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Cases of discrimination in housing
4.
Mérida.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
A young Roma couple was looking for a house to rent so that they
could move in together. They answered an advertisement in a real estate publication and spoke to the realtor
who explained the minimum conditions that had to be met to rent the houses he had available.
The young Roma couple chose the one they liked best and closed the deal by telephone directly with the ow-
ner. All that remained was to meet and sign the lease.
They made an appointment with the owner and as soon as he saw them he claimed that the house had already
been rented to somebody else and that he was sorry but there was nothing he could do. The young couple
reminded him of their telephone conversation but he refused to budge.
A few days later the couple went by the flat and saw the “for rent” sign still in the window.
They told us that the felt discriminated against for being Roma saying: “The same thing always happens. We try
to rent a flat but people don’t want Roma in their homes even though we pay the rent.”
5.
Lugo.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma girl answered an advertisement for a rental flat and the owner
made an appointment to show the house and discuss the rental conditions. When they meet, the owner claimed
that the flat was already rented and didn’t even show it to her.
The girl realised what had happened a said that she was subject to discrimination for being Roma.
One more example of the difficulties and barriers encountered by the Roma community in seeking housing.
6.
La Coruña.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
The FSG was helping a family that was participating in one of its
programmes look for a flat.
We contacted the local real estate agency and they had three flats in their database which met the family’s
needs.
We went there and introduced ourselves as the social intervention department of the Fundación Secretariado
Gitano and they said: “It’s very difficult for Roma to find a flat. If I tell owners that the people who want to rent
their flat are Roma they’ll tell me that I’m crazy.”
We told him that the agency’s job is to mediate between the landlord and the potential tenant and he respon-
ded: “I know all of the owners and none of them want to rent to Roma.” He then told us that he didn’t want to help
the FSG with its search and even though we found flats in his database that met the needs of our programme
participants, we decided not to contact them since they refuse to rent to Roma.
7.
Pontevedra.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma woman was looking for a flat for her family. She called a
real estate agency from the Pontevedra office of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano. The estate agent, unable
to identify the victim as Roma over the telephone, told her that he could offer her that flat and two others in the
area. They then made an appointment to meet a few hours later.
The estate agent met the woman and showed her one of the flats and then told her that the one she just saw
and the other two were already rented.
8.
Madrid.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
A young Roma girl told us that she was being harassed by her land-
lord because she is Roma and that she was afraid the situation would get out of hand. Ever since the landlord
realised that she had rented her flat to a Roma family she did everything possible to discourage them, to the
point that the young girl filed a complaint with the police to prevent possible violence.