Chris Mielke is an Engineering Manager at Zillow and President of the Zillow Pride Network, an LGBTQ+ employee resource group
In the summer of 2017, I participated in one of the quarterly Hack Weeks at Trulia, a Zillow brand. We formed a team from Pride Network members to create a product that would help members of the LGBTQ+ community find homes where they could hopefully feel safer. That project led to the launch of Local Legal Protections, a feature that provides home shoppers with an understanding of the non-discrimination laws that exist for the LGBTQ+ community in the jurisdiction of any prospective home.
This past week I was proud to see Local Legal Protections included in a letter submitted for the congressional record in connection with the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation’s hearing on Financial Services and the LGBTQ+ Community: A Review of Discrimination in Lending and Housing. It was incredibly rewarding to see what started as an idea among four LGBTQ+ people in San Francisco had made its way to the U.S. House of Representatives and Chairman Al Green’s office.
That letter, which you can read in full below, also features the findings of of our Economic Research Team. According to the 2018 Zillow Home Aspirations Survey 3% of adults in major U.S. metros believed they were treated differently in their search for housing due to their sexual orientation. 2% of adults in major U.S. metros believed they were treated differently in their search for housing due to their gender identity. Furthermore, Zillow’s 2019 Consumer Housing Report found the share of mortgage buyers that are unfortunately denied a loan at least once before being approved was 32% for the LGBTQ+ members, compared with 17% for cisgeneder heterosexual applicants.
Those numbers make it clear we still have much work to do in order to stamp out discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, I take great pride in working for Zillow, which in coordination with my efforts as President of the Zillow Pride Network, have endorsed The Equality Act, the Fair and Equal Housing Act, and the Amicus Brief to support LGBTQ+ people fighting in the Supreme Court. Zillow remains committed to this cause and firmly believes ALL Americans deserve to find a home free from discirmination in the process.
