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May 5 2005

Ad Council Campaign Fighting Housing Bias

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by Daniel Dunaief

Daily News, New York

RISMEDIA, May 5 – (KRT) – The same folks who tugged at people’s hearts
with ads featuring the crying Indian near a pile of garbage are trying
to make sure Indians, African-Americans and everyone else get a fair
shake when they apply for housing.

The Advertising Council, partnering with several housing agencies,
recently started the second phase of ads designed to raise awareness
of the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination.

The print and radio spots, which were designed pro bono by New York
city-based Merkley + Partners, targets people most likely to run
into problems when they rent or buy a property, or when they apply
for loans.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that one in
five African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians experience discrimination
in housing transactions.

In one radio ad, a man calls a newspaper to list an apartment for rent,
which he says is available immediately.

“Unless,” he adds, “you’re African-American, Hispanic, Asian,
Middle-Eastern, Indian or a member of any minority group.”

The announcer warns: “Unfortunately, housing discrimination isn’t
always this obvious.”

An estimated two million instances of housing discrimination occur
in America each year, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) said.

“These ads educate people about fair housing and tell them there’s
a place to go if they think they’ve been discriminated against,”
said Karen McGill Lawson, the executive director of the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, which is a partner in
the effort.

The campaign started in 2003 with TV ads featuring one man making a
series of calls, while using different accents, to inquire about an
apartment on “Park Street.”

He uses names including Juan Hernandez, Sanjay Kumar and Tyrone
Washington — all of whom get a brisk brush-off from a woman who says
the apartment’s been rented.

When he calls and says he’s Graham Wellington, the woman says the
apartment is available.

The ad, which has appeared on UPN and ABC, was based on the real-life
experience of Kathy Fletcher, the director of member services with
the NFHA.

Her ex-husband, who is Armenian, was trying to get an apartment in a
building where she had been told there was a vacancy. When he called,
he was told nothing was available.

“You don’t think these things happen in cities like Washington,
D.C., or New York,” she said. “We’re finding an egregious amount of
discrimination and steering.”

The Ad Council said the campaign has helped raise awareness,
which has increased to 74 percent from 67 percent before the effort
started. Anyone wishing to report discrimination is encouraged to call
(800) 669-9777, or go to

Strategic planner Sara Bamber of Merkley, whose clients include
Pfizer and Mercedes, said the ads are designed to make it clear that
“everyone has a legal right to live where they want to.”

Separately, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has requested
information from several area banks in the early stages of a probe
of mortgage rates and fees, sources said.

The results of that effort, experts said, could be to create tougher
guiding principals for how banks set lending rates.

Copyright © 2005, Daily News, New York

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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