Forty years ago, on April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, signaling a federal commitment to ending housing discrimination and segregation.  Fair housing legislation had been debated in Congress for a number of years, but it took the assassination of  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, to spur Congress to finally pass a bill outlawing housing discrimination based on race and a number of other grounds.

While the Congressional reaction to King’s assassination was quick, the subsequent forty years have shown that without vigorous enforcement of fair housing laws, coupled with a strong commitment to ensuring racial equity and parity for all minority groups, the mere passage of a law prohibiting discrimination is not enough to undo centuries of discrimination and unequal treatment.

Housing discrimination in many ways has a greater impact than other types of discrimination: housing patterns affect not only where one lives but also one’s life chances through access to quality schools, transportation, jobs, and a healthy (and safe) environment.

Northeast Ohio faces extremely high rates of segregation and other forms of racial disparities in housing markets.  The Cleveland metropolitan area is the sixth-most segregated area in the country for African Americans and the eleventh-most segregated for Hispanic/Latinos.

With a few exceptions, one can name any city in Cuyahoga County (or any neighborhood in Cleveland) and know with a relatively high degree of certainty the race/ethnicity of most of the residents in that community.

While housing discrimination is not as blatant as it once was, research by the Housing Center has shown continuing racial disparities in the rental and sale of housing, as well as in mortgage lending.  For example, the most recent mortgage lending data released by the federal government found that in the Cleveland metropolitan area, upperlow income whites.  And of those who actually obtained loans, upper income African Americans were again more likely to receive high-cost subprime loans than low income African Americans were more likely to be denied loans than income whites.

So after forty years, what can we, as a greater community, do differently?  Is it possible to change the underlying dynamics that drive the disparate treatment based on racial, socio-economic and cultural differences?  We are far from achieving equal and open housing opportunities, as envisioned by the legislation that was passed in 1968.  If we want to make any significant  progress, it has to start with making attempts to find common ground with one another.  Over the past 16 months, Heights Community Congress has been hosting public forums on race and issues of diversity in the Greater Cleveland area with the intent of breaking down barriers that exist between those who perceive themselves to be “different” from each other.  It is true we all have differences, but collectively we have so much more in common, in terms of what is at stake for the greater community.

Housing discrimination and segregation won’t end themselves because we didn’t get to where we are by accident: the level of housing discrimination and segregation we face today is a result of decades of official policies of governments at all levels, of private businesses and associations, and of individual actions by homeowners, rental agents, and others.

Ending such discrimination likewise will take efforts from federal, state and local governments.  But it will also take the strength of  neighborhood and community activists – everyday people –who are committed to building strong, diverse communities that are welcoming of people, regardless of race, national origin, income, disability, and other dimensions of inequality.

Until we address housing discrimination in all of its manifestations, discrimination and segregation in schools, employment, and other areas will remain difficult, if not impossible,  to address.

Jeffrey D. Dillman is the Executive Director of the Housing Research & Advocacy Center (the “Housing Center”), a fair housing organization based in Cleveland.  Kasey Greer is the Executive Director of Heights Community Congress, a fair housing and community engagement organization located in Cleveland Heights.  In 2007, the Housing Center and HCC formed the Fair Housing & Diversity Partnership to jointly address housing discrimination and diversity issues in the greater Cleveland area.

Contact information:

Jeffrey D. Dillman
Housing Research & Advocacy Center
3631 Perkins Ave., Suite 3A-2
Cleveland, OH 44114

(216) 361-9240 (voice)
(216) 426-1290 (fax)

Kasey Lynn Greer
Heights Community Congress
2163 Lee Rd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

(216) 321-6775 (voice)