The Unfair Housing Act
Let's say you're a single mother with a kid looking for a roommate who's also a single mother with a kid. Or you're somebody like me. I don't need a roommate these days, but I've lived with roommates in the past, and my preference is to live with a woman, although she can be straight or gay.
Well, these days, don't be expecting to advertise for what you want or don't want. You'll just have to waste lots of people's time if you want to stay legal, thanks to a recent federal appellate court decision, (the so-called) Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com. From Ayn Rand Institute:
That's because the federal Fair Housing Act and a similar California law ban discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or marital status in housing transactions."This lawsuit attacks individual liberty in a particularly sensitive area," said Thomas Bowden, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute. "Adults who contemplate sharing living space should have absolute contractual freedom to use a roommate-matching service that treats their own individual preferences as paramount.
"It's perfectly obvious that an incompatible roommate can make life miserable, as anyone who has occupied a freshman dorm room can testify. People should not have to get government permission to arrange their private affairs according to their own best judgment.
"The government's job is to protect you against physical force and fraud, not to overrule your preference for a roommate who shares your sexual orientation--or not; who is of the same sex--or not; or who has children--or not.
"The law should respect and protect the right of Roommates.com, or any other such matching service, to design a questionnaire that suits their customers' needs. Roommate seekers who object to a particular questionnaire are free to find another matching service, or to start their own.
"This case illustrates why the Fair Housing Act, which does nothing but infringe on freedom of contract in the housing market, should be repealed."
"Discrimination" isn't always bad. To be discriminating is to be choosy, and most people are choosy about who they want living under their roof. Shouldn't this be the roommate-seeker's prerogative? And in the realism department, if you're a single mother looking for same, are you ever going to room with the hairy gay guy in the chaps? Or vice versa?
I agree. The Fair Housing Act is truly meant to keep sellers or landlords from discriminating against potential buyers/renters.
However, if you will be living with that person (aka roommate) then give me a break.
Jen at April 17, 2008 6:53 AM
I am single, and I require long periods of quiet study, alone in my apartment. Why can't I live in a singles only apartment dwelling? Why do I have to hear my neighbor's child crying constantly during the day? Why can't people consider the desires of their neighbors, and their own desires, on any matter whatsoever when contracting for sale or rent of real property?
As an aside, I like many things about ARI. But this convinced me that their ideas about man's social life are flawed. Online, you can find Kelley's and Peikoff's debate over whether Rand's system is closed or open. Peikoff argues that Rand's system is closed. I find that position indistinguishable from fundamentalism, but you decide.
Jeff at April 17, 2008 7:16 AM
A prickly problem. I agree that you should have the right to live with whom you choose; and question whether there's a viable argument that these laws violate our Constitutional right to freedom of association. And yes, anti-discrimination laws aimed at landlords & sellers do impose a burden on them; but perhaps the crux is the right of someone renting space THAT THEY LIVE IN to person(s) of their choice, as clearly distinguished from space in which they do not live. Room in that logic for abuse to keep out whomever the LL or Seller thinks "undesirable," but perhaps that's the real-world compromise. This would allow selectivity in roomates, but ideally allow persons of whatever race/creed/color open access to buy / rent their own place. Interesting that I've seen Craig's List flag (as illegal / violative) ads like this - including a couple who clearly detailed that they wanted a bi female of a specificed age range to rent from them. I wondered why they were going to charge her at all...
Mr. Teflon at April 17, 2008 7:51 AM
This is no surprise to me. I've been waiting for the PC police to butt into this.
What I think will be really fun is when somebody complains that singles ads on sites like match.com are discriminatory.
What do you mean you are looking for a single WHITE female???? You racist pig!!! And why are you only looking for a FEMALE??? You homophobe!!!
Don't laugh. It's coming.
Sean at April 17, 2008 8:14 AM
I think this is a conspiracy to help prop up newspapers by forcing people to use their personal ads to find roommates....okay, not really, but if I read the ad correctly, you as an individual can still post an ad in a newspaper (or on Craigslist) requesting female roommates specifically (or vegetarian roommates, or gay roommates, or...you get the idea). However, the law is still an ass in this case. I've used Roommates.com to find roommates in the past, and I was looking for women very specifically - because, while I've had male friends as roommates before, I don't want to live with a guy that I've never met!
marion at April 17, 2008 8:41 AM
I think Sean has predicted the future! I am very specific about the type men that I'm attracted to, but to state this preference is very un-PC. Soon the state will be telling me who I should find desirable!
In case inquiring minds want to know, my narrow parameter is: men who are 6'1" or taller, fit, single, live outside the Toronto area in small towns, 2nd generation Canadian from a culturally liberal background, healthy sex drive, no hang-ups about sex, non-religious.
Chrissy at April 17, 2008 8:56 AM
The government should stop wasting renters' time and just ASSIGN us housing. Why spend hours pouring over Craig's List for the perfect place when the government can conveniently just tell you where to live?! That way everyone has an equal opportunity to be miserable and uncomfortable...
...I can see it happening.
Gretchen at April 17, 2008 9:11 AM
The original deed to our house, which was built in 1941, stated that the house could not be owned by or sold to a "non-Caucasian". That was perfectly legal in 1941, and the kind of discrimination the laws were intended to correct.
deja pseu at April 17, 2008 9:16 AM
I would laugh at the Web dating thing if I hadn't just read a thread on EtiquetteHell.com about this very thing -- people complaining that the posts were too limiting. Apparently, it's rude to tell people that you prefer a tall, leggy blonde with a college education and no kids or a fit, employed man over 6 feet tall.
Monica at April 17, 2008 9:29 AM
I am not part of the Ayn Rand cult. As with everything, I pick and choose from her thinking, which influenced me when I was very young, and that of her followers, past and present. But, even when I was a teen, and reading Rand's work, I saw that she was not only rational but hypcritical and irrational.
(Life is not just a cabaret but a buffet.)
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 9:31 AM
"I agree. The Fair Housing Act is truly meant to keep sellers or landlords from discriminating against potential buyers/renters."
While I think it's evil, bigoted, and narrow-minded to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, race, etc., I still think if you own a piece of property, you should be able to rent it (or to NOT rent it) to whoever you want. Laws aren't going to make people stop being pricks, and they have a tendency to chip away, bit by bit, at private property rights, which in my view is a much more important issue.
I agree with you Amy about Ayn Rand. She was a real weirdo in some ways, but probably influenced my thinking more than any other writer or philosopher ever has.
Pirate Jo at April 17, 2008 9:48 AM
Well, you should read about the opinion in more detail before writing about it. A private person can advertise for any kind of roommate they want. Where roommates.com got in trouble was in soliciting discriminatory preferences.
Granted, they were really just trying to provide a convenient interface. But the fact is that they invited ad-creators to specify gender, etc. As such, the court held that they were partially responsible for the resulting discriminatory content. And, as a company, that is not allowed.
Whether that law is just is a different question altogether.
Personally, I consider the current laws a gross overreaction to the past. We should have freedom of association, whether as private people or as owners of private businesses. Whether a men's golf club, a women's fitness center or a child-free apartment building - as long as it is a private enterprise, it should probably be allowed.
Public services must be equally available to all - it should not be possible to zone an entire neighborhood for men, or whites, or adults or retirees or whatever. But if an individual business owner chooses to cater to a particular group, so what? If enough people dislike it, then a competing business will do just fine.
bradley13 at April 17, 2008 9:53 AM
Brad13
Percived problem with special clubs: all members of ruling class belong to the same club. They then select future rulers (CEO's, leaders, whatever) from that club. They also control who is in the club. Very easy to make social advancement difficult to impossible for nonmembers.
Solution? Anti-discrimination laws.
Result? Probably the club has adopted a less visible disguise.
Jim at April 17, 2008 10:49 AM
Rather than eliminating discrimination, this law forces would-be renters to experience it first hand.* Instead of being weeded out by a search engine, renters have to waste time calling, filling out applications, only to find that they don't meet the pre-determined qualifications.
A few years before internet searches came along I was looking for an apartment in San Francisco. The rental connection agency had these binders full of forms that people who were looking for roomates would fill out. They had all the usual questions: gender preference, smoking or non, and even a question about drug preference. Talk about helpful. I found roomates and connections all at the same place.
*I stole that opinion from the comments in one of the Volokh threads on this suit.
smurfy at April 17, 2008 11:06 AM
Jeff at April 17, 2008 11:30 AM
Some of the philosophers that influenced me more than any other were:
Sir Thomas More, Frederick Nietzsche, John Locke, & Socrates, of course in fairness to my upbringing I would have to include Jesus in that. Discount all commentary of a religious nature, and there is profound and meaningful philosophical content.
To name some of the most important.
Although I'll also admit I read More's "Utopia" more as satirical commentary on the impossibility of the perfect society, rather than as a guide to success in creating it.
If I were to pick the most worthless of philosophers...I would have to say Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Robert H. Butler at April 17, 2008 11:51 AM
Chrissy, I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. I'm really close on this one.
Other than the that Toronto thing. And I'm not Canadian. And my family is liberal but I'm reality based. Close but not quite.
Sean at April 17, 2008 12:30 PM
Sean, you'll wake up one morning listening to 'I got you babe, and it will just pop into your head!
Chrissy at April 17, 2008 12:45 PM
I'm a single woman homeowner who occasionally rents out a room in my home. I'm not an apartment complex; I'm trusting someone in my own home, so I *have* to feel comfortable with the person. I've rented to men and women, white, Hispanic, and Middle-eastern (so far). I don't care about that. But the person HAS to match my fairly boring lifestyle and noise tolerance levels, be cool with my cats, and be willing to recycle while in my home. I insist on living with someone I'm comfortable with. Smokers are right out. Couples are right out. partiers are right out. Children are way, WAY out. It's my house and I decide, not the government, who may share it with me.
Monica at April 17, 2008 12:55 PM
As it should be!
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 1:21 PM
Welcome to the Nanny State, folks.
Gee, it's so easy to pass these laws when we're pretty sure just bad ol' white men will be affected (for their own good of course). But when women start to be affected, then WHAT THE HELL?!
Jay R at April 17, 2008 2:30 PM
Gods it makes me want to scream. As a parent, I most assuredly do not want to live in a building with a lot of residents who don't. Our landlords, irritating as they can be on occasion, worked on making our building family friendly. They used to advertise it as family housing, but stopped when another landlord in the area got sued for doing the same thing.
When I was still back in Michigan, my landlord wanted to bring me into his business as a partner. One of the things we discussed was the notion of putting tenants that would be more likely to live similar lifestyles in the same properties. They actually do this as much as possible, but they have to be extremely careful about how they go about it, to avoid being sued.
To me, it's a no-brainer. You have potential tenants who like to party, put them in the party building down the street, not the property that has three families living there right now.
Don't even get me started on the roomy quest and stating explicit preferences. Sorry, but if we want a roomy, we're going to fucking discriminate.
DuWayne at April 17, 2008 4:30 PM
Looks like I have to show my colors here; I definite myself as an Objectivist. Call me a "Randian Cultist" as much as you want, her philosophy fit my life almost as a glove.
I can see the goals of the law. It is noble to assure that the skin color will not affect one's ability to rent. On the other side, reason and common sense clearly forbid us to open the door to someone who displease un in a private propriety.
On this, I fully support the poster known as "Monica". She's the one who will have to pay the heavy price the day a chain-smoking, drunkard bum will ask the state the right to camp in her spare room.
If the state, Any state, want to rent rooms, they can build projects and rent them to whoever they want. Turning honest homeowners as criminals if they chose to pick someone fitting their views.
Toubrouk at April 17, 2008 8:16 PM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/04/the-unfair-hous.html#comment-1540811">comment from Jay RWelcome to the Nanny State, folks. Gee, it's so easy to pass these laws when we're pretty sure just bad ol' white men will be affected (for their own good of course). But when women start to be affected, then WHAT THE HELL?!
Uh, Jay, I used a woman as an example for no particular reason at all. I think anybody who wants a particular kind of roommate and does not want another kind of roommate should be able to advertise their preferences -- both for their good and for the good of the roommate. Think how many people's time will be wasted if "hairy gay man seeking same" as a roommate will have to go through numerous single mothers and female heterosexual college freshman.
Real sorry for whatever happened to you because you were involved with a woman, but, 1. You bear responsibility for who and what you let into your life, and 2. If you look at it that way, you'll be less likely to make the same mistake in the future (by being more conscious and less wishful-thinking oriented in your choices) and 3. You'll stop seeing everything negative in the universe as a result of women persecuting white men.
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 9:25 PM
When I lived in San Francisco I leased a four-bedroom flat and went on a roommate search.
I used the roommate services and want ads, and I swear to the infinite universe that I met more idiots in a week than I've met in the years since.
Straight white male seeks non-smoking, rational roommates.
What I got was a parade of people walking in and proclaiming "I'm gay! You have to rent to me or it's discrimination!", "Hi, we're a family of four living in a motel down the street and we'd like to rent one of the bedrooms", "Hey let's get high and talk about this rent deal", and my favorite "I'm 15 and I want to move in with my boyfriend."
Hell is other people, I'm sure of it.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at April 19, 2008 11:17 AM
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