The Not-in-My-Property Syndrome: The Occurrence of Ethnic Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market in Belgium

This paper aims at achieving a better understanding of rental housing market discrimination against ethnic minorities. There remain substantial lacunae in the scientific knowledge about the association between the concentration of ethnic minorities in the neighbourhood and discrimination, and possible differences in discrimination based on host society language proficiency. Although these associations have been considered in the USA, they have been neglected in the European context, which is quite different. A telephone survey offered data on 579 properties that is linked to (i) whether the fictitious ethnic minority candidate masters the host society language or not, (ii) the rent of the offered unit, (iii) the percentage of minorities in the neighbourhood and (iv) the socioeconomic background of the neighbourhood. Using multilevel modelling, we found (i) that host society language proficient migrants are discriminated against as often as non-proficient migrants and found (ii) a curvilinear association between rent and discrimination, with more discrimination for both cheaper and more expensive rental offers. We found (iii) no association between the presence of minorities in the neighbourhood and the occurrence of discrimination, contrary to previous research in the USA, and found (iv) no association between discrimination and the socioeconomic background of a neighbourhood.