Curious City: Discussing Chinatown’s Apartment Rental Practices

Bilingual street signs are shown in Chicago’s Chinatown in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2009.
Bilingual street signs are shown in Chicago's Chinatown in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2009. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Bilingual street signs are shown in Chicago’s Chinatown in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2009.
Bilingual street signs are shown in Chicago's Chinatown in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2009. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Curious City: Discussing Chinatown’s Apartment Rental Practices

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Last month, Curious City reporter Monica En, answered a question submitted by listener Mallory VanMeeter about the apartment rental market in Chinatown.

“I kept noticing that listings for Chinatown were more or less non-existent,” VanMeeter said. “How do people find apartments there?” 

It turns out that Chinatown stays Chinese because most apartments are advertised in Chinese, within Chinese social networks, and in Chinese media. While one attorney believes that doesn’t necessarily violate the letter of federal housing discrimination law, does it violate its spirit? Besides, why would anybody want Chinatown to gentrify? 

Those are the questions Worldview sets out to discuss for the entire hour with Debbie Liu and C.W. Chan of the Coalition for A Better Chinese American Community and Andrew Leong, associate professor of law, social justice and Asian-American studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.