Housing Discrimination and Economic Opportunity
Preventing housing discrimination against minorities and women, and enhancing housing opportunities for low-income persons, must be top priorities for the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. These agencies and the programs they administer must be provided with adequate resources and funding to vigorously enforce the civil rights laws.
President Bush spoke eloquently, during the campaign, about his belief in the dream of home ownership. We urge him to take the steps necessary to make that dream a reality for all Americans, regardless of income status.
Although home ownership nationwide is at its highest level ever, fewer than half of African American and Hispanic families own their own homes (compared to nearly 75% of white families). Less than ten percent of Americans with disabilities own their own homes. The shortage of affordable rental housing has caused worst-case housing needs to reach an all-time high of 5.4 million families, a disproportionate number of whom are minorities. These gaps are the result of ongoing housing discrimination and the failure of changes in public and subsidized federal housing programs to adequately consider the rights and interests of low income and minority communities.
We agree with Attorney General Ashcroft that the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (HUD) must focus on preventing housing discrimination against minorities and women. In addition to vigorous enforcement of the civil rights laws, LCCR urges the Administration to take the following specific actions:
- Increase staff and funding for HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) and the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). The Fair Housing Act of 1968 (as amended), requires that complainants of housing discrimination first exhaust administrative remedies. Since 1995, FHEO staff has decreased by 22 percent; FHEO appropriations have decreased by 15 percent; but complaint filings have increased by15 percent. Similarly inadequate funding is provided for FHIP, which helps underwrite the work of private, non-profit fair housing organizations. As a result, the detection, investigation and remedying of housing discrimination has been seriously impaired.
- Continue Efforts to Attack Predatory Lending. Predatory lending practices are usually aimed at the most financially vulnerable homeowners. HUD has reported that a disproportionately large percentage of subprime loans are made in low-income neighborhoods; they are five times more likely to be made in African American neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. The devastating effects of predatory lending are illustrated by the corresponding increase in foreclosures in low income and minority communities. LCCR urges the Bush Administration to support ongoing legislative and agency efforts to detect and eliminate such practices, including development of sound and fair underwriting guidelines for credit transactions.
- Finalize Regulations for Data Collection under Regulation B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). The ECOA is a powerful tool to combat discrimination in the granting of credit. However, its effectiveness in preventing discrimination by nonmortgage lenders and lenders to small business has been hampered by a lack of data on their lending practices. (The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act provides for data collection by mortgage lenders on the race, ethnicity and gender of applicants.) The Federal Reserve Board has proposed regulations providing for similar data collection in all areas of the credit industry. We urge the Administration to finalize these regulations and include strong mechanisms for enforcing the ECOA.
- Increase Fair Housing Oversight of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. This tax incentive program, begun by the Reagan Administration in 1986, allows states to award federal tax credits to private developers of low-income housing. It is the largest source of federal funding for construction and rehabilitation of housing for low-income families. Last year the Departments of Treasury, Justice and HUD entered into an agreement to enhance fair housing monitoring of this program. LCCR urges the Administration to support this agreement and encourage the development of new methods to promote compliance with the civil rights laws, including data collection, affirmative marketing requirements, siting of new developments and access to suburban programs by Section 8 participants.
Finally, the Bush Administration should expand opportunities for low-income housing residents by vigorously supporting and enhancing the following programs: HOPE VI; Section 8 voucher program; Section 8 project subsidies; Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act; and HUD's new regulations designed to protect the rights of limited English speakers and the rights of women to be free from sexual harassment.
