NMHC survey: Most don’t know about fair housing

A survey made by the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. and Western Economic Services showed a substantial lack of knowledge in the CNMI of the fair housing law.

In a presentation, WES director of research and planning Robert Gaudin said the Analysis of Impediments survey highlighted that lack.

“The fundamental issue we discovered with the survey is the lack of understanding of fair housing, its purpose, its role, and whether they’ve been discriminated,” Gaudin said.

He said the finding highlights the need to reach out and educate both providers and consumers of housing.

Gaudin also pointed out the lack of fair housing complaint data in the CNMI as received by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as by NMHC.

He noted that many of the 209 respondents answered “I don’t know” to the questions in the survey.

There were also those that incorrectly identified the protected classes under the law.

“Respondents were also asked to identify as many groups as they could that were protected under Commonwealth or federal laws, with race and disability given as examples of protected classes. Sixty-eight respondents answered this question…no more than 12 respondents were able to correctly identify any protected group in addition to race and disability, or around 17.6 percent. Sixteen respondents incorrectly identified age as a protected class, and 11 mistakenly included income. Ten respondents correctly identified national origin as a protected class, eight respondents correctly identified gender, and five correctly identified color,” the report said.

Some of the comments shared by respondents referred to the quality and safety of housing units in general. Some underscored an issue describing a practice of “monopoly owners” buying properties and evicting current residents, and issues relating to housing costs.

According to Gaudin, fair housing takes all the protected classes and considers those actions that people feel they’ve been discriminated against.

“Fair housing choice, that represents something about the way you’re treated in the market place—maybe it’s because of your familial status, if you have children, if you’re treated differently from everyone else—then that’s discriminatory action,” Gaudin said.

“In the housing transaction, how are you as an individual treated? If you are treated differently than everyone else because of some protected clause you belong to, then that is not fair,” he added.

Asked about the situation of some tenants on island that are being evicted, Gaudin said it might fall under the landlord-tenant law and not under fair housing.

“If they evicted everyone, then you’re treated the same as everyone else. But it’s really the question if it’s just or unjust. Then that would fall under landlord-tenant law,” he said.

In conclusion, education of the public is needed.

“In general, the idea is to initially enhance outreach and education. Provide opportunities for people to better understand what fair housing is, who’s protected, and what actions are also protected or ruled illegal under fair housing law under federal and the Commonwealth,” Gaudin said.