San Francisco-based company reached an agreement with California’s housing agency amid complaints of guests being rejected for their raceAirbnb will allow the government to test for racial discrimination by hosts as allotment of an agreement with California that is the first of its kind and could pave the way for stricter regulations and greater public scrutiny.
The California Department of unprejudiced Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced Thursday that it had resolved a complaint it filed against Airbnb with an agreement that forces the company to permit the state to conduct “unprejudiced housing testing” of certain hosts. That means that for the first time the San Francisco-based company is giving a regulatory body permission to conduct the kind of racial discrimination audits that officials have long used to enforce unprejudiced housing laws against traditional landlords. Related: Airbnb blocked discrimination researcher over multiple accounts Related: The Airbnb bias row shows prejudice matters – and not just to its victims | Claire Hynes Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com