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Why We Need a Fair Housing Lawyer as Vice President
By Stephen M. Dane
Guest Column
There is no shortage of domestic and foreign challenges
facing our nation in this presidential election year. The
list is long and all of them deserve serious debate.
There is one sobering domestic issue, however, that has not
received the attention it deserves: residential housing
segregation.
Hillary Clinton’s running mate for vice president, Tim Kaine,
understands this serious problem. As a fair housing lawyer,
he knows the unfair obstacles that African-American and
Hispanic communities face as a result of housing
segregation. He has seen firsthand the pain suffered by
people who are fully qualified to rent, buy, or insure a
home, but are barred from doing so for no reason other than
their skin color, their ethnic background, or the racial
composition of their neighborhood.
A fundamental purpose of the Fair Housing Act, passed in
1968, was “to replace the nation’s ghettos with truly
integrated living patterns.” Although there have been
successes in the 48 years since the Act was passed, this
core purpose has not been fulfilled. In almost every major
metropolitan area in the country, blacks and whites and
Hispanics do not live near each other.
It might surprise many that housing segregation is not a
legacy of slavery. Indeed, even during periods when slavery
was legal in many states, and after the Civil War when Jim
Crow laws were prevalent, blacks and whites generally lived
near and interacted with each other on a daily basis. The
nation was still rural, and cities were small. It was not
until the 20th century that overt racial
discrimination in the real estate industry, the banking
industry, and local government zoning became the norm. The
federal government actively promoted segregationist policies
and, perversely, through decades of national housing policy,
virtually guaranteed that blacks and whites would live
apart.
The negative effects of segregation are beyond dispute.
Study after study have demonstrated a causal connection
between racial segregation and lack of opportunity,
unemployment, poor housing, inferior education, increased
health problems, inability to accumulate wealth, and other
social ills. Racial tension in Ferguson, Baltimore,
Milwaukee, and Chicago is directly linked to housing
segregation in those communities. No responsible policy
wonk, Democrat or Republican or Independent, claims that
segregation is good for the country.
Recently the federal government has stepped up its efforts
to dismantle the root causes of segregation. The Department
of Housing and Urban Development has issued regulations
requiring state and local jurisdictions who receive federal
funds to affirmatively further fair housing in their
communities, and to remove impediments to fair housing
choice, or risk losing those funds. HUD has also issued
regulations defining the contours of disparate impact
discrimination, a concept embraced by the Supreme Court last
year as a valid legal tool for enforcing the Fair Housing
Act. The Department of Justice is suing local zoning boards
and communities that, through their zoning decisions, erect
artificial and unlawful barriers to integration in their
communities.
Together in the 1990s, Kaine and I worked with private fair
housing groups to eliminate discriminatory business
practices in the homeowners insurance industry. As a
result, homeowners in predominantly African-American and
Hispanic neighborhoods throughout the country can insure
their homes in the same way and for the same price as white
neighborhoods, thereby eliminating at least one of the
negative consequences of racial segregation. Much of Kaine’s
fair housing work has resulted in legal precedents that fair
housing advocates still use today. I can attest to Kaine’s
deep commitment to ensuring justice for those who are
treated unfairly.
Segregation and housing discrimination at all levels must be
eliminated if we are to come together as a nation. With Tim
Kaine as Vice-president, we can be assured that the current
pro-integrative efforts will continue under a Hillary
Clinton administration.
Stephen M. Dane is a partner in Relman, Dane & Colfax, a law
firm with offices in Ohio, the District of Columbia, and New
Mexico.
Stephen M. Dane, Esq.
(Licensed in Ohio and D.C.)
Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC
312 Louisiana Avenue
Perrysburg, Ohio 43551
419-873-1814 (phone)
sdane@relmanlaw.com
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