The Future of Fair Housing
- Table of Contents
- About the Commission
- Acknowledgements
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- I. Housing Discrimination and Segregation Continue
- II. Fair Housing Enforcement at HUD is Failing
- III. Fair Housing Enforcement at the Justice Department is Weak
- IV. The Need for Strong Fair Housing Programs
- V. Fair Housing and the Foreclosure Crisis
- VI. Federal Housing Programs
- VII. Fair Housing Obligations of Federal Grantees
- VIII. Regionalism and Fair Housing Enforcement
- IX. The President's Fair Housing Council
- X. Fair Housing Education: A Missing Piece
- XI. The Necessity of Fair Housing Research
- XII. Conclusion
Appendices
- Appendix A: Emerging Fair Housing Issues
- Appendix B: International Disapproval of U.S. Fair Housing Policy
- Appendix C:
- Appendix D: Commission Witnesses and Staff
Revive the President’s Fair Housing Council
The President’s Fair Housing Council, created by Executive Order 12892, should be reconvened and staffed to coordinate cross-agency collaborations to support fair housing. The Council should also undertake a fair housing review of key federal health, education, health, transportation and employment programs to ensure that they support, rather than undermine, fair housing. The Council could be located at HUD or at a new White House Office of Urban Policy.
HUD’s fair housing regulations should be replicated at other federal agencies through coordination by the President’s Fair Housing Council.[278] The regulations must require that plans to affirmatively further fair housing are periodically updated. The plans must be submitted to, and reviewed by, a single entity with the authority to return the plans for revision, assess performance under the plans and impose sanctions for noncompliance, including reduction, suspension, or termination of funding. The regulations must require that plans are prepared, submitted, and followed, and that funded programs and activities in practice advance fair housing principles consistent with HUD regulations and guidance.
The Commission also recommends that the federal agencies participating in the Council expressly require collaboration between their grantees at the metropolitan and regional level to support fair housing goals. The collaborative cross-agency work of the Council should be mirrored in every metropolitan area (see discussion on metropolitan planning collaboration, above).
As a start, the President’s Fair Housing Council should select two to three pilot projects to develop a track record and demonstrate the viability of cross-agency collaboration in support of fair housing. Some prime examples could include targeting of Department of Education magnet school assistance grants to schools in HOPE VI public housing redevelopment areas[279]; coordination of workforce development, day care, education, and transportation supports for families participating in regional housing mobility programs; targeting affirmative marketing assistance to returning service people in the armed forces; and enlisting the entire range of federal programmatic and infrastructure assistance to support and affirmatively privilege diverse, inclusive communities, to ensure that these communities remain stable and successfully integrated over time.
Next Section: Fair Housing Education: A Missing Piece
Footnotes
[278] Testimony of Michael Allen (Boston), at 2.
[279] Testimony of Deborah McKoy (Chicago).
