TY - JOUR
T1 - Multidimensional Discrimination in the Online Rental Housing Market
T2 - Implications for Families With Young Children
AU - Faber, Jacob William
AU - Mercier, Marie Dumesle
N1 - Funding Information:
Both authors contributed equally to the production of this article. Our work was supported by the Russell Sage Foundation (Award 83-17-24) and funding from New Yorl University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. The authors thank Matthew Desmond, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Patrick Fowler, S. Michael Gaddis, Maria Krysan, Brian McCabe, Katherine O’Regan, David Pedulla, Vincent Reina, Eva Rosen, Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana, and Margery Turner for their extensive feedback on early drafts of this project. We are also very grateful for the contributions made by Sarah Aita, Claudia Babcock, Roberta Barnett, Shengdi Chen, Rediet Demissie, Arman Hirose-Afshari, Alimatou Juwara, Peter Mattingly, Kahinee Shah, and Haowen Zheng.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - A half century after passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, studies continue to document racial discrimination in the housing market, which serves to reproduce racial inequality and residential segregation. Building on this work, we examine housing discrimination experienced by individuals belonging to multiple disadvantaged groups. Employing an online field experiment in 31 U.S. cities over 20 months, we investigate patterns of discrimination against female rental housing applicants at the intersections of race, ethnicity, family structure, and Section 8 housing voucher receipt. Consistent with prior work, we find discrimination against Black women and Section 8 recipients. We also find that only Black women and Latinas are penalized for being parents and for being single mothers to young children. Finally, examining the relevant policy landscape, we find evidence that state and local laws barring discrimination against Section 8 recipients may not be sufficient to protect voucher holders and their families and may instead prompt landlords to engage in subtler forms of discrimination (i.e., increased nonresponse). These findings reveal a dynamic pattern of multidimensional discrimination and support arguments for an intersectional approach to understanding and combatting inequality.
AB - A half century after passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, studies continue to document racial discrimination in the housing market, which serves to reproduce racial inequality and residential segregation. Building on this work, we examine housing discrimination experienced by individuals belonging to multiple disadvantaged groups. Employing an online field experiment in 31 U.S. cities over 20 months, we investigate patterns of discrimination against female rental housing applicants at the intersections of race, ethnicity, family structure, and Section 8 housing voucher receipt. Consistent with prior work, we find discrimination against Black women and Section 8 recipients. We also find that only Black women and Latinas are penalized for being parents and for being single mothers to young children. Finally, examining the relevant policy landscape, we find evidence that state and local laws barring discrimination against Section 8 recipients may not be sufficient to protect voucher holders and their families and may instead prompt landlords to engage in subtler forms of discrimination (i.e., increased nonresponse). These findings reveal a dynamic pattern of multidimensional discrimination and support arguments for an intersectional approach to understanding and combatting inequality.
KW - discrimination
KW - families
KW - race
KW - vouchers
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U2 - 10.1080/10511482.2021.2010118
DO - 10.1080/10511482.2021.2010118
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123499996
SN - 1051-1482
JO - Housing Policy Debate
JF - Housing Policy Debate
ER -