Charity calls for ‘blacklining’ probe

An urgent investigation is needed into the level of discrimination against ethnic minority people buying their own homes, a meeting on race and housing heard yesterday.

 The meeting at Glasgow University heard that 'blacklining' was still a common housing market practice.

Ms Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, said there was anecdotal evidence that it existed.

 She called on the Commission for Racial Equality to carry out urgent research to establish its true level.

 Ms Qureshi said: "We are deeply disappointed by the court decision. It shows how difficult this is to prove. It also sends out a very disheartening message to black and minority ethnic communities. The Commission for Racial Equality must investigate the practices of estate agents and the treatment of people from black and ethnic minority communities who are moving into predominantly white areas."

 Mr Yaqub Ali, a prominent Glasgow Conservative and businessman, said he too had encountered discrimination in the housing sector.

 He described how a black friend used a white lawyer's name to buy a house in the south side of Glasgow in the 1950s. Mr Ali said the practice still existed but had diminished in recent years.

MUZAFFAR Yousaf fully expected to encounter racism when he arrived in Glasgow with his mother in 1964.

 "I am the first to admit that when you are a minority you have to accept some sort of discrimination," said the softly-spoken accountant who came to live with his father, who had emigrated from Pakistan two years before.

 "But depending on how much you can take, there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough."

The 42-year-old son of a factory worker and his wife Shaaisda believed that time had come in July 1994 when they asked an estate agent if they could view a house in Newton Mearns, an area in which they had already made their home.

 The tidy £ 95,000 house in Morar Place looked as if it might be ideal for the couple and their three children and so Mrs Yousaf, 39, called the Robb Agency for an appointment.

 But instead of being given a time and date, they were told that, at that time, it was impossible to set up an appointment.

 "I felt quite uneasy and suspected that she wasn't telling the truth," Mrs Yousaf said.

 It was not only the conduct of the agency employee and the subsequent responses which Asian and non-Asian friends got when they sought a viewing which made the couple suspicious. Earlier that year, they also experienced what they had believed to be discrimination when they tried to view another Newton Mearns home.

 On that occasion, a woman slammed the door in their faces after telling them it was no longer for sale, even though "for sale" signs remained and an estate agent continued to list the property as available.

 Last night, Mrs Yousaf, who was devastated by the judge's findings, said: "It hurt our feelings a lot. You feel as if you are not worthy, that there is something wrong with you."

 Mr Yousaf said he would consider lodging an appeal with the Court of Session.

 Robina Qureshi, the director of Positive Action in Housing, which fights for better access for ethnic minorities to Scottish housing, claimed the practice of "blacklining" was common, even though the sheriff found it had not happened in the Yousaf case. "We have documented cases where people have had doors slammed shut in their faces when white sellers saw the colour of the prospective buyers," she said.

 Martin Verity, a senior Scottish officer at the Commission for Racial Equality, said few "blacklining" cases went though the courts as most victims did not realise they had been discriminated against.

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