Residential Segregation
Residential segregation is a fact of American life and society. While some say discrimination is declining, it continues to show in nearly all aspects of the housing industry in the United States. While The Fair Housing Act should have been a monumental step in civil rights, it has not been supported and has not been able to show efforts to promote and obtain equality in the housing industry. This paper will look at the issues of The Fair Housing Act and the current state of housing segregation, evaluate its weaknesses in meeting its original purpose and goals, and highlight the government’s weak enforcement mechanisms and overall support. This Civil Rights step has not been completely successful and there is need for additional action in
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order to make The Fair Housing Act effective in its goal of promoting diverse, inclusive communities and supporting equal housing opportunities for all United States citizens.
The attempt at ending housing discrimination has been known as a forgotten step in civil rights. Originally, the Fair Housing Act had a strict goal to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, and tried to clean up decades of housing segregation. The fair housing bill came about after a long journey of arguments and controversy. For two years, Congress pushed for the fair housing bill, but could not get the majority to agree on it. The House of Representatives and Senate considered the bill on many different occasions, but failed to pass each time. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the bill’s strongest supporters. He and his followers began protesting discriminatory housing issues 3 years before his death. According to Britannica, “After King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, President Johnson encouraged Congress to pass the bill as a memorial to the slain civil rights leader before King’s funeral.” (“Fair Housing Act”). Groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American GI Forum, and the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing were also pushing to have this bill passed because of their anger that was fueled by instances where families of Vietnam soldiers were being discriminated against in the housing industry (“Fair Housing Act”). The Fair Housing Act was merely a product of compromise after all of these groups pushed so hard for the bill to be passed. It was written very quickly and without much editing or debate. There was a very short meeting behind closed doors with Clarence Mitchell of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Joe Rauh of Americans for Democratic Action, HUD Secretary Robert Weaver, Arthur Fleming of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Attorney General Katzenbach, and Vice President Humphrey (Mathias 26). There was little documentation or reports to help future courts with the interpretation of this bill. The Fair Housing Act was written very broad and lacked many details.
The goal of the Fair Housing Act was originally to prohibit or reduce the discrimination in rental, lending, real estate, insurance and related services.
Amendments were made in following years in order to expand the protections and power of the Fair Housing Act, since the first time it was written without much detail. Prior to 1974, sex was not protected as part of this act, and prior to 1988, those with disabilities and families with children were not considered a protected group. Before the amendments to the Fair Housing Act were made in 1988, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was only allowed to resolve issues of discrimination through informal methods and could not punish violators of the act. But after these amendments were added, HUD was allowed to investigate and further resolve issues with legal action. The Housing and Development Division stated that the amendment to the Fair Housing Act specified to prohibit additional …show more content…
actions:
The denial of a dwelling; setting different terms or conditions for the sale or rental of a dwelling; providing different housing services or facilities; falsely denying the availability of housing for inspection, sale, or rental; denying persons access to or membership in a facility or service related to the sale or rental of housing; refusing to make a mortgage loan; refusing to provide information regarding loan products; imposing different terms and/or conditions on a loan, including interest rates, points, or fees; discriminating in the appraisal of property; refusing to purchase a loan; or advertising or making statements that indicate limitations or preferences based on membership of a protected group (Housing Development Division). Although the Fair Housing Act has been reevaluated and changed to fit a more diverse group of people, in hopes to stop discrimination in the housing industry, it is still failing to meet its second goal: end segregation in America. The United States has not been successful in complying with the obligations under the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The United States Census Bureau estimates that Latinos make up 14.8% of the United States population, while 13.4% is African American, 66.4% white, 4.9% Asian, and 1.5% Native American or Alaska Native. With that being said, the typical white family lives in a neighborhood that is 80% white, and less than 7% African American. In contrast to this, an African American family typically lives in a
neighborhood that is 51% African American and less than 33% white (United States 2, 3, 4). Whites live in neighborhoods with very low minority populations. African American and Latino families live in neighborhoods with high minority population as well as very few white neighbors. For minorities, it seems that even high incomes are not helpful in fixing the issue of segregation. Many African American and Latinos who have incomes above average are still discriminated and have just as large of a segregation ratio as those living just above poverty. Segregation has a wide range of causes such as government policies, preference, income, affordability, location, and simply discrimination itself. Racial segregation and racial isolation has only inclined since the Fair Housing Act was put into place ("Residential Racial Segregation”).
The Fair Housing Act is a statute that is focused on prohibiting discrimination of housing based on many factors, but it does not address other issues that are essential in making it successful and efficient. There is a lack of structure as to how enforcements and investigations are to be completed and how the government is to be promoting the act. It also does not address the issue of access to environmental laws, regulations, and policies. The federal government has not taken the time to address this issue in length for many years. It needs to be reevaluated in order to keep up with the growing problem of discrimination. Other government policies that have been added after the Fair Housing Act have actually been working against the ideologies of the act and have not helped its goal but have actually made it more difficult to obtain. The lack of support and education on the Fair Housing Act has made the act unsuccessful in its goal of promoting racial equality in the housing industry and creating more integrated communities in the United States.
Government policies are actually often to blame for residential segregation, one of the main purposes of the Fair Housing Act.
The 2000 Periodic Report states that, “for many years, the federal government itself was responsible for promoting racial discrimination in housing and residential segregation” (United States of America 53). Instead of working with the Fair Housing Act, many policies that are supported by the United States government act against its purpose. Public housing policies, the Section 8 program, Low Income Housing Tax Credit, and Zoning all contribute to working against the Fair Housing Act by not promoting a more even geographic distribution of housing possibility (“History of Fair Housing”). The government’s response to this
uneven
distribution, discrimination, and unequal treatment in the housing industry have not been adequate in compliance to the Fair Housing Act. Studies that have been produced and supported by HUD have proven that African American and Latinos are discriminated when house hunting by receiving unfair service at the realtor’s office, being steered away by being told there is no availability, and not being shown the same amount of homes when compared to white customers. HUD’s study on housing discrimination shows that discrimination is actually a growing problem in our world today (“History of Fair Housing”).
order to make The Fair Housing Act effective in its goal of promoting diverse, inclusive communities and supporting equal housing opportunities for all United States citizens.
The attempt at ending housing discrimination has been known as a forgotten step in civil rights. Originally, the Fair Housing Act had a strict goal to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, and tried to clean up decades of housing segregation. The fair housing bill came about after a long journey of arguments and controversy. For two years, Congress pushed for the fair housing bill, but could not get the majority to agree on it. The House of Representatives and Senate considered the bill on many different occasions, but failed to pass each time. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the bill’s strongest supporters. He and his followers began protesting discriminatory housing issues 3 years before his death. According to Britannica, “After King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, President Johnson encouraged Congress to pass the bill as a memorial to the slain civil rights leader before King’s funeral.” (“Fair Housing Act”). Groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American GI Forum, and the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing were also pushing to have this bill passed because of their anger that was fueled by instances where families of Vietnam soldiers were being discriminated against in the housing industry (“Fair Housing Act”). The Fair Housing Act was merely a product of compromise after all of these groups pushed so hard for the bill to be passed. It was written very quickly and without much editing or debate. There was a very short meeting behind closed doors with Clarence Mitchell of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Joe Rauh of Americans for Democratic Action, HUD Secretary Robert Weaver, Arthur Fleming of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Attorney General Katzenbach, and Vice President Humphrey (Mathias 26). There was little documentation or reports to help future courts with the interpretation of this bill. The Fair Housing Act was written very broad and lacked many details.
The goal of the Fair Housing Act was originally to prohibit or reduce the discrimination in rental, lending, real estate, insurance and related services.
Amendments were made in following years in order to expand the protections and power of the Fair Housing Act, since the first time it was written without much detail. Prior to 1974, sex was not protected as part of this act, and prior to 1988, those with disabilities and families with children were not considered a protected group. Before the amendments to the Fair Housing Act were made in 1988, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was only allowed to resolve issues of discrimination through informal methods and could not punish violators of the act. But after these amendments were added, HUD was allowed to investigate and further resolve issues with legal action. The Housing and Development Division stated that the amendment to the Fair Housing Act specified to prohibit additional …show more content…
actions:
The denial of a dwelling; setting different terms or conditions for the sale or rental of a dwelling; providing different housing services or facilities; falsely denying the availability of housing for inspection, sale, or rental; denying persons access to or membership in a facility or service related to the sale or rental of housing; refusing to make a mortgage loan; refusing to provide information regarding loan products; imposing different terms and/or conditions on a loan, including interest rates, points, or fees; discriminating in the appraisal of property; refusing to purchase a loan; or advertising or making statements that indicate limitations or preferences based on membership of a protected group (Housing Development Division). Although the Fair Housing Act has been reevaluated and changed to fit a more diverse group of people, in hopes to stop discrimination in the housing industry, it is still failing to meet its second goal: end segregation in America. The United States has not been successful in complying with the obligations under the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The United States Census Bureau estimates that Latinos make up 14.8% of the United States population, while 13.4% is African American, 66.4% white, 4.9% Asian, and 1.5% Native American or Alaska Native. With that being said, the typical white family lives in a neighborhood that is 80% white, and less than 7% African American. In contrast to this, an African American family typically lives in a
neighborhood that is 51% African American and less than 33% white (United States 2, 3, 4). Whites live in neighborhoods with very low minority populations. African American and Latino families live in neighborhoods with high minority population as well as very few white neighbors. For minorities, it seems that even high incomes are not helpful in fixing the issue of segregation. Many African American and Latinos who have incomes above average are still discriminated and have just as large of a segregation ratio as those living just above poverty. Segregation has a wide range of causes such as government policies, preference, income, affordability, location, and simply discrimination itself. Racial segregation and racial isolation has only inclined since the Fair Housing Act was put into place ("Residential Racial Segregation”).
The Fair Housing Act is a statute that is focused on prohibiting discrimination of housing based on many factors, but it does not address other issues that are essential in making it successful and efficient. There is a lack of structure as to how enforcements and investigations are to be completed and how the government is to be promoting the act. It also does not address the issue of access to environmental laws, regulations, and policies. The federal government has not taken the time to address this issue in length for many years. It needs to be reevaluated in order to keep up with the growing problem of discrimination. Other government policies that have been added after the Fair Housing Act have actually been working against the ideologies of the act and have not helped its goal but have actually made it more difficult to obtain. The lack of support and education on the Fair Housing Act has made the act unsuccessful in its goal of promoting racial equality in the housing industry and creating more integrated communities in the United States.
Government policies are actually often to blame for residential segregation, one of the main purposes of the Fair Housing Act.
The 2000 Periodic Report states that, “for many years, the federal government itself was responsible for promoting racial discrimination in housing and residential segregation” (United States of America 53). Instead of working with the Fair Housing Act, many policies that are supported by the United States government act against its purpose. Public housing policies, the Section 8 program, Low Income Housing Tax Credit, and Zoning all contribute to working against the Fair Housing Act by not promoting a more even geographic distribution of housing possibility (“History of Fair Housing”). The government’s response to this
uneven
distribution, discrimination, and unequal treatment in the housing industry have not been adequate in compliance to the Fair Housing Act. Studies that have been produced and supported by HUD have proven that African American and Latinos are discriminated when house hunting by receiving unfair service at the realtor’s office, being steered away by being told there is no availability, and not being shown the same amount of homes when compared to white customers. HUD’s study on housing discrimination shows that discrimination is actually a growing problem in our world today (“History of Fair Housing”).