Staying Fit
Several housing companies have been charged with discriminating against older Americans by using Facebook to promote ads only to younger age groups, denying older prospective tenants the opportunity to see those advertisements, according to complaints filed with two local government agencies.
The Housing Rights Initiative (HRI), which is a nonprofit watchdog group, and a Washington, D.C., woman filed the human rights complaints in the District of Columbia and Maryland, possibly the first time a civil rights case has accused specific housing companies of discrimination through Facebook ads. The plaintiffs have not filed a complaint against Facebook itself, which recently settled discrimination charges tied to its advertising system.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
“The charges open up a new front in the fight against digital discrimination. They suggest that housing discrimination has been a systemic problem on Facebook,” said a statement from the plaintiffs. “Online advertising has become one of the primary means by which companies who rent apartments or sell homes identify and interact with prospective customers.”
HRI says that it has identified dozens of companies in Washington, D.C., and other markets that allegedly discriminate against older Americans through digital advertising, including some of the nation’s “largest” multifamily housing developers and brokers.
“Digital discrimination is undermining equal opportunity in America. Your age, gender or zip code should not determine your opportunity to rent an apartment, buy a home or get a mortgage. The internet is not a civil rights-free zone,” said Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney with Outten & Golden LLP who is one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Neuhtah Opiotennione, the 54-year-old D.C. resident who filed a complaint, worked for the public school system and says she had a housing budget of at least $2,500 per month. She regularly used Facebook over the past year and was interested in obtaining information through that social media site about housing opportunities.
“I’m shocked and disappointed to hear that I, along with other older residents, have been excluded from housing ads on Facebook,” Opiotennione said. “We deserve the same opportunity to hear about apartments as younger people.”
More on politics-society
Changing the Future of the Workplace
Age diversity will always be one of the greatest strengthsHurricane Survivor Fights to Save Her Home From Foreclosure
AARP Foundation takes on reverse mortgage lender