here in America today. Racism is seen in our daily lives when people are discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity. Racism attacks the right to a person’s well-being on the basis of something they have no control over. They cannot change nor should want to change who they are. Racial discrimination is not as bad as it was fifty years ago, but it still a problem here in our country today. Our country has advanced tremendously as far as modernization and technology, but has not improved on the way we treat minorities and immigrants. From African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Arabs there is a form of discrimination against these group of minorities.

An African American man attempted to rent a vacation home through Airbnb but was told by the owner of the property that it was unavailable. So investigated the situation to see if he was being discriminated against due to his race. He created to fake profiles with a white person set as the profile picture and discovered he was being discriminated against due to his race and is attempting to sue Airbnb. Although Airbnb will try to say they are just the middle man in the process and they did nothing wrong but they are taking actions so they will not get caught up in the same situation in the future. They are creating an anti-discrimination policy.

1) This company will not discriminate in hiring practices or procedures based on race, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, age, gender, political affiliation, or country of origin.