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Cases in the area of housing
A: - What do you want?
FSG: -We want to see flats for rent in the Corvera area.
A: -Just one minute. My colleague will help you. The colleague (B) immediately approached us and,
without inviting us to take a seat, said:
B: -I don’t have anything to show you.
FSG: -What do you mean you don’t have anything?
B: -Not for people in her circumstances (referring to the low social salary income that the Roma woman
had). The people I represent don’t want tenants like that.
FSG: - But what circumstances are you referring to?
B: - Her income cannot be legally seized; pensions cannot be seized by creditors.
FSG: -She doesn’t have a pension; she has a social salary.
B: -I understand. The owners I represent don’t want tenants with those conditions.
FSG: -Is the problem with the owners or is it you who doesn’t want people like her? Is it because she’s
Roma?
B: -I don’t have any issues with Roma. Don’t call me racist.
FSG: -No? First of all, it’s not a racial matter. They are a group, a people, and they’re exactly like you
and I.
The Department informed the family of their right to request a complaint form to express the sort of treatment
they were subjected to. We also think that it is important for the real estate agency manager to know what is
going on in the office in order to take the measures deemed appropriate.
In the end, the family decided to call at another real estate agency and not take any sort of action.
4.
Cuenca.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma woman told us that she was looking for a flat to rent in a
neighbourhood where several of her relatives lived and had contacted several real estate agencies in the months
of May and June. After several tries, she was finally able to set up an appointment with the owner of a flat. She
told us that she had made the arrangements to see the flat over the phone and that the conversation was very
cordial and she was led to believe that the owner wanted to rent her the flat.
Everything changed, however, when they met face-to-face. As soon as the owner saw her she acted rude and
indifferent towards her. She was convinced that it was because she is Roma.
Following the perfunctory introductions, the owner told the woman that that same day another person had
rented the flat and that it was therefore no longer available.
The woman told us that the day before the meeting the owner had not mentioned anything about another
potential tenant
A few days later the woman came to the FSG office to tell us that this was not the first time that she was re-
fused a flat for being Roma and she was typically turned down after the face-to-face meeting.
5.
Salamanca.
Housing.
Direct discrimination.
Several Roma families receiving counsel from the FSG in Salaman-
ca filed an application for what is known as solidarity housing rental offered by a bank in the area where they live.
Once having completed part of the application process (submission of documents, etc.) the families told us that
they felt deceived and unprotected throughout the process; after going through all of the steps as described
in the application process, the developer excluded them from the award process but allowed the non-Roma
families to proceed.
The Department requested further information and we discovered that the developer excluded these Roma
families because of a negative experience they had with other Roma families with a different call for housing
applications and didn’t want to have the same co-existence problems.