INTRODUCTION OF THE FAIR HOUSING COMMEMORATION BILL OF 2009 -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 31, 2009)
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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today I rise to introduce The Fair Housing Commemoration Act of 2009 to commemorate The Fair Housing Act (FHA), enacted in April 1968, the last of the three great civil rights acts of the 1960's, with a monument in the Nation's Capitol. The Fair Housing Commemorative Foundation is raising funds and is working with the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission (NCMAC) to adhere to the requirements and process established by the Commemorative Works Act of 1986. This may be the first time that a sector of our economy has decided to raise a monument commemorating a statute that regulates some of its practices. The Foundation's precedent is commendable.
Fair housing and the movement to bring equal opportunity in the real estate markets are intertwined with our nation's history. The federal government has both been a part of the problem and an integral part of its solution. Every branch of the federal government has played a key role in our national progress towards fair housing. It is fitting that we commemorate not only the passage of the Fair Housing Act, but also the history of our nation's path towards equal opportunity in housing.The Nation's beginning
The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution establishes a right to own private property that the government cannot take without just compensation. Early immigrants sought a place where they could own and transfer real estate without the arbitrary interference of the government. That right was not universal. Slavery denied basic rights to a whole class of Americans based on race, and reduced some of our people to the subhuman status of property. Among the effects of slavery was the denial of the right to own and use real property.Post Civil War
The Civil War and the constitutional amendments ending slavery were accompanied by laws that gave all citizens the same rights as white citizens to own and use real property. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was our nation's first ``fair housing'' law. Subsequent years saw that law ignored and severely limited by court decisions, culminating with the philosophy of ``separate but equal'' in the Plessey v Ferguson case. In addition, Congress and some states passed laws that restricted access to private property ownership and use by Latinos and Asian Americans.
In the early 20th century, social scientists and leaders within the real estate community established guides for neighborhood desirability based on racial composition. Homogeneous communities for white, northern European background residents were seen as best investment for homeowners and others. Some early zoning laws sought to limit, by race, people who could live in certain communities, as did some practices of the real estate sector. Although the Supreme Court, in its 1917 decision in Buchanan v. Worley, struck down these racial restrictions, these racial biases were incorporated into FHA rules and formed the basis for many private agreements to segregate and form racially restrictive covenants.WW II
Following the Second World War, returning GIs, through the GI bill, were offered a path to homeownership. African Americans and other minority group members were excluded from these GI bill benefits in many communities. The great migration of the middle class to suburbs was largely a white phenomenon, creating segregated white suburbs and large isolated urban minority communities. There was little response by the government or the courts. Most notable, was the Supreme Court in 1948 ended judicial enforcement of racially restrictive covenants in the case Shelley v. Kraemer.The Civil Rights movement
The Civil Rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work in Chicago, brought renewed attention to housing discrimination. The federal government, first through executive order then through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, banned discrimination in federally funded housing. By 1961, seventeen states had passed fair housing or open housing laws. It was not until April 1968, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that Congress passed the Fair Housing Act.
Also in April 1968, the Supreme Court ruling in Jones v. Mayer held that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited discrimination in private real estate transactions. That law lacked an effective government enforcement mechanism, and covered racial and religious discrimination. Gender discrimination was prohibited in 1974. In 1988, in response to growing awareness of the housing issues faced by families with children and persons with disabilities, the adoption of the Fair Housing Act Amendments established effective government enforcement and extended protections to families with children and persons with disabilities.
Madam Speaker, in light of this long battle for fair housing, I ask that the House pass this bill.
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