My example isn't anecdotal, it really happened and the apt. mgt. company got slapped with fines. This is about another company that tried it.
A Baldwin Borough apartment manager turned away black men, promising to put their names on a waiting list, but told white men that apartments were available, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
“This is the face of modern discrimination,” said Jay Dworin, executive director of the Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh, which isn't involved in the case. “It's what we call discrimination with a smile and a handshake.”
In a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the government said it conducted three tests from February to April. It accuses Bill Turzai, manager of Baldwin Commons, of offering apartments to a white tester but telling a black tester hours later or the next day that none was available. He subsequently told another white tester that an apartment was open, the lawsuit says."
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/4806614-74/apartment-available-lawsuit