2023-09-14 12:51:10
Vienna. According to the news widely covered by Kurier; People with foreign names and accents are discriminated against when looking for a home.
According to a SORA investigation commissioned by the Equal Treatment Ombudsman, if Mr Michael Huber is looking for an apartment in Austria, there is a good chance he will at least be invited on an appointment to view the property he wants, but for someone using the name Muhammad Asif, the situation is anything but easy; So much so that in half the cases it is not even taken into account!
According to the study, real estate agents invited the fictitious Mohammed Asif to view an apartment in only 38 percent of cases. Private landlords gave the man named “stranger” at least a chance in 78 percent of cases. However, invented for the purpose of the research, Mr. Huber was invited to view apartments 157 times in 157 contacts in Vienna, Linz, Graz and Innsbruck.
„People with foreign names and accents are discriminated against when looking for a home. We see this when victims approach the Equal Treatment Ombudsman, and we have now proven this in a study,” said Sandra Konstatzky, President of the Ombudsman for Equal Treatment (GAW), speaking to Diakonie at a press conference on the results of the study on Wednesday. Before the study was conducted, an increase in complaints about discrimination in the housing market had been noticed.
Refugees struggle with many prejudices
What is particularly striking in the statistics is that, apart from their names, the two men have exactly the same prerequisites in terms of salary, marital status, pets or smoking. This research from SORA confirms a recent study by the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz. In fact, this study concludes that people face discrimination differently depending on their origins.
Austrians with names of Austrian origin had a higher chance than those from the BKS (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia) community. They were also in a better situation than those of Turkish immigrant origin who were looking for housing. Refugees from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq are in the most difficult situation.
Konstatzky emphasized that such exclusion is illegal in this context. „The Equal Treatment Act also prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity in access to housing. The research conclusion is worrying: The real estate industry must therefore do its best to set high standards for non-discriminatory housing placement in the future.“ said.
Both the Equal Treatment Ombud and Diakonie know this problem from practical experience. Florian Hobl, head of the housing advice center at the Diakonie Refugee Service, told Kurier on Wednesday. „Almost all refugees who come to us for advice say that they went through a difficult path until they contacted an estate agent or landlord and were accepted as tenants.“ said. The result is often disappointment, lack of perspective, and despair after months of searching for a home.
Origin is not the only problem
However, from years of consultancy experience, Diakonie knows that nationality is not the only criterion for discrimination in the housing market. According to Diakonie, single mothers often have difficulty finding housing. Hobl says that similarly to refugees, they have to prove “a wage income that is sometimes completely arbitrary and disconnected from life”.
According to Diakonie housing consultant, incomes such as family allowance are not even regularly taken into account when allocating housing. If you cannot show three consecutive pay stubs when you start the interview, you will not be considered at all. However, especially when it comes to refugees, business relations can improve quickly.
However, foreign families with many children are often affected by this situation. „They are told the flat is too small for them. However, the standards for apartment sizes are very high. Children sharing a room, even as teenagers, was standard here a generation or two ago and is still normal for many Austrian families.” says Diakonie.
This situation even leads to women having to hide their pregnancies while looking for housing.
Moldy apartments at exorbitant prices
Diakonie Director Maria Katharina Moser points out that safe shelter is a basic need and states that current conditions often cause people to be forced into precarious and exploitative housing conditions.
„People with refugee or immigrant backgrounds often live in substandard housing and pay exorbitant prices for it. For a very small, cold and moldy apartment they have to pay the same or more than the Austrians for a decent apartment in a new or renovated old building. “The housing shortage is so great that there is no alternative.” says Moser.
Moser emphasizes that the rumors that people with refugee or immigrant origins are immediately given municipal flats in Vienna are not true with the following words: “The same conditions apply for Austrians.”
The need in the housing market is now being exploited even by criminals. According to Moser, fake tenants or subtenants are increasingly arranging apartments to which they have no right. Payment of two to three gross months’ rent in advance and without an invoice is no exception. So-called shared flats are also offered to refugees. However, in this case, women have no say in the new residents. It is said that there have been cases in the past where pregnant women were forcibly removed from these shared flats.
Those affected can defend themselves
The Equal Treatment Ombudsman made recommendations for the property sector based on the results of the study. It is very important that real estate agents and homeowners adhere to a predefined list of objective criteria. These criteria may, for example, be the time of application and sufficient credibility of the parties involved.
Diakonie and the Equal Treatment Ombudsman also offer assistance and advice. At Diakonie, refugees are supported to clearly summarize all their income in order to overcome the „payroll barrier“. We also provide assistance with language problems during housing applications.
The Equal Treatment Ombudsman seeks dialogue with the real estate industry to reduce stereotypes and to help people who are discriminated against to defend themselves.
Konstatzky, „Discrimination in housing allocation is difficult to prove, but we can of course ask why certain people were rejected“ says. It could also be considered to try to apply for selected properties with the fictitious Austrian test person in the study. In the case of discriminatory advertising, it is also necessary and very important to provide the opportunity to file a lawsuit for injunctive relief. (yenivatan.at)
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