Lack of Federal Civil Rights Enforcement Contributed to Foreclosure Crisis
National Fair Housing Alliance Report Details Low Level of Enforcement by Federal Government in 40 Years since Passing Landmark Housing Legislation
Washington, DC – This Friday, April 11, marks the 40th anniversary of passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, the broadest and least enforced of our nation’s civil rights laws. Although more than 3.7 million people are discriminated against in housing transactions every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued only 31 charges of discrimination in 2007 and the Department of Justice filed just 35 cases.
On April 11, 1968, just days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congress passed and the President signed into law the federal Fair Housing Act, which now prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, national origin, religion, color, sex, familial status, and disability.
Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) issued its 2008 Fair Housing Trends Report, which documents how communities remain segregated and discrimination continues 40 years after this landmark civil rights legislation was passed. The report, which catalogues widespread under-enforcement of federal fair housing and lending laws, highlights the link between the lack of fair housing enforcement and our current foreclosure crisis.
“Lack of federal oversight of the work of mortgage lenders and brokers has led us to today’s foreclosure crisis,” said Shanna L. Smith, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “An important part of this negligence has been the government’s lack of commitment to enforce the fair housing laws,” she added. “HUD’s and Justice’s paltry performance gave the green light to discrimination by both prime and sub-prime lenders nationwide.”
The 2008 Trends Report found that private fair housing centers processed more than 60 percent of the fair housing complaints throughout the country. The total number of complaints filed, however, still represents less than one percent of the annual incidence of discrimination, which is estimated by a NFHA-commissioned study to be more than 3.7 million, against African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans alone.
In the face of countless studies demonstrating the targeting of minority homebuyers by unscrupulous lenders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has initiated only three investigations since 2006 and has processed only 137 fair lending complaints. The Department of Justice filed only four cases in 2007. Combined, this amounts to only 10 percent of the cases that private groups have filed.
“Private fair housing groups with minimal resources have processed 10 times more fair lending complaints than the federal government,” continued Smith. “How is this possible? This is inexcusable.”
NFHA’s report also found that past and ongoing discriminatory practices in the nation’s housing and lending markets have produced extreme levels of residential segregation that result in significant disparities in access to good jobs, quality education, homeownership attainment and asset accumulation between minority and non-minority households. It also clearly demonstrates how segregation has damaged our economy as well as our global competitiveness.
“On this 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, we must live up to the dream of Dr. King by using the powerful tool of fair housing enforcement to the fullest extent possible,” continued Smith. “This doesn’t mean passing any new laws – this just means enforcing the ones we already have.”
To commemorate this critical piece of legislation in the coming weeks, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) will also host five audio press conferences in five cities (Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Boston and Cleveland), with members of Congress, local and national NFHA leaders and victims of discrimination to discuss the state of fair housing in their communities.