Often people turn to our consultation centres when they have been subjected to racial discrimination or discrimination on grounds of ethnicity after, for instance, having been denied a viewing because of a foreign-sounding name. This lines up with the findings of a representative survey conducted by the Anti-Discrimination Agency in 2019, according to which around 35 % of all participants with a migrant background have already experienced discrimination on racial grounds or on grounds of ethnicity.

But factors such as gender, religion, disability, age or sexual identity can lead to discrimination, too.

When a couple seeking housing is turned away because they are not heterosexual, or if a person with a disability is treated worse than other tenants, this constitutes a case of unjustified discrimination. For instance, a person who was unable to carry their bike into the cellar due to a physical disability turned to us for advice. Although the property management is aware of the disability, they put up prohibition signs against parking bicycles in the courtyard and do not offer the tenant in question an adequate solution. Another client, a woman who wears a headscarf, reports that her landlady does not want visitors who wear headscarves to come to her house. But bisexual, trans*, young and older people, too, report being discriminated against when searching for housing or during their existing tenancy.

In some cases, potential tenants are also turned away due to multiple discrimination grounds. With regard to racial discrimination on the housing market, for instance, there is evidence suggesting that visible religious affiliation, such as a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf, in combination with a foreign-sounding name, leads to candidates being turned away when applying for flats.