By Natalie Bridges
Racial discrimination is on the rise in the accommodation market with two cases surfacing in the Bay this week and concerns there are many more.
Race Relations Office figures obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times show the number of race complaints from people seeking accommodation has risen over the past year and officials suspect many others are unreported.
Two Bay families this week complained to the Bay Times they had experienced racism while looking for a home in Tauranga.
Bangladeshi man, Asad Uzzaman, and an Indian couple - who do not wish to be named because they fear a backlash from their community - all said they have been the victims of racial discrimination recently.
The Indian couple this week sought advice from the Race Relations Office and the Tauranga Citizen's Advice Bureau.
Race Relations Office spokeswoman Carolyne Jurriaans confirmed the disputes team had been in touch with the couple but said it was difficult to gather evidence to prove a person had been refused a home on the basis of race.
Last year, there were 20 official complaints about racial discrimination over accommodation - a rise of 2.5 per cent from the previous year.
But Ms Jurriaans said there were often many other informal complaints and a recent report said the number of official complaints was "unlikely to reflect the true extent of discrimination ... "
Citizens Advice Bureau Tauranga chairwoman Gail Kosh said she was aware racial discrimination existed in the Bay's rental market. "I am aware that sort of thing does happen and I'm aware ... it is totally illegal. I think it occurs in subtle ways very often."
The Indian couple used to see themselves as a typical Kiwi family. But over the past weeks they said several agencies have made them feel second-class citizens. "I am very sad. I have been stressed personally and in the eyes of my children. Now they feel their Dad is taking them to live in one room and they ask when they are going to move into a proper house and I still can't answer that."
The family moved to New Zealand from New Delhi in 1999 as skilled migrants and are New Zealand citizens. After their rental of four years in Papamoa was sold, they optimistically set about contacting agents - proudly brandishing their clean rental record - only to find the door repeatedly slammed on them. So hard has it been to find a rental home that at the end of March the family were left stranded on the street until a friend offered them a single room.
The couple approached two agencies requesting property lists.
The first advised the couple to view a property from the outside and "wait until Monday and contact us then". When they did so, they were told the property had gone. But they were shocked and disappointed to see the same property then advertised in the paper.
They then asked Irene Edgar, an agent with Ray White Papamoa - who they had dealt with over their previous rental home - to call the agency on their behalf to ask about its availability.
Ms Edgar said: "I did make the call and they said the property was free to me."
Another agency, they said, showed them a house and they told the agent they wanted it. But the agent informed them the property needed cleaning and to expect a call later on in the day.
That call never came and the couple phoned only to be told it had gone. They said minutes later, a European friend phoned to verify whether the house had gone but the agency told her it was available and invited her to look at it.
The European friend said she had seen her friends shed a lot of tears over the past three weeks. "They have stayed calm and polite - apart from tears ... They are New Zealand citizens, their children are doing well at school and they are a typical New Zealand family. Where is our society going? We should all be treated with respect as equals. They are very family oriented, brilliant friends and they take pride in their surroundings. They are honest and hardworking, just like me."
The Bay Times contacted the two agencies involved. Both reject claims they discriminated against the couple, citing communication breakdowns as the reason why others were subsequently told the properties were free. They said the lists of properties were not always up to date and sometimes ads appeared after a property had been rented.
Mr Uzzaman, who now lives in Pukehina with his wife and son, said they faced similar problems in Tauranga. "We got a house direct from the landlord, not through ... estate agents. They are not interested in helping because we are not their society, we are not white."
TOP STORY: Rental racism exposed in Bay
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