10:49 PM PDT on Monday, May 22, 2006

By JESSE JONES / KING 5 News

There are many in Western Washington who believe racial discrimination is rare here.

But when it comes to housing discrimination, a KING 5 investigation shows that is simply not the case. 

When Ix-Chel Ruiz Garcia, a Mexican immigrant tried to rent at Kirkland's Totem Lake Apartments last summer, she expected to be treated like anyone else.

What she got instead was a tongue-lashing by the manager.

"When she said in a way.'you guys shouldn't stay here. People like you should be in jail," Ruiz-Garcia said.

She had been staying in the apartment with a friend and asked for a lease in her name.

Instead, she says she was told, "You need to move out. You need to leave. You need to go in 10 days."

"We felt terrible. To find a place here was really hard," she said.

What Ruiz-Garcia says she experienced is not an isolated case.

Housing discrimination against minorities in Western Washington is happening at an alarming rate.

KING

Ix-Chel Ruiz Garcia

"There is a big problem throughout the state," according to Lauren Walker, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Washington.

"When you look at the differences… perhaps an African American tester is given a different rental amount or they are told nothing is available or they aren't given the move-in special. It's very powerful to see those differences," she said.

Walker's group performed 19 tests  in Skagit and Whatcom counties in 2002.

Their conclusion: 58 percent of Hispanic testers received discriminatory treatment Twenty three percent of African Americans in Seattle were discriminated against.

And just last year, in 25 tests in Snohomish County, more than half, 52 percent, of African American and Hispanic testers were treated differently than white testers.

Some of those cases are now heading to state human rights investigators.

The KING 5 Investigators wanted to see first hand how this happens. To do so, The Fair Housing Center trained me and a KING 5 producer.

We both visited 15 apartment complexes in King and Pierce County, asking about rent.

Most of the complexes gave both of us the same rental information.

But three did not.

At the Heights Apartments in Puyallup, Wash., a rental agent told me the range of prices for two bedrooms went from $990 to $1050 per month.

But our white producer was offered a better deal.

"The deal was 50 bucks off the two bedrooms two bath," said producer Eric Olsen.

At Mountain Meadows in Puyallup. I was told quoted a price of $955.

But our white tester was given a cheaper price of $925 a month for the same place, if he signed a 12-month lease.

I was not told of the deal.

At The Avenues in West Seattle, our white tester was told they'd waive his $35 background check fee if he applied by April 21.

My application? No mention of a rebate.

All of the visits were pleasant and I never had a clue that I may have been treated differently, a pattern Walker 's testers have seen before.

"But we will look and see that the white tester was given a move-in special or the rent was $50 for the African American tester. It doesn't matter how nice they are they are giving different information," she said.

Management for all three complexes say their facilities do not discriminate. None would talk on camera.

Mountain Meadows management blamed a "miscommunication."

The Heights told us I was offered a better, more expensive apartment than the  white tester. They regret they "did not make the pricing differences clear."

The Avenues management company called the background check rebate an "oversight".

In three out of 15 complexes, we found differential treatment. That's 20 percent.

"It is discrimination in showing those differences and having an assumption about someone especially if they are white they will be a better tenant and to give them a better deal to get into the apartment complex. I find that hard to take," she said.

As Ruiz Garcia's problems at Totem Lake Apartments, the state's Human Rights Commission is pursuing her case.

"We made a finding, a reasonable cause finding. We are attempting to conciliate and we are in active talks with the party about that," said Marc Mrenman, executive director of the Human Rights Commission.

A representative of the Totem Lake Apartments said they've done absolutely nothing wrong in this case and that they always follow the law.

Lawyers for Totem Lake Apartments say the case against them is unfounded and they are still in mediation talks with the state Human Rights Commission.

In the meantime, Ruiz-Garcia has found a new place to live and she offers this message to apartment complex managers:

"Maybe we have a different culture, different traditions, a different point of view, but it doesn't mean we are less."