A condominium association refuses to give an ailing, elderly woman a parking space close to her unit. A neighborhood association sues the new owners of a house because they have children, even though the neighborhood isn't formally designated as a development where only seniors can live. These cases of housing discrimination all happened in Florida, and such violations of the Fair Housing Act continue to be common, says Evelyn Golden, assistant general counsel for the Florida Human Relations Commission. The commission, which investigates complaints of housing discrimination, closes about 250 such cases a year. There are always cases where people don't want other people for some reason.
Discrimination is common in the Tampa Bay area as well.
Almost every real estate agent has a tale to tell. Agent Marta Lopez of Florida Network Realty in Tampa remembers calling on a woman who was trying to sell her house without an agent. The woman said she didn't want to put a sign up, for fear that a black person would come to buy the house. A neighbor had threatened to harm the woman if she sold her home to an African-American, Lopez said. Lopez suggested the woman file a complaint against the neighbor, then backed off from the listing.