Since the passage of the Fair Housing Act, overt discrimination in housing market transactions based on race has declined significantly. However, fifty years out from the adoption of the Fair Housing Act, the nation’s long history of both explicit and implicit racial bias means that there remain persistent inequalities in access to housing in high-quality neighborhoods with good access to employment options, transportation and high-performing schools, and the vast majority of communities around the country remain highly racially segregated.
Since the passage of the Fair Housing Act, overt discrimination in housing market transactions based on race has declined significantly. However, fifty years out from the adoption of the Fair Housing Act, the nation’s long history of both explicit and implicit racial bias means that there remain persistent inequalities in access to housing in high-quality neighborhoods with good access to employment options, transportation and high-performing schools, and the vast majority of communities around the country remain highly racially segregated.
What We Know
Access to stable, decent and affordable housing promotes positive outcomes for families and children, including better educational outcomes for children and better health outcomes for people of all ages. In addition, the prospects for upward economic mobility and self-sufficiency are strongly correlated with the availability of affordable housing that is connected to jobs, transit, and other amenities and services.
A wide range of housing types—at all price and rent levels—helps build thriving, diverse communities. When all residents—regardless of race, cultural background, income, age, or disability status—are able to access a community’s opportunities and services, everyone benefits. Affordable, quality housing in safe neighborhoods connected to opportunity is the hallmark of a successful community. In fact, recent research has shown that places with greater economic integration—that is, places where people of all incomes live alongside one another—are more economically resilient places and do a better job of sustaining economic progress during downturns.
The passage of the Fair Housing Act built on and expanded the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and expressly banned many of the public and private actions that had evolved over decades primarily to deny African Americans access to housing. In addition, the Fair Housing Act specifies that “[a]ll executive departments and agencies shall administer their programs and activities relating to housing and urban development…in a manner affirmatively to further” fair housing opportunities. As such, the Fair Housing Act was written not only to right the wrongs of decades of explicit discrimination, but also to actively promote ways to open up housing options and neighborhoods to those who had been denied access in the past.
Local Communities Struggle to Fulfill the Promise of the Fair Housing Act
Local communities—cities, counties, towns and other municipalities—are at the front lines of righting past wrongs and opening up housing options, not only to benefit those that have been historically underserved, but also to build strong communities and economies. As redlining and racial restrictive covenants limited housing options of African Americans in earlier decades, local zoning and other policies continue to play a role in dictating where racial minorities—and particularly African Americans and Hispanics—can live.
Zoning is the regulatory tool local communities use to dictate the type, amount and locations of development activity. Exclusionary zoning policies, including requirements for large lot sizes and large unit sizes, make it difficult for lower-income residents to live in certain communities. These types of zoning regulations, in essence, limit the development of smaller and less expensive housing in many communities, and therefore exclude lower-income households, including minority households.
As redlining and racial restrictive covenants limited housing options of African Americans in earlier decades, local zoning continues to play a role in dictating where racial minorities—and particularly African Americans and Hispanics—can live.
Local Communities Have the Solution
If we are truly to achieve fair housing for all, local municipalities need to be make changes to their land use and zoning to allow for the development of more diverse housing, including housing to meet the needs of lower-income and minority individuals and families. Even as the federal Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing policy sits in limbo under the current administration, localities across the country are looking for ways to use the tools at their disposal—namely, zoning and other local regulations—to find ways to promote fair housing. There are legitimate obstacles—and some less than legitimate challenges—to making the necessary changes. Housing planning needs to be accomplished in concert with transportation, land use, and schools planning. Incentives to build lower-cost housing must reflect both the housing needs and the housing market conditions of the local community. And just as important as specific zoning, land use or financial strategies, local municipalities must pay attention to how the need for particular policy changes are communicated to the broader community to educate and build broad consensus and to attempt to head off NIMBYism that can derail even the best intended local housing plans.
At Lisa Sturtevant and Associates, our mission is to work collaboratively with cities, counties and towns that seek to build inclusive communities through commonsense land use planning and housing policy designed to support housing that is affordable and appropriate to individuals and families from all backgrounds. Local communities have the power to fulfil the promise of the Fair Housing Act and to ensure that every individual and family in America can live in stable and affordable housing in a neighborhood connected to opportunity.
If you have questions about ways to promote fair housing in your community, please reach out to us!
