The National Commission on Fair Housing
and Equal Opportunity (2008)
(NFHA, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Lawyers
Committee, and Leadership Conference)
Stresses the role of
government policy in
promoting segregation
…and continuing private
market discrimination
Origins of the AFFH obligation in the
Fair Housing Act
“Today's Federal housing official commonly inveighs against
the evils of ghetto life even as he pushes buttons that ratify their
triumph -- even as he ok's public housing sites in the heart of Negro
slums, releases planning and urban renewal funds to cities dead-set
against integration, and approves the financing of suburban subdivisions
from which Negroes will be barred. These and similar acts are committed
daily by officials who say they are unalterably opposed to segregation,
and have the memos to prove it. . . . But when you ask one of these
gentlemen why, despite the 1962 fair housing Order, most public housing
is still segregated, he invariably blames it on regional custom, local
traditions, personal prejudices of municipal housing officials.
--Senator Edward Brooke: 114 Cong. Rec. 2281 [1968]
The government’s role in creating and
perpetuating segregation…
▪ Past government actions to promote segregation: destruction of
integrated communities through urban renewal; siting of public and
assisted housing to segregate and concentrate low income black
populations; infrastructure spending and government financing of
exclusionary white communities.
▪ Current government housing programs and policies perpetuating
segregation (Section 8, LIHTC, HOPE VI, CDBG and HOME, etc).
▪ Failure to combat private market discrimination in rentals, sales,
and lending.
▪ Delegation of land use/education/ taxation power to nondemocratic local majorities; land use policies promoting sprawl and
exclusion; abdication of state responsibility; voluntary approach to
fair share housing
Harms of government sponsored racial
and economic segregation: separate and
unequal schools and neighborhoods
▪ schools with lower achievement, higher dropout rates,
and less experienced teachers
▪ increased exposure to crime and violence
▪ higher prices for basic necessities
▪ fewer recreational opportunities
▪ decreased access to fresh, health food
▪ mental and physical health impacts
▪ lack of access to employment opportunity
▪ downward economic mobility
What is the appropriate remedy?
Place-Based Community Revitalization ?
- OR Metropolitan Housing Choice and
Desegregation?
“We have to do both”
- Secretary Shaun Donovan
What do military bases, car dealerships,
public housing authorities, and fair
housing organizations have in common?
Our responsibilities as fair
housing advocates in monitoring
federal housing policy
► Learn the mechanics!
► Engage with Congress!
► Engage with Residents!
► Engage with HUD!
Fair Housing Opportunities in
HUD’s 2011 budget
▪ Transforming Rental Assistance program
($350M)
▪ Sustainable Communities Initiative
($250M)
▪ Choice Neighborhoods Initiative ($250M)
▪ Section 8 voucher reform
▪ Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
Transforming Rental Assistance
A profound fair housing innovation: For most HUD tenants,
federal housing assistance will no longer be conditioned on
living in a segregated, poverty concentrated neighborhood
But…
Pushback from PHA industry groups in Congress –
threatened by resident choice and “market discipline”
Anxiety from resident groups – “privatization” claims and
concerns over destabilizing projects
HUD feeling pressure too – need to take next step and
make TRA a true mobility program
Choice Neighborhoods Initiative
The new HOPE VI – intended to fix many of HOPE VI’s
shortcomings:
- guaranteed right to return
- 1:1 replacement of demolished units
- AFFH in initial relocation and in placement of
off-site replacement housing units
But….
How much housing to rebuild back on site?
Where to build off-site replacement housing? (“within the
jurisdiction?!”)
How affirmative will relocation programs be?
Sustainable Communities Initiative
A metropolitan planning
process combining housing
and transportation and AFFH
(similar to 1970s A-95 review)
“affirmative efforts to overcome the
effects of segregationist laws and
covenants; and coordination of
housing development and public
transportation to provide access to
educational and employment
opportunities”
But…
Section 8 Voucher Reform
HUD’s Small Area FMR proposal – finally fixing the
program’s major segregation incentive
Addressing portability barriers: mandatory absorption?
Promoting housing mobility?
But…
Concerns about protecting Section 8 landlords
Concerns about vouchers moving to suburbs
Concerns about cost of mobility counselling
How aggressive will HUD be in fighting source of income
discrimination?
Housing mobility is an effective
intervention for many low income
families….
Successful programs are
now operating in
Baltimore,Dallas,Yonkers
PRRAC 2009 report on the
Baltimore program
Our responsibilities as fair
housing advocates in monitoring
federal housing policy
► Learn the mechanics!
► Engage with Congress!
► Engage with Residents!
► Engage with HUD!
For more information…
www.prrac.org/projects/
civilrightshousing.php