Discrimination preventing household from accessing available houses

A tenant may believe they are being discriminated against when they're trying to access alternative housing. MSD needs to identify the problem and the degree to which this is a barrier for the tenant.

Discrimination may include the following (but is not limited to):

• personal appearance e.g. they have facial tattoos
• language barriers e.g. English is not their first language
• social behaviour e.g. the nature or hours of employment may be seen as 'anti-social' or the number of vehicles the household owns may deter a property owner
• religion or religious beliefs
• sexual orientation
• race
• young age e.g. the tenant believes that property owners may think young people may not be responsible tenants
• physical or mental abilities e.g. the tenant believes the required modifications to a property or a perception of risk associated with mental health issues are not a liability the homeowner is prepared to entertain
• family size e.g. landlords appear to prefer to rent to smaller families with an occupancy level under the maximum
• credit history e.g. a poor credit history which includes unpaid rent in the past
• tenancy history e.g. tenant can't provide a tenancy reference as they have moved frequently or have no previous tenancy history

MSD may need to ask more questions to determine to what degree discrimination is preventing the tenant's access to alternative housing.

Some of the barriers faced by tenants may be addressed or mitigated to some extent, by support or information.