It was nearly a half-century ago, in April 1968, that the federal Fair Housing Act was signed into law by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. The new statute declared a policy of fair housing throughout the United States and made any discrimination illegal in the sale, lease or rental of housing due to race, religion, sex, handicap, family status or nationality.
Yet, as it celebrates its 48th anniversary this month, one can’t help but wonder, has the act accomplished what it set out to do? The reviews are mixed, according to a pair of experts.
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There are two ways to look at the Fair Housing Act, said Rob Breymaier, executive director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to achieve meaningful and lasting diversity throughout Oak Park and the region.
“On the one hand, it has been a good tool for allowing individuals to combat and find remedies to discrimination they face when looking for housing,” Breymaier said. “Numerous victims of discrimination have found justice through the act.”
The enforcement provisions of the act allowed for some tremendous systemic cases that have improved specific industries, Breymaier said. The best case, he said, is the insurance industry.
“Fair housing cases changed the industry, and homeowners in communities of color can now get the same insurance as homeowners in white communities,” Breymaier said. “However, this is an anomaly in systemic enforcement because the insurance industry is controlled by a small number of companies. It isn’t easy to replicate for other parts of the housing market.”
Although the act has largely been deemed successful, two areas where it still somewhat lacks seem to be racial discrimination and bias against those with disabilities. When it comes to addressing segregation — the root cause of discrimination and inequality — the act has been largely disappointing, Breymaier said.
“Racial and ethnic segregation remains the dominant structure of most cities and metropolitan areas,” Breymaier said. “The stark realities between white communities and communities of color continue to persist.”
For most of its history, the federal government has chosen to ignore the need to promote integration, Breymaier said. Local governments have mostly ignored it as well, he said.
“Until that critical part of the act is prioritized, we will likely remain a segregated society in which discrimination and inequality persist,” Breymaier said.
While there is obviously still work to be done with racial inequality, there is also room for improvement in the disability area. Disability has been a protected class under the Fair Housing Act only since 1988, yet it has had a great impact on the rights of people with disabilities in housing, said Mary Rosenberg, staff attorney at Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, which supports and advocates for the independence and inclusion of people with disabilities.
Under the act, discrimination based on disability includes both the refusal to rent or sell housing to people with disabilities, as well the affirmative duty to provide reasonable accommodations and modifications in housing and to design and construct multifamily housing to be accessible, Rosenberg said.
“These provisions have greatly expanded housing choice for people with disabilities by providing protections in the law for people with disabilities from discrimination by housing providers and by making the housing itself more supportive to people with disabilities,” Rosenberg said.
Yet although the act has made a huge impact on housing for those with disabilities, there is still much progress to be made, Rosenberg said. A lot of housing providers remain uneducated about the act, and as a result, people with disabilities continue to face discrimination in securing and maintaining housing, she said.
“This includes both overt discrimination as well as attitudinal barriers, such as pity or low expectations towards people with disabilities,” Rosenberg said. “Moreover, there is still a dearth of affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities.”
For example, she said, although the act allows people with disabilities to make reasonable modifications to housing, there is a lot of older housing stock that cannot be modified for people with physical disabilities.
“These kinds of physical and attitudinal barriers continue to prevent people with disabilities from being truly integrated into society,” Rosenberg said.
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press. Questions, comments, column ideas? Email them to [email protected].