Landlord Turns Down Pakistani Man After Finding Out His Ethnicity

It’s truly a shame that even in the year 2020, the phenomenon of ethnic and racial discrimination can still be observed in almost every single area of life. Take, for instance, the housing market. Even though 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Fair Housing Act, which was created to help limit discrimination related to landlords, tenants, and housing in the United States, the problem still remains critically relevant.

Various studies conducted in the last ten years suggest that ethnic and racial minorities still receive less favorable treatment than white people when seeking housing. Moreover, research shows that real estate agents and rental housing providers tend to show less available housing options to minorities compared to equally qualified whites. This type of study once again shows us how much work there’s still left to do for us to create a society that’s safe for each and every one of us.

The experience that one Twitter user, abbas96ali, recently had to go through proved this just as well.

More info: Twitter

Recently, this Twitter user named Abbas Ali shared screenshots of a conversation he had with a landlord who was offering a room for rent

The tweet included two screenshots of the conversation this man had with the landlord and the description said this: “My heart sinks when landlords ask this question because I already know I’m not getting the place then.”

The beginning of this conversation seemed perfectly normal

Image credits: abbas96ali

The man approached the landlord by introducing himself as the potential tenant he’d just spoken to over the phone. The landlord replied and asked Abbas when he would like to come to see the place.

And then this happened

Image credits: abbas96ali

The landlord suggested the time that would work best for him and then asked Abbas a few questions. One of these questions was “Where are you from?”

For some reason, the landlord felt the need to know the ethnicity of his potential tenant

Image credits: abbas96ali

The man gave all the answers to the landlord’s questions except to the one asking his ethnicity. The landlord replied to the message by asking “where are you from?” once again.

After finding out that the man was from Pakistan, the landlord suddenly decided that the room was no longer available

Image credits: abbas96ali

Apparently, it was already rented… even though just a few hours earlier, the landlord had been inviting this man to come see the place… yeah, right

Image credits: abbas96ali

Reading this conversation made many Twitter users extremely sad and pissed

Some were pointing out that according to the Fair Housing Act, such actions are absolutely illegal

Unfortunately, the story took place not in the United States, but in Dubai, and the laws there are obviously different

Finally, some internet users related to the story and decided to share their own similar experiences