Rental Market Discrimination against Same-Sex Couples: Evidence from an Email Correspondence Audit

I present the results of a randomized pair-email correspondence audit of 6,490 property owners in 94 U.S. cities to provide a nationally-representative estimate of the level of discrimination that same-sex couples experience when inquiring about rental housing. I find that same-sex male couples, especially non-White same-sex male couples, are less likely to receive a response to inquiries about rental units. I also find that same-sex male Black couples are subject to more subtle forms of discrimination than heterosexual Black couples. I also examine if state and local anti-discrimination laws covary with rates of housing discrimination against same-sex couples. While my results are not causal, I find that anti-discrimination laws have an ambiguous relationship with rates of discrimination faced by same-sex couples. State-level housing protections, for example, covary positively with response rates (state laws appear to correlate with less discrimination) for same-sex Black male couples. However, local-level laws covary negatively with response rates for same-sex Black male couples. JEL No