Future of Fair Housing: Appendix D

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The Future of Fair Housing - Report of the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity

Forty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity was convened to travel across the country to collect information and hear testimony about the nature and extent of illegal housing discrimination, its connection with government policy and practice, and its effect on our communities. The Commission held hearings in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Boston, and Atlanta.

On December 9, 2008, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the Commission reported on its findings.

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Appendix D: Commission Witnesses and Staff

Invited panel witnesses

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Harvard School of Public Health
Roberta Achtenberg, California State University, former Assistant Secretary, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Gary Acosta, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals; New Vista
Michael Allen, Relman & Dane PLLC
Janis Bowdler, Wealth-Building Policy Project, National Council of La Raza
Cal Bradford, President, Calvin Bradford and Associates
Chris Brancart, Brancart and Brancart
Xavier Briggs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Marca Bristo, Access Living
John Brittain, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Tina Brooks, Housing and Community Development, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Willie Brown, State Farm Insurance
Judith A. Browne-Dianis, Advancement Project
Daniel Bustamente, Greater Houston Fair Housing Center
Harry L. Carey, former Associate General Council, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
James Carr, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
Connie Chamberlin, Housing Opportunities Made Equal
Scott Chang, Relman & Dane PLLC
Camille Zubrinsky Charles, University of Pennsylvania
Kathy Clark, Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance
Cathy Cloud, National Fair Housing Alliance
Foster Corbin, Metro Atlanta Fair Housing Services, Inc.
Wayne Dawson Jr., Savannah-Chatham County Fair Housing Council
Ingrid Ellen, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
Frances Espinoza, Housing Rights Center
Lance Freeman, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation
Fred Freiberg, Fair Housing Justice Center
Hector Gamboa, Spanish Coalition for Housing
John Goering, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College, City University of New York; Ph.D. Program in Political Science, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Ira Goldstein, The Reinvestment Fund
Ginny Hamilton, Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston
David Harris, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School
Jesus Hernandez, University of California – Davis
Helmi Hisserich, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Policy, City of Los Angeles
Diane L. Houk, Fair Housing Justice Center
Elizabeth K. Julian, Inclusive Communities Project; former Assistant Secretary, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
David Kahne, ACLU of Greater Houston
Erin Kemple, Connecticut Fair Housing Center
Maria Kong, National Association of Real Estate Brokers
Henry Korman, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force
George Lipsitz, University of California – Santa Barbara
John Logan, Brown University
Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General
Demetria McCain, Inclusive Communities Project
Jim McCarthy, Miami Valley Fair Housing Center
Deborah McKoy, Center for Cities and Schools, University of California – Berkeley
Bonnie Milstein, Office of Program Civil Rights Compliance, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Reilly Morse, Mississippi Center for Justice
Amy Nelson, Fair Housing of the Dakotas
Melvin Oliver, University of California – Santa Barbara
Gary Orfield, Civil Rights Project, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
Jose Padilla, California Rural Legal Assistance
James Perry, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center
Alexander Polikoff, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest
john powell, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity, Ohio State University
Leslie Proll, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
Nancy Ramirez, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Mike Rawson, California Affordable Housing Law Project of the Public Interest Law Project
John Relman, Relman & Dane PLLC
Dale Rhines, former Staff Member, Office of Enforcement, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Lisa Rice, National Fair Housing Alliance
Keenya Robertson, HOPE, Inc.
Florence Roisman, Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis
James Rosenbaum, Northwestern University
Stuart T. Rossman, National Consumer Law Center
Tim Sandos, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals
Barbara Sard, Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
Robert Schwemm, University of Kentucky College of Law
Shanna Smith, National Fair Housing Alliance
Eboni SternJohn, Minneapolis, MN
Thomas J. Sugrue, University of Pennsylvania
Blair Taylor, Los Angeles Urban League
William Tisdale, Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council
Margery Austin Turner, Metropolitan Housing and Communities, The Urban Institute
Cynthia Watts-Elder, Connecticut Fair Housing Center
Bill Wilen, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
John Wong, Asian Real Estate Association of America

Additional public testimony and written submissions

Dorothea A. Ardoin, Coldwell Banker Schmidt
Michael Blue, Chicago, Illinois
James Robert Breymaier, Oak Park Regional Housing Center
Phyllis Cheng, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing
Vincent Curry, Fair Housing Advocates Association
Jill Fenner, Fair Housing Center of Nebraska
Valerie Fortner, Chicago, Illinois
Brian Gilmore and Lois Hanshaw, Howard University School of Law
Nancy Haynes, Fair Housing Center of West Michigan
Bill Henning, Boston Center for Independent Living
Ilene Jacobs, California Rural Legal Assistance
Bernie Kleina, HOPE Inc.
Maria Krysan, University of Illinois – Chicago
Jeremy Liu, Asian Community Development Corporation
Bill Martin, Michigan Association of REALTORS®
Clyde Murphy, Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Jim Park, Asian Real Estate Association of America
John R. Petruszak, South Suburban Housing Center
Mary Prem, Project Sentinel
Theresa M. Ragot, Groton Housing Partnership
Wanda Remmers, Housing Rights Inc.
Gail Schechter, Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs
Lennox Scott, John L. Scott Real Estate
Ann Seligsohn, Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc.
Mark D. Stern, Mark D. Stern, P.C.
John H. Suhrbier, Winchester Multicultural Network
Hernán Vera, Public Counsel
Lauren Walker, Fair Housing Center; City Council, Tacoma, Washington
John Y. Wong, Chinese American Real Estate Professionals Association

Contributors to this Report

Primary authors

Sara Pratt, Fair Housing Consultant
Philip Tegeler, Poverty & Race Research Action Council

Contributing authors

Megan K. Whyte, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Joseph Rich, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Julie Fernandes, The Raben Group

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The Future of Fair Housing

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, NFHA has partnered with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund to create a national, bipartian fair housing commission to investigate the alarming state of U.S. housing in the wake of the subprime housing debacle.

On December 9, 2008, the commission released its findings and recommendations in this comprehensive report.

Entire report in PDF format

Executive summary in PDF format

I. Housing Discrimination and Segregation Continue

— How We Got Here: The Historical Roots of Housing Segregation

— Despite the Promise of the Fair Housing Act, the Rate of Housing Discrimination Remains High

II. Fair Housing Enforcement at HUD is Failing

— Create a New, Independent Fair Housing Enforcement Agency

III. Fair Housing Enforcement at the Justice Department is Weak

— Strengthen DOJ’s Role in Fair Housing and Fair Lending Enforcement

IV. The Need for Strong Fair Housing Programs

— Increase Funding for the FHIP program

— Reform FHIP Management

— Improve Coordination and Oversight of the Fair Housing Assistance Program

V. Fair Housing and the Foreclosure Crisis

— Incorporate Fair Housing Principles into Foreclosure Relief Implementation

VI. Federal Housing Programs

— Ensure Compliance with the "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" Obligation in Federal Housing Programs

VII. Fair Housing Obligations of Federal Grantees

— Strengthen Fair Housing Compliance by Federal Grantees

VIII. Regionalism and Fair Housing Enforcement

— Adopt a Regional Approach to Fair Housing

IX. The President's Fair Housing Council

— Revive the President’s Fair Housing Council

X. Fair Housing Education: A Missing Piece

— Strengthen Fair Housing Education

XI. The Necessity of Fair Housing Research

— Enhance Fair Housing Research at HUD

XII. Conclusion

Appendices

Appendix A: Emerging Fair Housing Issues

Appendix B: International Disapproval of U.S. Fair Housing Policy

Appendix C: Commissioner Correspondence on Foreclosure Relief Implementation

— Letter to Congressional Leaders

— Letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

Appendix D: Commission Witnesses and Staff

Achieving the Dream for Everyone

The National Fair Housing Alliance stepped up the fight to insure everyone has a chance at achieving the American Dream – owning a home in a safe welcoming neighborhood – during our 20^th annual conference. More than 300 members gathered at our conference in Washington to send a strong message about the importance of fair lending in the home mortgage industry – it’s not only the right thing to do, but when unfairness wins everybody else loses.

Conference panels discussed the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and reviewed fair housing enforcement policies by the United States Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We examined how predatory subprime lenders marketed shoddy financial products to communities of color triggering the current housing meltdown which has imperiled our entire economy.

The fallout could mean a tightening of credit for home buyers with some decision makers proposing high down payments for a home further curtailing home ownership for millions in the middle class. “Generations of Americans have tapped their home equity to send their children to college to provide for a brighter tomorrow,” said Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “We can’t allow the future to dim for communities of color.”

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Tulane Professor Melissa V. Harris-Perry and john a. powell of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity were among our conference speakers.

NFHA also found time during our conference to recognize our success stories. We presented the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) with the prestigious Chairman’s Award for its contribution to the movement. Our allies in New Orleans were cited for the on-going litigation with St. Bernard Parish, their development of the Road Home Program, a recent forum on fair housing and food justice and for publishing a children’s book, “The Fair Housing Five & the Haunted House.”

For photos of conference highlights please click here.

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