Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:44:49.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Images of Race, Class, and Markets: Rethinking the Origin of U.S. Fair Housing Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Mara S. Sidney
Mara S. Sidney
Affiliation:
Rutgers University–Newark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As the first national law to address racial discrimination in housing, the 1968 Fair Housing Act was truly a landmark piece of legislation. It prohibited homeowners, real-estate agents, lenders, and other housing professionals from engaging in a range of practices they had commonly used to keep neighborhoods racially segregated, such as refusing to sell or rent to a person because of his or her race, lying about the availability of a dwelling, or blockbusting (inducing white owners to sell by telling them that blacks were moving into the neighborhood). The last of the 1960s-era civil rights laws, the Fair Housing Act tackled the arena long felt to be the most sensitive to whites. Intense controversy, demonstrations, and violence over fair housing issues had occurred in many cities and states since at least the 1940s. Although John F. Kennedy promised during his presidential campaign to end housing discrimination “with the stroke of a pen,” once elected, he waited two years to sign a limited executive order. In 1966, a fair housing bill supported by President Johnson failed in Congress. Unlike other civil rights bills, the issue of housing evoked opposition not just from the South but also from the North. Opponents claimed that it challenged basic American values such as “a man's home is his castle”; to supporters, the symbolism of homeownership as “the American Dream” only underscored the importance of ensuring that housing was available to all Americans, regardless of race.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Policy History , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , 2001 , pp. 181 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. P.L. 90-284

2. Bayor, Ronald H., Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta (Chapel Hill, 1996)Google Scholar ; Congressional Quarterly, CQ Background: Revolution in Civil Rights (Washington, D.C., 1968)Google Scholar ; Hirsch, Arnold R., Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940–1960 (Cambridge, 1983)Google Scholar ; Lockard, Duane, Toward Equal Opportunity (New York, 1968)Google Scholar ; Mohl, Raymond A., “Making the Second Ghetto in Metropolitan Miami, 1940–1960,” in The New African American Urban History, ed. Goings, Kenneth W. and Mohl, Raymond A. (Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1996), 266–98Google Scholar ; Silver, Christopher and Moeser, John V., The Separate City: Black Communities in the Urban South, 1940-1968 (Lexington, Ky., 1995)Google Scholar ; Sugrue, Thomas J., The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton, 1996)Google Scholar.

3. Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, “The Federal Government and Equal Housing Opportunity: A Continuing Failure,” in Critical Perspectives on Housing, ed. Bratt, Rachel G., Hartman, Chester, and Meyerson, Ann (Philadelphia, 1986), 296–324 Google Scholar.

4. Dubofsky, Jean E., “Fair Housing: A Legislative History and a Perspective,” Washburn Law Journal 8 (1969): 149–66.Google Scholar

5. Wanniski, Jude, “How the Civil-Rights Victory Was Won,” The National Observer, 11 March 1968.Google Scholar

6. The account in this paragraph draws on Congressional Quarterly, CQ Background: Revolution in Civil Rights; Dubofsky, , “Fair Housing”Google Scholar ; Graham, Hugh Davis, The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972 (New York, 1990)Google Scholar ; Kennedy, Edward M., “Fair Housing-The Battle Goes On,” Cityscape 4:3 (1999): 19–20 Google Scholar ; Massey, Douglas S. and Denton, Nancy A., American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass (Cambridge, Mass., 1993)Google Scholar ; Mathias, Charles Jr and Morris, Marion, “Fair Housing Legislation: Not an Easy Row to Hoe,” Cityscape 4:3 (1999): 21–34 Google Scholar ; Metcalf, George R., Fair Housing Comes of Age (New York, 1988)Google Scholar ; Schwemm, Robert G., Housing Discrimination: Law and Litigation (Deerfield, Mass., 1990)Google Scholar ; Wanniski, , “How the Civil-Rights Victory Was Won.”Google Scholar

7. Metcalf, , Fair Housing Comes of Age.Google Scholar

8. Congressional Quarterly, Revolution in Civil Rights ; Dubofsky, , “Fair Housing: A Legislative History and a Perspective”Google Scholar ; Kennedy, , “Fair Housing–The Battle Goes On”Google Scholar ; Morris, Mathias and, “Fair Housing Legislation”Google Scholar ; Wanniski, , “How the Civil-Rights Victory Was Won.”Google Scholar

9. Graham, , The Civil Rights Era Google Scholar ; Massey, and Denton, , American Apartheid Google Scholar ; Metcalf, , Fair Housing Comes of Age Google Scholar ; Schwemm, , Housing Discrimination Google Scholar.

10. Schneider, Anne L. and Ingram, Helen, “Social Constructions and Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy,” American Political Science Review 87 (1993): 334–47Google Scholar ; idem , Policy Design for Democracy (Lawrence, Kan., 1997)Google Scholar.

11. Dahl, Robert A. and Lindblom, Charles E., Politics, Economics, and Welfare (New York, 1953)Google Scholar ; Simon, Herbert A., The Sciences of the Artificial (Cambridge, Mass., 1996)Google Scholar.

12. Lieberman, Robert C., Schneider, Anne L., and Ingram, Helen, “Social Construction (Continued),” American Political Science Review 89 (1995): 437–46Google Scholar ; Schneider, and Ingram, , “Social Constructions and Target Populations”Google Scholar ; idem, Policy Design for Democracy.

13. Schneider, and Ingram, , Policy Design for Democracy.Google Scholar

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. P.L. 90-284

17. H.R. 14705, the 1966 Civil Rights Act adopted by the House, S. 1358 of 1967, and the 1968 Mondale-Brooke Amendment.

18. Schneider, and Ingram, , Policy Design for Democracy.Google Scholar

19. Graham, , The Civil Rights Era.Google Scholar

20. MeAdam, Doug, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 (Chicago, 1982).Google Scholar

21. Ibid., 182.

22. Keesing's Research Report, Race Relations in the USA: 1954-68 (New York, 1970).Google Scholar

23. Weisbrot, Robert, Freedom Bound: A History of America's Civil Rights Movement (New York, 1990).Google Scholar

24. Sundquist, James L., Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years (Washington, D.C., 1968).Google Scholar

25. Sundquist, , Politics and Policy, 281.Google Scholar

26. Sundquist, James L., Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (Washington, D.C., 1983)Google Scholar ; idem, Politics and Policy.

27. McAdam, , Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970.Google Scholar

28. Graham, , The Civil Rights Era Google Scholar ; Weisbrot, , Freedom Bound Google Scholar.

29. Bratt, Rachel G., Hartman, Chester, and Meyerson, Ann, eds., Critical Perspectives on Housing (Philadelphia, 1986)Google Scholar ; Mitchell, J. Paul, Federal Housing Policy and Programs: Past and Present (New Brunswick, 1985)Google Scholar.

30. Graham, , The Civil Rights Era.Google Scholar

31. Lockard, , Toward Equal Opportunity.Google Scholar

32. Congressional Quarterly, CQ Background: Revolution in Civil Rights; Graham, The Civil Rights Era.

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid.

35. Schneider, and Ingram, , “Social Constructions and Target Populations.”Google Scholar

36. Wanniski, , “How the Civil-Rights Victory Was Won.”Google Scholar

37. Ibid.

38. Graham, , The Civil Rights Era.Google Scholar

39. Schneider, and Ingram, , “Social Constructions and Target Populations”Google Scholar ; idem, Policy Design for Democracy.

40. Said by Rep. Smith (D-Va.), Congressional Record, vol. 112, 89th Cong., 2d sess., Parts 13-14, 16834.

41. Congressional Record, vol. 112, 89th Cong., 2d sess., Parts 13-14, 18186.

42. Ibid., 17222.

43. Ibid., 17229.

44. Schneider, and Ingram, , “Social Constructions and Target Populations”Google Scholar ; idem, Policy Design for Democracy.

45. Congressional Record, vol. 112, 89th Cong., 2d sess., Parts 13-14, 17182.

46. Congressional Record, vol. 114, 90th Cong., Parts 2-5, 2274.

47. Ibid., 2279.

48. U.S. Congress, Fair Housing Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs of the Committee of Banking and Currency, U.S. Senate, 90th Cong., 1st sess. on S. 1358, S. 2114, and S. 2280 Relating to Civil Rights and Housing, August 21, 22, and 23, 1967, 194.

49. Ibid., 99.

50. Ibid., 116.

51. Ibid., 377.

52. Congressional Record, vol. 114, 90th Cong., Parts 2-5, 2279.

53. Ibid., 3421.

54. Ibid.

55. Ibid., 3422.

56. Congressional Record, vol. 112, 89th Cong., 2d sess., Parts 13–14.

57. Schneider, and Ingram, , “Social Constructions and Target Populations.”Google Scholar

58. Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, “The Federal Government and Equal Housing Opportunity”; Goering, John M., ed., Housing Desegregation and Federal Policy (Chapel Hill, 1986)Google Scholar ; Tobin, Gary A., ed., Divided Neighborhoods: Changing Patterns of Racial Segregation (Newbury Park: Calif., 1987)Google Scholar ; Yinger, John, Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination (New York, 1995)Google Scholar.

59. Donovan, Mark C., “Social Constructions of People with AIDS: Target Populations and United States Policy, 1981-1990,” Policy Studies Review 12 (1993): 3–26, 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

60. Roisman, Florence Wagman, “Long Overdue: Desegregation Litigation and Next Steps to End Discrimination and Segregation in the Public Housing and Section 8 Existing Housing Programs,” Cityscape 4:3 (1999): 171–96.Google Scholar

61. Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, “The Federal Government and Equal Housing Opportunity”Google Scholar ; Goering, , Housing Desegregation and Federal Policy Google Scholar ; Kushner, James A., “Federal Enforcement and Judicial Review of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988,” Housing Policy Debate 3:2 (1992): 537–600 Google Scholar ; Massey, and Denton, , American Apartheid Google Scholar ; Roisman, , “Long Overdue,” 147–60Google Scholar ; Tobin, , Divided Neighborhoods Google Scholar ; Yinger, , Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost Google Scholar.

62. Twenty years after passage, Congress adopted fair-housing amendments that increased the benefits available to racial minorities and imposed more severe sanctions on offenders. The 1988 amendments strengthened HUD's enforcement authority and allowed courts to impose higher civil damages on guilty parties. They also added disability and family status as protected classes. See Yinger, , Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost Google Scholar . This stronger version of fair-housing law nonetheless did maintain the general framework of the original policy design in many ways, including the approach to the problem as a civil rights issue, the policy goal, its emphasis on the private sector, and its use of HUD as the primary implementation agent.

63. Yinger, , Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost.Google Scholar

64. Danielson, Michael N., The Politics of Exclusion (New York, 1976).Google Scholar

65. Haar, Charles M., Suburbs Under Siege: Race, Space, and Audacious Judges (Princeton, 1996).Google Scholar

66. Graham, , The Civil Rights Era.Google Scholar

67. U.S. Congress, Hearings Before Subcommittee No. 5 of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 89th Cong., 2d sess. , On Miscellaneous Proposals Regarding the Civil Rights of Persons Within the Jurisdiction of the United States (Washington, D.C., 1966)Google Scholar ; U.S. Congress, Fair Housing Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs of the Committee of Banking and Currency, U.S. Senate, 90th Cong., 1st sess. on S. 1358, S. 2114, and S. 2280 Relating to Civil Rights and Housing, August 21, 22, and 23, 1967.

68. Congressional Record, 100th Cong., 2d sess. (Washington, D.C., 1988).Google ScholarPubMed

69. Yinger, , Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost Google Scholar ; Zimmerman, Mark W., “Opening the Door to Race-based Real Estate Marketing: South Suburban Housing Center v. Greater South Suburban Board of Realtors,” DePaul Law Review 41 (1992): 1241–367Google Scholar.

70. Schneider, and Ingram, , Policy Design for Democracy.Google Scholar

71. Schwemm, , Housing Discrimination; Zimmerman Google Scholar , “Opening the Door to Race-based Real Estate Marketing.”

72. Smith, Shanna L., “The National Fair Housing Alliance at Work,” in Residential Apartheid: The American Legacy, ed. Bullard, Robert D., Grigsby, J. Eugene III, and Lee, Charles (Los Angeles, 1994), 237–56.Google Scholar

73. Cited in McCann, Michael W., Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization (Chicago, 1994), 283.Google Scholar