Housing Discrimination, Alive and Well in Missouri?

The following were all located on the Kansas City Craigslist site on February 16, 2010.

The first posting is looking for a roommate who is a Christian

(http://kansascity.craigslist.org/roo/2213734777.html).

The next posting states an illegal preference for tenants with "no children"

(http://kansascity.craigslist.org/roo/2169633803.html).

And this one excludes non-heterosexuals

(http://kansascity.craigslist.org/roo/2214103594.html).

The first two posts violate the federal Fair Housing Act. The third would be legal, except that the property is based in Kansas City, Missouri, which has a human rights ordinance that includes housing and protects on the basis of sexual orientation.

The purpose of this post is not to attack Craigslist. The site has a tool for reporting housing discrimination, and makes clear at least what the federal requirements are (although they do not explain, for example, that within the city of Kansas City, sexual orientation discrimination is also forbidden). The point is to illustrate that, with little effort, one can find discrimination occurring out in the open.

A very specific blog

Welcome. The purpose of his blog is to look at issues of housing discrimination in the state of Missouri. Housing discrimination is the denial of fair access to housing on due to the bias of the people or institutions which control that access. It can take many forms, from blatant refusal to sell or lease to covenants or zoning laws that keep certain groups out of an area to bank mortgage departments that charge vastly higher interest rates to people of color. This blog will try to explore all of those issues and more within the state of Missouri.

A little about me. I grew up in the Kansas City area, and have lived in both Kansas and Missouri. I'm currently a 2L at the University of Missouri Kansas City with an interest (among other things) in civil rights laws. I am also a board member of EQUAL (Empowering Queer Activists and Leaders), a non-profit that serves Kansas City's queer youth population. I have my own perspectives (some would call them biases), but I hope to keep an open mind as I write this blog.

This blog is not an open-ended project. Although I may return to it when relevant news breaks, this is a limited topic area, and I have no intent to blog for the sake of blogging. I hope this blog can be a forum for discussion and understanding.