Just Saying | Not just greedy but also racist: Hong Kong landlords’ Covid-proof attitude is deplorable
- Yonden Lhatoo laments the rampant racism and discrimination that underprivileged members of ethnic minority groups experience when looking for a home to rent in the city
They found that more than 90 per cent of those belonging to ethnic minority groups here have been discriminated against when looking for a roof over their heads. Some 61 per cent reported facing an “unwelcoming attitude”, while 53 per cent were turned away by landlords who simply refused to lease to them.
The top three reasons cited for the bigotry they were subjected to were their ethnicity (64 per cent), their nationality (59 per cent), and their financial status (39 per cent).
Money talks louder than race in this city, and I’m sure well-heeled bankers and lawyers of South Asian and Southeast Asian origin don’t have as harrowing an experience finding plush, company-sponsored accommodation in gated compounds in the Mid-Levels or on The Peak. We’re talking about a bigger demographic here – the underclass of poor ethnic minority families, around 40 per cent of whom live in subdivided spaces that pass for homes in one of the most prosperous cities in the world.
The survey findings are nothing new, really. Take a look at this excerpt from a 2017 paper submitted to the city’s legislature: “Grassroots [ethnic minority groups’] options on renting homes in the private market are not only limited to their low economic capabilities facing rocketing rental rates, but also racial prejudice and discrimination. This is often shown by landlords refusing to rent homes to potential tenants due to reasons or occasionally, excuses, from worries of language barriers to cooking in heavy smell [sic], and even simply and blatantly refuse to lease due to their ethnicities [sic].”
