"Do You Hear What I Hear?" Some Thoughts on Linguistic Profiling Affecting the Manufactured Housing Industry

by Nadeen Green

It has been said that more people have been hurt by words than by guns. This anonymous aphorism makes the point that what is said about someone can be damaging and harmful. But some studies and now some pending fair housing cases are indicating that it is not just what is said about someone, but what they themselves say and how they say it, that can be a source of harm in the form of housing discrimination, whether conventional or manufactured housing.

When you speak to someone on the telephone, you profile them. (Oh yes, you do, and odds are you are probably quite good at it!) Actually, you profile people all of the time. When you see someone, you note whether they are white or black, Asian or Hispanic, perhaps Native American or Pacific Islander. The race, color or national origin of the person may not matter at all to you, but you are aware of it, just as when you hear someone call in to a radio talk show, or perhaps overhear a conversation. Such profiling is not in and of itself unlawful, evil, or even rude (remember that at any given moment someone is profiling you!). Profiling becomes a fair housing issue only when the awareness or acknowledgement of someone's race, color, or national origin has an effect on how that person is treated in the housing arena.

Linguistic profiling is a form of profiling that is based not on how the person looks, but rather how they sound...their voices, their pronunciation, their grammar. One television news show referred to this as "Color of Voice." And making housing decisions based on someone's color of voice can get you into the same fair housing trouble as making housing decisions based on someone's skin color.

There are fair housing cases in abundance where housing was denied once a landlord met or saw the prospect and didn't want to rent to that person because of race or color. Now research has indicated that people are able to correctly identify-with about 80% accuracy-the race of a person from hearing them say "hello" or hearing them count from one to twenty. It will be interesting to follow some of the linguistic profiling cases and see if it will be determined that a manufactured home was not offered or rented because the landlord did not want to rent to that person because of race or color (or perhaps national origin) that was not "seen," but rather was "heard."

Another adage is "forewarned is forearmed," so now that you know about linguistic profiling, how do you manage this in your leasing office and what can you do to minimize the chance that you might be accused of housing discrimination based on how your prospects may sound?

In a perfect world, all of your leasing agents would have standard greetings and information to share with telephone prospects. And it would certainly be wise to work with the leasing staff to teach them some basics for when they pick up the telephone and welcome people to your community.

Likewise, keeping factory-built-home availability logs (with homes being logged in and out by date and time) as well as telephone logs (tracking inquiries by date and time) can be a valuable technique to dispel notions that "you told me you didn't have a two-bedroom home because I sounded (race or color) to you." These parallel records can help you show that you said you didn't have a two-bedroom home at that time because you didn't have one.

But perhaps the three most valuable procedures are these:

1. 1. Return every voice message call. No matter what! There should be no excuse not to return a call from someone who was interested enough in your land-lease community that they called you. Not only is failing to return calls rude and bad business, it is now potentially dangerous. Instruct your staff that every message will be responded to, promptly and pleasantly, and that they should make a record that they have indeed done this.
2. 2. Always conclude with an invitation. Be sure that at the end of any conversation an invitation is extended to the prospect. Again, no matter what! The conversation could be misconstrued as discriminatory is some way, through no fault of the leasing agent, and the fastest way to correct that misrepresentation is to invite the prospect to visit. "Even though we don't have any two-bedroom homes now, you are still welcome to visit us; may I set up an appointment?" or "Would you still like to visit us even though we don't have tennis courts? If so, let's make an appointment," can be like an insurance policy for you. If the prospect declines the invitation, then that should be noted accordingly.
3. 3. Test your staff. From time to time, check to be sure that your leasing staff is following the above procedures. Have people leave messages asking to be called back; have people call and ask about an amenity you don't have. Then see how your leasing agents handle this. If they return calls and issue invitations, reward them. If they don't, then work with them or find someone who will not put you at risk.

"Of course, some people sound black, and some people sound white. I don't care if they realize that I am black...But give me the same chances that you give everybody else. I'm as good as the next person." - James Johnson, Plaintiff in a linguistic profiling fair-housing lawsuit.

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Nadeen Green is also known as The Fair Housing Lady. She gets to be Senior Counsel with For Rent Media Solutions(tm), which means that she is their attorney, not yours. So the information contained in this article is not to be considered legal advice. Both the author and FRMS strongly suggest that you consult with your own counsel as to any fair housing questions or problems you may have. Fair Housing Lady can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can check out Nadeen's company at forrent.com.