Racine today announced Zillow, an online real estate and rental marketplace company, is working with the Office of the Attorney General OAG to prevent discriminatory housing advertisements from appearing on its platforms. Under District law, it is illegal for landlords to discriminate against people who rely on housing assistance, including vouchers, to pay for all or part of their rent.
The company has improved its existing filter to catch listings with words or phrases commonly connected to source of income discrimination for the District, which it will review periodically for effectiveness and refine as needed. Zillow joins Apartments. We need more partners like Zillow and Apartments. Zillow Group, Inc. The company offers District residents and users nationwide access to data on over million homes in the United States, helping consumers when buying, selling, renting, and financing their next home.
The company has acquired several online real estate subsidiaries, including HotPads and Trulia, and operates over two dozen real estate smartphone apps. It broadly outlaws discrimination based on 21 traits including race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and disability.
The HRA specifically outlaws housing discrimination based on source of income, making it illegal for landlords to refuse prospective tenants simply because they rely on vouchers or other forms of housing assistance. Despite this protection, a recent study showed that 15 percent of District landlords still refuse to accept vouchers.
Zillow worked with OAG to improve its filter across all its platforms that identifies and removes content that include a now-expanded list of words or phrases associated with source of income discrimination. The filter is active in the District, and will be subject to a new quarterly manual review process to periodically test for flaws and add any necessary additional words or phrases.
