Sometimes, it seems like things are simply stuck. Take the Fair Housing Act, which was signed in to United States law by President Johnson in 1968. The law officially ended housing discrimination for Black people. The law was aspirational. Reality has been stubbornly unresponsive.
The administrative mechanism for implementing the Fair Housing Act is the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule (the AFFH Rule). This article by Meir Rinde in Shelterforce traces its history. As the title suggests, it hasn’t been smooth sailing: AFFH’s Bumpy Road to Overcoming Segregation
It is discouraging that change has come slowly. For example, the system of real estate appraisal still regularly devalues properties that are owned by Black people compared to their white counterparts.1.
But Rinde’s article also contains hope. The Fair Housing Act had allies. Not all initiatives were successful, but it didn’t stop people from trying. And 55 years later, the Biden Administration is planning another round of changes to the the AFFH Rule to strengthen the Fair Housing Act’s intent. The process opens the door to expand proven initiatives like the right to counsel during landlord-tenant court sessions. Read more in Shelterforce: Three Ways AFFH Has Advanced Housing Justice
For an even longer story of efforts to end racial discrimination in housing in the U.S., try this article: The Cooperative Struggle Against Redlining
Footnotes
- For a thorough discussion, see this article by Dan Reed in Shelterforce: A Home’s True Worth—Getting Beyond Appraisal Bias.
