Racist language in deeds nears end
Texas moved one step closer to making it easier for neighborhoods to remove racist language that lingers — no longer enforceable but difficult to remove — in real estate documents that restrict to whom a home can be sold.
The state Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to pass a bill that would allow a property owner to file a form with the county clerk to remove the language, which is found in the governing documents of many Houston neighborhoods, including Woodland Heights, Eastwood and Oak Forest.
“No part of said premises shall ever be conveyed, transferred, demised, leased or rented to any person or persons of African descent,” reads Woodland Heights’ restrictions.
“Removing the racist language found on many deeds in Texas is the right thing to do, and I am proud that the Senate has taken action to correct this offensive language,” said Lt. Gov Dan Patrick in a statement, praising Democratic state Sen. Royce West of Dallas, who introduced the bill.
The bill was sent Thursday to the House, where it would have to be passed before being signed into law.
Deed restrictions are common in planned developments across the country, but they have special prominence in Houston, where, in a city famous for its lack of zoning, they have been the only way to regulate a neighborhood’s character.
Restrictions drafted by developers establish guidelines on topics ranging from a subdivision’s hedge heights to permitted uses; they often fend off denser, less expensive housing by limiting neighborhoods to single-family homes of a certain size. And before 1948, they frequently restricted the race of a community’s homeowners and occupants.
Though race-based restrictions have been unenforceable since they were struck down in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling 70 years ago, they contributed to housing disparities affecting the city today and still remain in many older associations’ documents, putting those neighborhoods in a bind. While most want to remove the language from neighborhood rules known as deed restrictions, doing so is an arduous process entailing hiring a lawyer and gathering signatures from the majority of
homeowners.
When Old Braeswood successfully removed in 2019 vestigial language banning “any person not of the white race,” it cost upward of $6,000 in attorney and filing fees and took four months to collect all the necessary signatures. That cost created some anxiety among members who worried there may be more pressing matters for the neighborhood association’s limited funds, according to Julie Cohn, president of the Old Braeswood Property Owners Association at the time. “This would take that out of the equation,” she said.
Cohn said it was “terrific” that the bill to fix the process received such bipartisan support in the state Senate.
“That tells you have valuable it is,” she said. “I’m thrilled it finally broke through the noise and became a clear and easy thing to do. And I have no doubt that the events of this past year that shone a light on racial disparities and challenges put it on the map for some of the legislators.”