{"id":6512,"date":"2016-07-18T06:07:24","date_gmt":"2016-07-17T22:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.99.co\/blog\/singapore\/?p=6512"},"modified":"2022-07-01T04:03:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T20:03:06","slug":"99co-stop-rental-racial-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.99.co\/singapore\/insider\/99co-stop-rental-racial-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Your wife is Indian, landlord won\u2019t rent to you"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"Make<\/p>\n

Make a stand against rental racial discrimination with 99.co’s REGARDLESS-OF-RACE campaign<\/a><\/p>\n

My wife\u2019s name is Roshni. It\u2019s not hard to tell that she is Indian.<\/p>\n

She is a Singaporean, her favourite snack is popiah and her favourite fruit is durian. She is also the founder and CEO of <\/span>theAsianparent<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Late last year, when she was 6 months pregnant, we decided to move to a place closer to her office to prepare for Baby\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

I thought it was going to be a breeze when we first started our search. After all, it is a renters\u2019 market with an oversupply of vacant apartments and I know the country and the process well, so I was confident that it <\/span>would be easy – I <\/span>was very wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo credits: Bambooshoots.com.sg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the beginning, things seemed easy, I could find several suitable homes, agents were friendly and responsive, scheduling was fast – most were eager to receive us for viewings.<\/p>\n

However, I began to notice something very odd as we went for these viewing, something I never encountered before, in the dozen years that I\u2019ve been renting. On several occasions, the agents seemed eager to end the viewings quickly, sometimes without even discussing the offer. I would text them afterwards to negotiate on the price, but one of the response we got was a shocking \u201cSorry your wife is Indian, landlord won\u2019t rent to you. Next time please indicate earlier, so we both don\u2019t waste time\u201d.<\/p>\n

I understand the idea of discrimination intellectually and recognise that it exists, but it was not until this moment that I caught a glimpse of what it actually means to be discriminated against.<\/p>\n

From then on, I learnt to edit our introduction to be \u201cMe and my wife, Roshni\u201d in our texts to agents, just so that we don\u2019t waste time, and sure enough, after enquiring for over 30 (yes, that many) properties, over 20 percent of our enquiries were rejected upfront simply because of her name. In one case, after the typical vague response of \u201cProfile doesn\u2019t match\u201d, I pushed harder to ask \u201cIs it because my wife is Indian?\u201d, and the response was a dead-pan \u201cYes, thanks for your understanding\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the end, my wife and I \u00a0paid a good 15 percent more than what we should have because we could only settle on one place we liked that welcomed us (in addition to the fact \u00a0we had little negotiation <\/span>power at that point).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShould we drop my last name from Shan’s (our daughter\u2019s) IC? It might just be easier for her in the future\u201d<\/span><\/i>, Roshni asked me one night with a hint of defeat and injury she was trying to hide, my heart broke into a thousand pieces. We had wanted our daughter to keep both our last names and to be proud of her heritage equally.<\/span><\/p>\n

That night, I decided I could not let my daughter grow up in a society where she has to hide her identity just because \u201cit will be easier\u201d. Not here, as a citizen, in the country of her birth.<\/p>\n

You too can make a difference to oppose racial discrimination by taking your stand\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“No Indian, No PRC” – Discrimination is real and\u00a0it\u2019s NOT OK (nor\u00a0smart)<\/b><\/h3>\n

This is not a new problem, and neither is it a small one.<\/p>\n

In fact, if you Google \u201cNo Indian No PRC\u201d, you will find actual rental listings in Singapore in the top results. \u00a0The problem is so prevalent that even BBC had <\/span>extensive coverage<\/span><\/a> on it some time ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

While there are many listings containing such explicitly discriminatory language, that only remains the tip of the iceberg. From surveying our users, 20 percent of the time, they would experience some form of racial discrimination. Enquiries about rental properties often come with a series of profiling questions that includes \u201cWhat race are you?\u201d, \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d, or outright rejection by stating \u00a0\u201cProfile doesn\u2019t match\u201d. The top two groups of people who receive discriminatory responses are Indians and PRCs (referring to those from mainland People\u2019s Republic of China).<\/p>\n

Reasons cited for such practices range from perceptions of lack of cleanliness, to likelihood of damaging the apartment, to simply \u201cI don\u2019t like them\u201d. While there are genuine concerns that are well within the rights of a landlord to screen for, linking these concerns to race and stereotyping prospective tenants as such is baseless.<\/p>\n

Besides, with rental vacancy rate at an all time high (7.5% for private properties as of Q1 2016), landlords also have to ask – is it really economically wise to discriminate against over 50 percent of rental demand? If truly damages and cleaning is what you worry about, there is\u00a0already have rental deposit\u00a0for that purpose. In most circumstances, damages are well below the typical 1-2 month deposit and the landlord is well-covered on this.<\/p>\n

How do we fix it?<\/b><\/h3>\n

The solution is simple.<\/p>\n

In conjunction with Racial Harmony Day, we are launching the REGARDLESS-OF-RACE campaign.<\/p>\n

Under this initiative, we are introducing a new feature on 99.co – <\/span>\u201cDiversity Friendly\u201d <\/i><\/b>listings<\/span><\/i>. Agents and landlords can now <\/span>positively<\/span><\/i> indicate that their rental listings can be listed to be open for all, regardless of their ethnicity, background or nationality. These l<\/span>istings will then be prominently featured on the 99.co homepage to prospective renters<\/span>. The idea is to give renters peace of mind during their home search journey – \u00a0reducing instances of rude comments and unpleasant experiences while enquiring about listings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our hope is that as more and more agents put up \u2018Diversity Friendly\u2019 listings (and catch the attention of renters who look for these first), it will build momentum to create a more inclusive rental market and landlords will start to realise that it is not just socially unacceptable to discriminate, but also economically unviable.<\/p>\n

View listings here<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pledge<\/b><\/h3>\n

You too can make a difference to spread the word against racial discrimination.<\/p>\n

We have set up a pledge page where you can take a stand against these practices as well as share their personal stories of rental racial discrimination you might have experienced.<\/p>\n

So if you are:<\/p>\n