ABSTRACT
In 1963, the California legislature passed the Rumford Fair Housing Act which prohibited racial discrimination in housing practices. The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity has a website where it describes its purpose as the office that administers and enforces federal laws and establishes policies that make sure all Americans have equal access to the housing of their choice. Housing discrimination is widespread. Reasons for this fall into two categories: victim vulnerabilities; and property owners, managers, or contractors looking for ways to increase profits regardless of legality. Government and non-profit agencies who track housing discrimination will often perform an audit when discriminatory practices are suspected. The growing body of literature on linguistic profiling produced by scholars, government agencies and non-profit civil rights organizations points to a simple conclusion: Anglos are more likely to have calls returned and they hear a wider range of possibilities and may be offered monetary incentives.
