Fair Housing Month: Are We There Yet?
Along with the start of spring, many often celebrate, remember, and observe various holidays and significant legislation during the month of April. One that many are not aware of, however, is that April is Fair Housing Month. This year marks the 56th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act passage, which was signed into law on April 11th 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Title VIII of The Civil Rights Act of 1968 (informally known as the Fair Housing Act of 1968) is meant to protect individuals from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities. More specifically, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on familial status, race, sex, disability, color, religion, and/or national origin.
To understand the Civil Rights Act of 1968, it’s important to understand its origins and the basis on which it stood. Many believe that it was the first legislation of its kind to address housing-related discrimination. This, however, is not accurate. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was the country’s first civil rights law, and it was enacted in response to the restrictions imposed on formerly enslaved people by Southern states. This act not only protected basic rights and affirmed citizenship, but also maintained that “any citizen had the same right as white citizens to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property”. Despite Congress’s efforts to protect the civil rights of all U.S. citizens, discrimination continued to impact the everyday lives of African-Americans and other nonwhite people for years to come, and especially so in matters of housing. Racial and economic segregation continue today throughout our country, which one can conclude that the purpose, as described by the bill’s principal author, then- Senator Walter Mondale, of creating an integrated society has yet to be achieved.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 intended to be instrumental in prohibiting housing discrimination because it established for the first time that such practices were illegal and that the federal government needed to play an active role in stopping racist housing policies. The reality is that HUMANS need to play an active role in stopping racist housing practices.There is a fundamental problem if we think that this is the government's responsibility.
Though the citizens of the United States are far from eradicating racist housing practices, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 created a framework to remember and apply. Exclusionary zoning, continued redlining, greed, superiority are just a few of the issues. Every day is a great time to remember, to acknowledge and advocate for continued fair housing, bringing public awareness to the issues that affect us all. Until we realize that we really all want the same thing, the unjust, unequal status quo will remain.
