Rental discrimination, perceived threat and public attitudes towards immigration and refugees

There is still little research about the association of anti-immigrant attitudes with ethnic discrimination. In this study we investigate whether there is more rental discrimination against ethnic minorities in Belgian municipalities with more negative attitudes and higher perceived threats toward immigration and refugees. For this purpose, we merged unique data from correspondence tests with the aggregated attitudes in 44 municipalities. There was profound discrimination against candidates with Moroccan names by both private landlords and realtors. In contrast to theoretical expectations there was not more ethnic discrimination in municipalities with more negative attitudes or higher perceived threats. However, it appears that rental candidates – irrespective of their ethnic origin – are less likely to be invited in municipalities with higher threats and more negative attitudes.