When looking for a new home online, it’s important to consider factors beyond the number of beds and baths. Some internet listing sites already provide information about things like the proximity of schools, crime rate, and traffic congestion, but a new feature on Trulia aims to help a particular segment of renters and buyers ensure they’ll feel at home in their new neighborhood.
Today, the San Francisco–based real-estate site is launchingLocal Legal Protections, a new quality-of-life metric which will appear on every one of its for-sale and off-market listings. It aims to help members of the LGBT community gauge the status (or lack thereof) of nondiscrimination laws ensuring equal access to housing, employment, and public accommodations in a given jurisdiction. This location-based data is provided through a partnership with theMovement Advancement Project—"an independent think tank that provides rigorous research, insight and analysis that help speed equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people,” according to its website.
That a feature like this even needs to exist has to do with the varying legal status of LGBT individuals from place to place. Federal housing and employment laws prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, race, age, religion, and ethnicity, but sexual orientation and gender identity aren’t covered. Currently, 22 states plus Washington, D.C., have expanded their antidiscrimination laws to include LGBT protections, and Trulia estimates that 55.2 percent of all housing units are covered by such statutes either at the state or local level.
In the absence of blanket federal protections, Trulia VP and general manager Tim Correia hopes the new feature can make one element of an already stressful process easier for the LGBT community to navigate. “At Trulia, our mission is to help all prospective home buyers and renters find the best home and neighborhood for them,” he said in a company press release. “The Local Legal Protections feature helps the LGBT community understand the confusing patchwork of protection laws that exist so they truly can find a place they love to live.” Given the current low likelihood of an executive or legislative decision to expand antidiscrimination laws, hopefully Trulia’s new feature will help an even greater number of would-be buyers find a welcoming place to call home.
