January 2024 - Race & Color

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Welcome Note

With Black History Month right around the corner, this month we will look further into Race & Color based discrimination in housing. The Fair Housing Act became law in April 1968, immediately following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The original mandate was to respond to the civil rights movement that wanted change and progress from the segregated neighborhoods and cities of the past. 56 years later, the Fair Housing Act continues to identify and expose incidents and patterns of racism and practices of segregation.

Race & Color

  • The Fair Housing Act recognizes Race and Color as two separate protected classes. Race refers to one’s ethnic heritage, bloodline, culture, personal identity, whereas Color refers to the color of one’s skin and biological features. 

  • ALL races and colors are protected by the Fair Housing Act. What matters is that whatever you are, or whatever you are perceived to be, cannot be used against as the reason to deny housing or establish different terms and conditions in the enjoyment of your housing.

  • Nationwide, in 2022, discrimination based on Race comprised the second highest number of complaints filed. (1)

  • In 2022, an increase in complaints based on color regarding Homeowners Insurance discrimination was caused by an uneven pandemic recovery in communities of color, in addition to the effects of historic redlining that have never fully dissipated, aid in the homeowners insurance complaint increase. (2)

  1. https://nationalfairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-Fair-Housing-Trends-Report.pdf; p.4

  2. Id. at 14

So What Does It All Mean?

  • Despite decades of work, both the ever growing landscape and shadows of the past continue to make race and color based discrimination in housing an issue to this day.

  • New forms of discrimination are stemming from Artificial Intelligence, algorithmic formulas, and disparate impact patterns and practice.

  • While many consider us to be living in a post-racial society, the numbers do not reflect such a claim. Instead, discrimination in housing is simply taking on new faces and forms.

What Can We Do?

  • Be aware that the phrase, “That’s just how it is,” will continue to be true until we change. This means recognize that old practices and common patterns can be interrupted and stopped.

  • Educate ourselves, our families, and our neighbors about what constitutes housing discrimination. For example:

    • Denying housing based on an arrest record, when the person was never charged or convicted.

    • Assuming people of different races or ethnicities would prefer a different neighborhood.

    • Having a lower tolerance for things like noise, late rent, and messy areas for one tenant over another, for no reason other than race or color.

    • Allowing discrimination to occur simply because it doesn’t affect you. Benefiting from another person’s loss does not help make change.

  • Reach out to us any time you feel you or someone you know is being discriminated against.

Community Outreach

Upcoming Outreach Events

January 31 - Mid Florida Community Services Head Start Parent Meeting

February 24 - City of Orlando’s 2024 Fair Housing Fair

February 29 - Children’s Home Society of Florida’s Palatka Resource Fair

What We’ve Been Up To

Suwannee River Area Health Education Center’s Health & Wellness Fair

We started the year off with a community fair focusing on community health and wellness. It was a great opportunity to address the overlap between our work as Fair Housing advocates and the expansive definition of community wellness.

AAGO Fair Housing Hot Topics: Disparate Impact

Our Program Director and Outreach Coordinator got to present to housing providers and dive deeper into what Disparate Impact means in the fair housing world. It was an excellent chance to explore some of the more complex questions and gray areas when it comes to accurately enforcing fair housing laws. It is always an excellent chance for us to better understand how housing providers see and experience Fair Housing.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resource Fair at Flagler College

We are grateful for the opportunity to have not only met with students and staff as they walked through the event, but engage with community resources and future partners such as House of Prism, Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center and the DEI team at Flagler College itself.

Migrant Education Fair Housing presentation

Pia got the chance to present to the staff at the migrant education program based in Alachua County. It was wonderful to speak with community members who work directly with migrant populations to make sure they know the Fair Housing act is here for them, too.

State & Nationwide Legal Update

  • On January 17, 2024, the United States filed a complaint alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and a proposed consent order in United States v. Patriot Bank (W.D. Tenn.).  The complaint alleges that, from 2015 through 2020, Patriot Bank discriminated on the basis of race, color, or national origin in violation of the FHA and ECOA by engaging in unlawful redlining in its self-designated service area in Memphis, Tennessee. The consent order, subject to court approval, requires Patriot to invest at least $1.3 million in a loan subsidy fund to increase access to home mortgage, home improvement, and home refinance loans for residents of majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Memphis. Additionally, in those same neighborhoods, Patriot will spend at least $375,000 for advertising, outreach, and consumer financial education and counseling; spend $225,000 to develop community partnerships to provide services that increase access to residential mortgage credit; employ two loan officers dedicated to serving those communities of color in Memphis and a Director of Community Lending who will oversee the continued development of lending in those communities; and continually assess the credit needs of the communities.

  • On August 2, 2023, the Court issued an Opinion granting in part and denying in part defendants’ motions to dismiss in Connolly v. Lanham (D. Md.), a private lawsuit brought under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and other laws.  The complaint in the case alleges that an appraiser and a lender violated the FHA and ECOA by lowering the valuation of a home because the owners were Black and by denying a mortgage refinancing application based on that appraisal.  On March 13, 2023, the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a Statement of Interest explaining that it is illegal for a lender to rely on an appraisal that it knows or should know to be discriminatory and providing guidance on pleading standards under the FHA and ECOA.  The Court agreed that a lender violates the law by relying on an appraisal that it knows or should know to be discriminatory, adopted the pleading standards in the Statement of Interest, and held that plaintiffs stated claims for relief under ECOA and multiple provisions of the FHA.

 

The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) protects you from discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. This applies to renting, buying, mortgages, appraisals, insurance, and looking for a place to live.

 
 

IF YOU THINK YOU’VE BEEN THE VICTIM OF HOUSING DISCRIMINATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT:
407-801- 4224
850-680-1729 (Spanish)
fairhousing@floridalegal.org
www.floridalegal.org/fairhousing

The work that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under a grant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Government.

 
Joseph Cordova