SEGREGATED HOUSING PLAGUES USA
But recent rulings could help reverse economic consequences of racism
Segregated housing, arguably the most protracted of domestic policy challenges, recently got a rare one-two punch on the jaw. First, there was June’s Supreme Court ruling that favored the Fair Housing Act ( Texas v. The Inclusive Communities Pro
ject). The 5-4 decision affirmed the idea that discriminatory impact is just as detrimental to society as racist intent. Homeowners or potential home buyers who believe that laws, policies or practices have been discriminatory can sue without having to establish a racist motive.
Next the Obama administration, on the heels of that ruling, came in with major changes in how the act’s objectives will be implemented at the municipal level. The new approaches include more direction from the federal government, more data on the racial and economic composition of communities, and a requirement that cities set specific goals to desegregate neighborhoods based on the data that the feds promise to monitor.
NO ANCIENT HISTORY
The efforts are clearly needed today, even in the most progressive parts of the nation. Just a few weeks ago, the Los Angeles County housing agency agreed to pay $2 million to settle Justice Department allegations that officials had conspired to force blacks out of the city of Antelope Valley. And those charges are not ancient history; some of the allegations date from 2008. Indeed, the ugly history of segregated housing across the country, with governmental complicity at all levels, shows that legal and regulatory changes are long overdue.
“In both St. Louis and Baltimore, for example, in the early 20th century, they adopted ordinances that prohibited African Americans from purchasing homes or moving into homes on blocks that were predominantly white,” Richard Rothstein, of the Economic Policy Institute, told me during a radio interview.
These ordinances helped lay the foundation for permanent segregation, which along with other factors created the racially homogeneous ghettos and slums in American cities.
A 1970s study concluded that in Baltimore’s “blockbusted” neighborhoods, blacks were hit with home prices inflated by as much as 100%.
This race-based price gouging had a socioeconomic ripple effect. New black homeowners were unable to get home repair loans be- cause their mortgage payments were already so high. White landlords renting homes to blacks in these neighborhoods often neglected their properties, no longer seeing them as viable investments. White flight diverted revenue and services from these neighborhoods, leaving the black residents who remained with higher tax rates.
HERO GEORGE ROMNEY
Several decades ago, one politician saw the immorality and danger in what housing policy was doing to black families and our nation, and he tried to stop it. It was George Romney, father of former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Nixon.
Unlike many politicians of his day as well as modern ones, Romney minced no words in describing discriminatory housing policies and practices. He called them a “white noose” choking the life out of black inner-city communities.
Perhaps Romney used such a strong metaphor because he understood the connection between home ownership and wealth creation. The black families who were relegated to ghettos and segregated neighborhoods were being deprived of the opportunity to buy homes that could yield a significant profit when sold.
The impact of this discrimination can be measured by the net worth disparities between whites and blacks. According to the Pew Research Center, the wealth of the median white household was $141,900 in 2013. For the median black household, it was a mere $11,000.
The creation of black ghettos also explains the context for the protests and violence our nation has seen over the past few months in cities such as Chicago, Baltimore and Cleveland. Context matters, just as history does, when examining the nexus of race, class and violence.
This is why the judicial-political combination punch delivered by the Supreme Court and the White House to the face of segregated housing is so important. It might not be a knock-out punch. But maybe, finally, segregated housing in our nation will find itself on the ropes, with little hope of surviving another round.