Pub. 3 2018 Issue 2

17 ISSUE 2 2018 teaching at a school in south Texas for Mexican-Amer- ican students. He had a tremendous influence on pro- grams such as the Civil Rights Act, Head Start, Medi- care, and the Voting Rights Act. However, the Vietnam War (1954–1975) and President Johnson himself had become deeply unpopular. He and his military policies had unsuccessfully increased U.S. involvement in Viet- nam; ultimately, he decided against running for a second term. It would be more than four years before U.S. forces began withdrawing in 1973. • Edward Brooke (1919–2015) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1966. Elected by the citizens of Massachusetts, he was the first African-American senator to take a seat in the senate in 85 years, and the first to ever be elected from his home state. In addition to sponsoring the Fair Housing Act, he was also responsible for suggesting that the country celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a national holiday. • Walter Mondale (1928–), like Edward Brooke, was elect- ed to the senate in 1966. He later served as vice present to Jimmy Carter and was the Democratic presidential nom- inee in 1984. His running mate during that campaign was Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate for a party that had the potential to actually win a national election. Why is the Fair Housing Act important? There are multiple reasons, but the most important one is that the U.S. continues to be segregated by race and ethnicity. The roots of that segre- gation date back to the 1500s and 1600s, at the very beginnings of European colonization in the Americas. American has always been divided both economically and racially. (Two worthwhile and eye-opening books on the subject are White Trash, by Nancy Isenberg, and Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir by J.D. Vance.) More recently, government policies that date back to the 1930s and 1940s supported discrimination in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Home Owners Loan Corporation, and in public housing. The private housing mar- ket has also had systemic practices that have had an effect on housing that is the very opposite of fair: discrimination within the real-estate industry, racially restrictive covenants, and redlining done by corporations whose job is to lend money and write insurance policies for homeowners. The result of these practices has been segregated neighborhoods through- out the U.S., including in every large metropolitan area. Even today, the following is still true: • Approximately half of all people who are African Amer- ican and 40 percent of those with Latino heritage live in neighborhoods where there are no white people. • Most white people live in neighborhoods where 80 per- cent of their neighbors are also white. • People with disabilities also face segregation or limita- tions on where they are allowed to live simply because of their disability. A great deal of housing is inaccessible for them even if discrimination is not a factor, so they face both physical and cultural barriers. Does it matter where someone lives? The answer to that question is an unqualified yes. In real estate, common wisdom tells us that the three most important factors are location, lo- cation, and location. Why? Location determines opportunity. Education, jobs, health, and the possibility of becoming rich are all dependent on where someone lives and which oppor- tunities are open to them as a result. Good schools, good grocery stores, public institutions such as libraries, adequate public transportation, employment opportunities, access to quality credit and good medical care are all fundamentally determined by where a person’s home is located. Lack of equal access to basics has put the U.S. onto some lists in spots where we don’t want to be. Comparative data on pov- erty and the distance between the poor and the rich, differ- ences in income and wealth, underfunded schools, and health inequality all combine with segregation to make it clear that U.S. prosperity is damaged when its citizens are prevented from prospering because of where they live. That’s why the U.S. is now on the bottom of the list in so many areas. Fixing housing problems does not solve everything, of course, but it goes a long way toward addressing the heart of the prob- lem by making it possible for people to make a better life for themselves if they have the talent and will to do so. How is the Fair Housing Alliance making a difference? It is: • Educating people and businesses about their rights and responsibilities. • Helping those who have encountered housing discrimi- nation. • Working to dismantle the barriers to housing opportunity. As long as those barriers exist, they perpetuate segregation. Fair Housing Act | Continued on page 18 Why is the Fair Housing Act important? There are multiple reasons, but the most important one is that the U.S. continues to be segregated by race and ethnicity.