Public Policy
Government Policy and Housing Integration
The Next 40 Years of Fair Housing Conference
University of Illinois at Chicago
October 7, 2008
Moderator:
Robin Kelly (Office of the Illinois Treasurer)
Speakers:
James H. Carr of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (not present)
Prof. Sylvia Puente of the Center for Metropolitan Chicago Initiatives at the Institute for Latino Studies (Notre Dame University)
Philip Tegeler of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council and the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
9:18: Terry Hall, Director of Hull House brings in a newspaper from 20 years ago (20 years after the original passing of the fair housing act) which argues that poverty is worse than it was before the act passed. He comments that today, 40 years after the passing, poverty is even worse and that we have to work together to make fair and integrated housing a reality.
9:22: Maria Krysan welcomes everyone to the conference and thanks people for their work. She says that today is a day dedicated to developing an agenda for fair and integrated housing. After the speakers, everyone will break up into work groups to develop a specific agenda and everyone will rejoin as a community to set the conference agenda.
9:25: Speakers walk up to the front of the room with moderator Robin Kelly. Kelly explains that fair housing and maintaining diversity and integration is very important to her; she began her fight for fair and integrated housing in Matteson, IL. She wants everyone to live, work, and play together regardless of race.
9:28: Kelly introduces Tegeler; he is a Civil Rights Lawyer in Washington DC. Puente is a leading public policy leader on issues that affect Latinos.
9:30: Tegeler says, “In fair housing, context really matters.” He believes that we need to develop a federal policy on fair housing; however, not every city is the same and has unique needs. Older cities are “still locked” in segregated housing; this is especially problematic as people are losing their homes to foreclosures.
9:31: Chicago is an “epi-center” of fair housing. Chicago had the first fair housing law suit which had a huge impact on public policy. Chicago is also the place where transformation of public housing is happening; there are both positives and negatives.
9:34: The Poverty and Race Action Council is based in DC; they do research and advocacy on the mechanisms of structural racism. Specifically on healthcare and segregated housing (which he says is the most prominent form of structural racism).
9:35: (Questions Tegeler poses fair housing) Why has fair housing enforcement been so inadequate in reducing discrimination and segregation in housing? What roles do personal preference and choice play in housing decisions? How is it that a majority of people from all racial groups prefer integrated communities but that this is not a reality? Why are things leading to more segregated outcomes?
9:37: Tegeler poses that most policies for fair housing actually reinforce segregated housing.
9:39: How do we link federal and local policies to ensure fair and integrated housing?
9:40: Tegeler believes that we have to look at segregation problems from first looking at the biggest federal policies such as Section 8 vouchers and other public housing programs. We have to question how these may promote racial segregation.
9:42: The current administration has changed the housing program that was working towards integration during the Clinton era to increasing racial segregation. With the lack of federal money, the FHA has had to cut down on scope and programs. There is currently a Section 8 Reform Act in Congress which hopefully will help turn this around.
9:44: Where will new public housing go? How can public housing be reformed?
9:45: Tegeler says that public housing was “Jim Crow” housing which has systematically discriminated and reduced access to opportunities to families of color.
9:46: Tegeler poses “provocative” questions: How is money going to be spent to stabilize communities? How are foreclosure relief funds going to reduce or reaffirm racial segregation? How are foreclosures affecting more integrated neighborhoods?
9:51: Puente begins her presentation. She was named one of the 100 most influential Latinos in business. Puente is going to discuss how she thinks about fair housing; how the migration of Latinos, the largest minority community, is going to affect fair housing and integration.
Prof. Sylvia Puente: Next 40 Years Presentation
9:52: The majority of Latinos now live in the suburbs. What does this mean for fair housing?
9:53: Puente shows a graph of the demographic trends of the Chicago Metropolitan area: 20% are Hispanic or Latino, 6% Asians, 18% African American or Black, and 55% White (1% other). What does it mean when the majority of our neighbors are Latino or Black?
9:55: Projections are that the Latino community is going to continue growing; currently, 1 in 3 children born in the Chicago Metropolitan area are Latino. 55% of this population is living in the suburbs and are all over the region.
9:56: How does the spread of Latinos into the suburbs play into fair housing?
9:57: The large majority of Latinos are in enclaves. Is this a matter of choice or segregation? 56% of Latinos are homeowners (79% whites, 43% are Black).
9:59: Puente is not sure that how we think about fair housing applies to Latinos. Latinos are responsible for new home ownership growth up to 2006. Latinos are buying new homes in this region.
10:03: Economic disparity is widening; when thinking about fair housing, we need to ask ourselves how affordable is housing? Economic disparities make housing more complicated.
10:05: Affordability, affordability, affordability. We want people to be able to afford their homes.
10:07: Even though home prices are coming down, those who are working class are not finding homes that they can buy or rent.
10:09: We’re building big houses that there is not enough demand for and we are not building smaller homes that are in demand (Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and Chicago Metropolis 2020). Puente suggests that the “McMansions” that are being built will not have people to own them in a few years. There is a mismatch between what housing people need and want and what they are actually building.
10:12: Puente argues that we need to “develop diverse housing stock that includes smaller homes and affordable increased Latino demand.”
10:14: Since there is a mismatch between homes being built and what people can buy; so there needs to be more diverse housing being built. There is overcrowding in many Latino housing (which is not necessarily a choice) but that this is an economic need especially since Latinos make up a lot of low waged work.
10:15: “Model housing ordinances need to find a balance between public safety and the rights of individuals.” Therefore, new housing ordinances need to watch for selective enforcement, midnight raids, and other putative measures.
10:16: Puente argues for community education and locally based community mediation. Overcrowding becomes the text for diversity issues or problems with neighbors.
10:19: We have to reconceptualize what we mean and think about fair housing.
10:20: Kelly suggests that we need to rethink about how we even think about integrated communities.
10:21: William Peterson argues that we often ignore or move away from what it means to be an integrated community and not just due to affordable housing. Median household income and median home price do not necessarily reflect who is living in a specific community (provides the example of Winnekeca in which many people of color could afford and yet don’t live there).
10:23: Puente argues that many Latinos may choose to live in an ethnic enclave in order to promote culture, language, and safety.
10:24: Complicated question on why Blacks and Latinos may choose to live together; structural racism, discrimination, and possibly safety from Whites may play in (Tegeler).
10:25: Question deals with issue of choice (from member of Chicago Housing Authority). How can government agencies work collaboratively to work through these integration issues? We should respect choice, but how do we reduce inequality?
10:28: Tegeler says that he believes that poor families of color do not really have a choice in which community they live in. He believes that everyone should have a choice in where they live; not simply live because they have no other options. State governments need to create and enforce policy that enables people to have a choice in their housing.
10:31: Puente suggests that there is an issues of access; that not all people have equal access to housing. What kinds of choice do we have in these instances?
10:32: Question: We often talk about self-segregating communities but we need to talk about whites- who are less willing to integrate. Suggests that people of color always have to consider how whites will treat them and their children. How do we address these things? Like, WHY aren’t people of color moving to Winnetka?
10:35: Puente says that it is also a class issue and that there is a “tipping point” for some white communities in which there are “too many” Latinos. We have to ask questions that may not be “politically correct.” We need to learn to get along as neighbors with “basic human contacts.”
