A large proportion of rental housing agents in The Hague are prepared to discriminate against potential tenants on the grounds of their ethnic background or sexual preference, according to research carried out on behalf of the city council.
In total, 50 rental housing agents were phoned and asked by researchers posing as landlords if they could guarantee no-one from an ethnic minority or who was homosexual could rent their property.
Just 22 of the 50 agents declined to cooperate. The rest said either that it would not be a problem, or that they would help, even though it was not technically allowed.
The researchers also replied to 250 adverts for rental housing with a maximum price of €2,000 a month and found that people with a ‘non-western’ name were almost 20% more likely to be refused. Gay couples were 8% more likely to be rejected. continue reading
