Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

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Housing Market
• Federally mandated data reporting on mortgage loans provides insights into lending by race/ethnicity
and sex.
o Lesser mortgage application volume and (largely) greater denial rates for loan applicants of
color suggest a dynamic of exclusionary lending in Arlington, and that mortgage lending is an
impediment to fair housing access.
o Application volume rates by sex show women face continued obstacles to homebuying, upstream
of the loan application process. This disparity could be due to endogenous factors in the
homebuying process (such as discrimination by real estate agents or mortgage brokers), as well
as external discriminatory factors, such as lower pay among women.
• Despite laws that regulate how the real estate industry can treat homebuyers and renters, academic
research and qualitative reports demonstrate that discrimination against protected classes remains a
feature of Arlington’s housing market. Discrimination was reported against several protected classes,
including race, national origin, source of income, family status, and disability status.
• Quantitative and qualitative indicate that seeking building improvements is an ongoing and
underreported area of housing discrimination. Many tenants in protected classes attempt to address
concerns themselves, “get by” without accommodations that they are entitled to, or simply leave (or never
rent) these homes.
• Household-level displacement is occurring in Arlington, particularly as rental housing is repositioned for
higher-income residents and as older residents seek lower-cost options as they age.