It was like a sting operation: send both black and white people into an apartment building posing as renters; then see if they’re treated differently because of the color of their skin. It resulted in a discrimination lawsuit being filed in federal court.
“Discrimination, completely,” said Zipporah Hayes, one of the housing testers who went looking for an apartment at the Elite Riverview Apartments, at NW 27th Avenue in Miami.
The white, Hispanic testers had a completely different experience at the same building.
“Actually, it was a nice experience. I felt welcome when I went in,” said Alexandra Del Rosario.
She’s white, Zipporah Hayes is African-American. They each went to the Elite Riverview Apartments on the same day in February, looking for vacancies.
“I was told there was no units until the second week of March. I wasn’t even offered to look at any units or anything like that,” said Hayes.