Saturday, February 11, 2017

Rent Discrimination in Washington D.C. is Back

RW note: Great. Rent discrimination for any reason is fine from a libertarian perspective.

Roommates Wanted. Trump Supporters Need Not Apply.

By Katie Rogers

She calls it the “no-Trump clause.”

When Sahar Kian needed a new roommate for the home she shares near Georgetown University, she did what many young people here do: She took out an ad on Craigslist and then set down a few ground rules.

“Alcohol, pets and meat products are not allowed in the house,” Ms. Kian wrote.

“Neither are Trump supporters,” she added.

Ms. Kian, 23, is not the first person to add such a clause to a quest for a roommate. A steady trickle of posts like hers have shown up, one or two at a time, on Craigslist since President Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20.

As anyone who has started out in the Washington area with few contacts and an entry-level salary knows, finding a roommate (or three) to share a high rent is common practice. The median cost for a one-bedroom apartment is around $1,990 a month, according to Zumper, a rental aggregator. But for some, it’s becoming more important to make sure that political views align before they split the cost with a stranger.

On Twitter, Reddit and Craigslist and in Facebook groups, people have been screening for Trump supporters since at least last fall. Such ads, more than a dozen of which have been posted on Craigslist since Inauguration Day, are only a tiny fraction of the thousands of posts on the site, but they nonetheless represent a small act of defiance in an area that heavily favored Hillary Clinton and where residents have remained politically active since the election.

“I can’t live with someone who supports a ‘leader’ with those types of ideals,” Jessica, 32, a teacher who did not want her last name used because she feared harassment online, wrote in an email. She posted an ad on Craiglist for a room share shortly after the inauguration. “I feel like I’m going to a protest every single day.”

In one recent ad, a couple in the area who identified themselves as “open-minded” and liberal advertised a $500 room in their home: “If you’re racist, sexist, homophobic or a Trump supporter please don’t respond. We won’t get along.”

In another, two women in their 20s were searching for a roommate to take over a lavender-colored room in their Columbia Heights apartment for $550. The women detailed their love of happy hours, a “good Netflix sesh,” pho and tacos.


“We’re open to any age/gender identity/non-identity,” they added, “so long as you didn’t vote for Trump.

Read the rest here.


2 comments:

  1. I have a sign at my place that says "Liberals, conservatives and alt-righters not welcome. The 4th Amendment applies to this house hold"

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's ok. I like to discriminate to. What man would want to date some obese cow who voted for Obama and Hitlery and is an 'educator' with a worthless education degree but still ignorant?

    ReplyDelete