The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Table of Contents

• Introduction

Executive Branch

• Looking Forward to New Blood in Washington
• Interview with Bob Edgar

On the Hill

• The Americans With Disabilities Act, Act Two
• As Home Foreclosures Climb, Efforts to Help Troubled Homeowners Continue
• The Year in Judicial and Executive Nominations
• Advocating for Federal Leadership on Education
• Facing New Challenges with the 2010 Census
• Modernizing the Federal Poverty Measure
• Piecemeal Legislation, Raids Take Place of Immigration Overhaul
• Below the Surface
• Interview with Kathryn Kolbert

In the Courts

• Wrapping up the Supreme Court’s 2007-2008 Term

In the States

• Colorado: Battleground for More Than Just the Presidency.
• Interview with Lilly Ledbetter

Leadership Conference Activities

• Preventing a Digital TV Divide
• Examining the State of Fair Housing in the 21st Century
• Bringing Diverse Communities Together
• 32nd Annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award Dinner
• Interview with John Payton

Examining the State of Fair Housing in the 21st Century

Tyler Lewis

For many Americans, the dream of owning a home is only a dream.

Forty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, the option to buy a house in a neighborhood of their choosing is still beyond the ability of many Americans, because the law is not adequately enforced. 

In order to examine the state of fair housing and all its complexities in America, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund created a National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

The commission's goal is to address the significant and ongoing national issue of housing discrimination and residential segregation and develop recommendations for strengthening fair housing advocates' work fighting housing discrimination and developing and supporting integrated communities. 

It is co-chaired by two former secretaries of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:  Henry Cisneros and Jack Kemp.  Other commissioners included Okianer Christian Dark, associate dean for Academic Affairs at the Howard University College of Law; Gordon Quan, Houston, former mayor pro tem and chair of the Housing Committee for the City of Houston; Pat Combs, past president of the National Association of Realtors; Myron Orfield, professor at the University of Minnesota School of Law; and I. King Jordan, president-emeritus of Gallaudet University.

The commission is conducting regional hearings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and Atlanta, and Houston, to collect information and hear testimony about the nature and extent of illegal housing discrimination and its origins, its connection with government policy and practice, and its effect on American communities.

The results of the hearings will be released in a report in Washington, D.C. in December 2008, which will include detailed testimony provided at the hearings and outline recommendations for future action.

The first hearing was held in Chicago on July 15, the second in Los Angeles on September 9, and the third in Boston on September 22.  The last hearing is scheduled to be held in Atlanta on October 17. 

A half-day hearing in Houston was held on July 31 in conjunction with the annual conference of the National Bar Association and focused on housing discrimination and re-segregation of the Gulf Coast since the hurricanes.

At every hearing, witnesses spoke about the role that government policy, private discrimination, and housing industry practices play in perpetuating housing discrimination and segregation.  In addition, local residents testified about their experiences with housing discrimination.

Each hearing addressed a different aspect of fair housing in order to capture the complexity of the issue:

• The Chicago hearing focused on the history of residential racial segregation and the nature and scope of housing discrimination. In addition, the commission reviewed the actions of federal agencies that have fostered segregation and the failures of the federal government to address housing discrimination by enforcing the Fair Housing Act.
• The Los Angeles hearing looked at the foreclosure crisis and its connections to discrimination and segregated communities.  In addition, the commission examined whether or not the federal government is providing vigorous fair housing enforcement and education for the public, for the housing industry, and for victims or potential victims of discrimination.
• The Boston hearing focused on the work of key players in advancing fair housing, and the failures and strengths of those players.  In addition, the commission examined the role of housing choice in establishing vibrant and integrated communities, the connections between integrated communities and the quality of life for residents, and ways federal programs can be used to achieve these communities.
• The final hearing in Atlanta is designed to address the track record of the federal government in enforcing fair housing laws and the ways in which it has failed, both in individual cases and in missing opportunities to address discrimination systemically.

The hearings are held at accessible locations with sign language interpretation being available. 

For more information about the commission:

• National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
• Streaming video presentations of the hearings

Tyler Lewis, LCCR's communications manager, is responsible for writing and editing content for LCCR's award winning website, civilrights.org, and manages the design of LCCR publications.