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1. 50 yrs ago, a week after MLK's assassination, President Johnson signed into law the Fair Housing Act, which promised to address racial housing discrimination & proactively dismantle the pervasive racial segregation America's federal housing policy had created. #FairHousingIs50
2. As HUD Secretary under President Obama it was my job to enforce the Act. So on the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, I have some thoughts about the past, present, and future of fair housing.
3. When MLK was assassinated in 1968, as the nation wrestled with grief, and riots rocked cities from Chicago to Washington, DC, President Johnson pushed Congress to pass the law that Dr. King had lobbied for several years to pass without action.
4. It was the last major piece of Civil Rights legislation. The Fair Housing Act required local communities to desegregate, to undo government policies that encouraged segregation -- post-WWII policies like the GI Bill that gave preference to white homebuyers in the new suburbs.
5. Sadly, the goals of the Fair Housing Act have yet to be realized. Racial segregation endures, and the folks of color living in these communities have worse outcomes than their white peers because of fewer education, economic, and professional opportunities.
6. How do we know that fair housing still matters? Strong data. The economists Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren have produced important analyses of how critical a child's zip code is to her future. http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/neighborhoods/
7. Every year a child lives in a neighborhood with greater opportunity -- better schools, racial diversity, a strong middle class -- the more that child will earn over her lifetime. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/upshot/an-atlas-of-upward-mobility-shows-paths-out-of-poverty.html
8. Segregated communities where people of color live are significantly more likely to expose children to environmental hazards. Lead poisoning limits a child's potential and Flint still doesn’t have clean water. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/flint-water-crisis/cdc-confirms-lead-levels-shot-flint-kids-after-water-switch-n598496
9. Providing a housing voucher for a greater-opportunity neighborhood to a low-income family with young children gives those kids a fighting chance in life. They will have better jobs. They will earn more money. They will enjoy better health and accrue social benefits.
10. At the same time, investing in neglected neighborhoods through effective place based work can also make a positive difference in people’s lives. We need to embrace both these approaches, to give folks meaningful options.
11. That's why I called HUD the Department of Opportunity. HUD can change lives, it can help improve our entire society.
12. This administration actively rejects its responsibility to enforce fair housing rules. In 2015, the current Secretary famously dismissed our efforts to enforce fair housing as "social engineering." https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/23/ben-carson-obamas-housing-rules-try-to-accomplish-/
13. Example A, from January 2018: Trump Administration Postpones an Obama Fair-Housing Rule https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/upshot/trump-delays-hud-fair-housing-obama-rule.html
14. Example B, from just last week: Under Ben Carson, HUD Scales Back Fair Housing Enforcement https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/us/ben-carson-hud-fair-housing-discrimination.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront
15. In my last months at HUD, we opened up an investigation of Facebook for allowing advertisers to exclude certain racial and ethnic groups when placing real estate ads on the platform. HUD recently abandoned that suit. Fortunately, NGOs are on the case.
16. Congress's spending bill actually prohibits HUD from helping municipalities desegregate. This goes beyond neglect, and is more likely the active undermining by Republicans of a reasonable policy meant to level the playing field for millions of disenfranchised Americans.
17. The abrupt change has been described as an effort to “roll back the Obama administration’s attempts to reverse decades of racial, ethnic and income segregation." So what were we doing at HUD in the Obama administration that was so scary to right-wingers?
18. President Obama believed deeply in the promise of the Fair Housing Act and his administration crafted a policy in 2015, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, requiring that American communities actively work to integrate. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/11/weekly-address-making-our-communities-stronger-through-fair-housing
19. Closing that loophole in the Fair Housing Act in 2015 was something I'm very proud of my HUD team for accomplishing. In addition, we expanded fair housing rights for domestic violence survivors, transgender individuals, and returning citizens. https://medium.com/@SecretaryCastro/criminal-justice-reform-includes-housing-fd29940fc598
20. So where do we go from here? For one, we need to vote. Every single election. We all must educate ourselves about the issues (from trustworthy sources). These issues don't just affect black and brown folks—segregation holds back our entire society from greater prosperity.
21. Black communities are dangerously overpoliced and police violence continues to ravage black communities and claim the lives of unarmed young African Americans with little accountability or justice. Black lives matter and where black families live matters.
22. Economists Chetty and Hendren came out with a new study this year. It underlines what so many people knew intuitively: race > class when determining futures. Even with economic status, racism still lingers. The two are inextricably linked in housing. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html
23. Fifty years after Dr. King’s assassination we still mourn his loss, but his legacy includes the Fair Housing Act, passed a week after his death. So on today's anniversary, we have a chance not just to celebrate, but to recommit to its promise. #FairHousingis50
24. We have a lot of work to do. But as I travel across the country and talk with young people, I’m impressed by a generation of young leaders who are up for a challenge. And when I think about where we will be 50 years from now, my money’s on progress. END
