Housing Discrimination

Almost 50 years after enactment of the Fair Housing Act, racial segregation in housing persists in the United States, in large cities and suburbs alike. Fair-housing advocacy groups blame the federal government for lax enforcement of the law and state and local housing agencies for limited efforts to disperse affordable housing into predominantly white neighborhoods. They also cite federal studies and court cases that show continuing discrimination against African-Americans, in particular by mortgage bankers, landlords and real estate brokers. The Supreme Court cheered fair-housing advocates with a decision in June endorsing broad application of the law against policies that have a “disparate impact” on minorities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) followed with a rule aimed at requiring communities to do more to advance fair-housing policies, but local resistance may slow those efforts. Meanwhile, complaints of housing discrimination against individuals with disabilities now account for a majority of the cases HUD receives each year.