Akol Liar Mager says real estate agents hung up as soon as he said "hello" during his three-year mission to rent a house.
The Toowoomba resident from South Sudan believes it was due to the way he speaks.
"[Real Estate agents] will tell you that 'we treat people equally'," he said.
"But there are some situations when people like myself would feel that I might be discriminated against because of my name, because of my accent, because of many things that have to do with the culture.
"Every person has the right to finish what they are saying.
"I really feel bad … I feel guilty … I say to myself, 'What have I done wrong?'"
After three years of searching and more than 50 applications, Mr Mager has finally landed the rental property his growing family needs.
But the house is outside his desired area, and he suspects house hunting was more challenging for him than most.
Not a new issue
Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall said the rental crisis is disproportionately impacting people from diverse backgrounds.
"It's extremely hard for anyone to find accommodation at the moment and it's a lot harder if you're a person of colour," he said.
"We know that just from the people that we have engaged with in recent years, but the problem is no doubt becoming more and more acute."
President of the Somali Community Association of Queensland Faysel Ahmed said it is "a big issue".
"I know so many people whose application got rejected because of their language barrier, because of their accent or because of the size of their family," he said.
Mr Ahmed was recently told by a member of his community that they were purposefully misled by the real estate agent before an inspection.
"At the last minute, he was told the house is not available anymore … but [he went] and there was a queue and other people were attending it," Mr Ahmed recalled.
The problem is not restricted to people of African descent.
Pakistani Australian Association of Queensland President Rana Laeeq Khan said it has been impacting his community for years.
Despite having a government job, rental history and a secure income, he had to move into a house that had "no other applications" 18 years ago when he first arrived in Australia.
"So you can understand the condition of the house, I had to choose that because nobody was accepting my applications," he said.
"The situation is still the same."
Complaints not the culture
The Queensland Human Rights Commission has received "a handful of complaints" related to race discrimination in real estate, but Mr McDougall said he isn't surprised.
"Racial discrimination is very hard to prove and that's one of the big reasons that people don't complain," he said.
"People do a simple cost-benefit analysis and work out that it's simply not worth the trouble of complaining."
Mr Mager said that was the reason he never complained, despite knowing his rights.
"I've always been hesitant … knowing the process that it will take, and I might be wrong, but I assume that the obvious outcome is that they were not discriminating against me," he said.
Mr Ahmed said people were scared to take on big companies on these "hard to prove" cases, and many didn't know where to turn.
"One thing is that people don't want to have trouble with big agents like real estate, and the other thing is because of the language barrier," he said.
Room to do more
Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella said she was "disappointed" to hear about these experiences.
She said the REIQ provides training covering discrimination but there is room to do more from all peak bodies.
"REIQ regularly develops and delivers a range of education … we deliver regular updates on anti-discrimination laws and also we include that training as part of the entry training into real estate," she said.
"I think there's always room for better education, certainly we have a role to play in that space as does, for example, the Residential Tenancies Authority."
She said there were only two criteria that was relevant in a tenancy application — the applicant's ability to pay rent and the applicant's ability to care for the property.
"Of course, race has no place in that," she said.
Community leaders said their communities should be treated better.
"I believe it [the rental crisis] is impacting more from those who are culturally and diverse background, particularly new arrivals," Mr Khan said.
"I'm not saying all real estate agents are bad people, but also there are some people who are not doing the right thing."
Mr McDougal said his message for real estate agents was to be aware of any bias that they may have.
"The law is very clear that you cannot discriminate against somebody in rental accommodation on the basis of their race," he said.
Mr Ahmed said Somalians in Australian simply want to succeed and be a part of society, but not getting adequate housing was negatively impacting the community.
"They want to be good citizens," he said.
Mr Mager said he expected better from his country.
"We thought that Australia can do better and absolutely Australia can do better," Mr Mager said.
