Housing Discrimination and Pollution Exposures in the United States

Local pollution exposures disproportionately impact minority households, but the root causes remain unclear. This study conducts a correspondence experiment on a major online housing platform to test whether housing discrimination constrains minority access to housing options in markets with significant sources of airborne chemical toxics. We find that renters with African American or Hispanic/LatinX names are 41% less likely than renters with White names to receive responses for properties in low exposure locations. We find no evidence of discriminatory constraints in high exposure locations, indicating that discrimination increases relative access to housing choices at elevated exposure risk.