Category Archives: Social Issues

June 25, 2015 · 9:19 am

The Supreme Court, Disparate Impact and Property Management

Well, in the opinion of this author, we’ve moved yet another step closer to hell. Today the Supreme Court ruled that Disparate Impact lawsuits for discrimination can move forward and are part of the fair housing acts enacted in the 1960s. This is a HUGE expansion of fair housing and I’m not really sure it can be defined. And that is what make me nervous.

I am all for the seven protected classes that fair housing protects. No question. And we are very careful to not violate those classes. But now the definition of discrimination has grown so broad that I don’t know when we’ll be discriminating and when we wont.

See this link for an example.
http://www.kentucky.com/2015/06/25/3917235_supreme-court-opens-door-to-housing.html?rh=1

Here is the important paragraph:

A “disparate impact” arises when a practice produces different effects across racial groups, even if the practice wasn’t racially motivated. For instance, if a mortgage lender establishes borrowing standards based on income and net worth, and some racial groups are less likely than others to qualify for loans under those standards, this could result in a disparate impact

And I had a Kansas City housing official tell me about a year ago that in his opinion (now green-lighted by the Supreme Court) that because I refuse to lease homes to people with violent criminal pasts and that disproportionally people of color go to jail because of violent criminal behavior that I am discriminating against people of color under the broad definition of “disparate impact.”

Here is the scary, scary thing. It doesn’t have to intentional. And we all know it doesn’t have to be really even proven in civil court. So regardless of the fact that I won’t rent to a white guy with a criminal past I may still be discriminating under disparate impact because I won’t rent to a person of color with a criminal past.

Where does this stop? Read carefully and think about the two examples given. Then take time to shiver. Government has taken another step into allowing housing to become a populist right.

Again, to answer some of the arguments I can already hear, I am not discriminatory. Not in my nature. But I’m not stupid, either. This will be used against property managers, landlords, realtors and lenders to the tune of hundreds of millions (billions) of dollars in lawsuits. And that will “trickle down” into your expenses, too.

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Filed under Property Management, Real Estate Investing, Social Issues

April 28, 2015 · 7:48 am

A Prayer for Baltimore

I spent 15 years in Suburban Maryland which, of course, identifies more with Washington, DC than Baltimore. But Baltimore was only 30 miles away and reminded me more of a “real” city. Washington pushes paper and people around in one big shuffle. Baltimore works for a living. Washington is a dark tinted Mercedes. Baltimore is trusty Ford.

As a private investigator I got to all the streets of Baltimore. It was the ’80s and early ’90s and the downtown renaissance had just come to early adulthood. The scars of the ’60s and early ’70s had begun to fade and the city was moving onwards and upwards. But, in the shadows, the divide always seems to be there.

Nowhere was I able to finally show my wife and family this better than on a vacation trip for the 4th of July, 2008. We were celebrating with the fireworks over the Inner Harbor. It’s a truly stunning visual knowing that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner just a few thousand yards from where I was sitting on the edge of the water. The crowds of families were delighted, peaceful and festive.

Then came afterwards…

The street urchins and wanna be gangsters descended and began to do what they pretty much do on many great Baltimore nights. They started blocking streets and causing havoc, though there was little property damage. My wife was freaking out and the children watched with bemusement when the police barricaded a street from moving because these street thugs had blocked one of the main exits to the nearby highways. They walked between our cars and even on top of some cars. They were seemingly delighted they were causing so much mischief and worry to the suburbanites trying to head home.

Make no mistake, these idiots are not the vast majority of Baltimore. But something in this city has allowed them, excused them, to behave this way. Sadly, I see the same beginnings here in Kansas City on The Plaza. Bored youths who think it’s fun to terrorize.

A great quote from the Baltimore police chief last night concerned a hooded kid being recognized by his mother. Rather than the kid’s mother excusing him or remaining passive she went out, removed his hood and slapped him a couple times in the head before leading him home. The chief said he wished more parents would take charge of their kids that way. As do we all.

Say a prayer for Baltimore. My guess is this isn’t over. And that it has little to do with the protests. It’s just another reason to cause terror. Hooliganism they used to call it in Great Britain.

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Filed under Social Issues