The Fair Housing Act: Reviewing Efforts to Eliminate Discrimination and Promote Opportunity in Housing
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THE FAIR HOUSING ACT: REVIEWING EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION AND PROMOTE OPPORTUNITY IN HOUSING HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 2, 2019 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 116–12 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–395 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:19 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 095071 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 K:\DOCS\37395.TXT TERRI HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES MAXINE WATERS, California, Chairwoman CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK MCHENRY, North Carolina, NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York Ranking Member BRAD SHERMAN, California PETER T. KING, New York GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL POSEY, Florida DAVID SCOTT, Georgia BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri AL GREEN, Texas BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado STEVE STIVERS, Ohio JIM A. HIMES, Connecticut ANN WAGNER, Missouri BILL FOSTER, Illinois ANDY BARR, Kentucky JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado DENNY HECK, Washington ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas JUAN VARGAS, California FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey TOM EMMER, Minnesota VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas LEE M. ZELDIN, New York AL LAWSON, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia MICHAEL SAN NICOLAS, Guam ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio KATIE PORTER, California TED BUDD, North Carolina CINDY AXNE, Iowa DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee SEAN CASTEN, Illinois TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio BEN MCADAMS, Utah JOHN ROSE, Tennessee ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia LANCE GOODEN, Texas STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts DENVER RIGGLEMAN, Virginia TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania JESU´ S ‘‘CHUY’’ GARCIA, Illinois SYLVIA GARCIA, Texas DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota CHARLA OUERTATANI, Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:19 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 095071 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\37395.TXT TERRI C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: April 2, 2019 ..................................................................................................... 1 Appendix: April 2, 2019 ..................................................................................................... 57 WITNESSES TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019 Furth, Salim, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason Uni- versity ................................................................................................................... 11 Goldberg, Debby, Vice President, Housing Policy and Special Projects, Na- tional Fair Housing Alliance ............................................................................... 4 Hill, Cashuana, Executive Director, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Ac- tion Center ............................................................................................................ 6 Johnson, Kierra, Deputy Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force ...... 8 Olsen, Skylar, Director, Economic Research, Zillow Group ................................. 9 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Furth, Salim ...................................................................................................... 58 Goldberg, Debby ............................................................................................... 75 Hill, Cashuana .................................................................................................. 108 Johnson, Kierra ................................................................................................ 118 Olsen, Skylar .................................................................................................... 124 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy: Written responses to questions for the record from Debby Goldberg .......... 130 Garcia, Hon. Jesu´ s ‘‘Chuy’’: 2013 Report of the Equal Rights Center and the National Council of La Raza entitled, ‘‘Puertas Cerradas Housing Barriers for Hispanics’’ ... 139 Porter, Hon. Katie: Written responses to questions for the record from Cashauna Hill ............. 170 Tlaib, Hon. Rashida: Detroit Free Press article entitled, ‘‘Few black people get home mortgages in Detroit, data show,’’ dated March 22, 2019 ............................................ 172 Dean, Hon. Madeleine: NPR article entitled, ‘‘For Low-Income Victims, Nuisance Laws Force Ultimatum: Silence Or Eviction,’’ dated June 29, 2016 ............................. 177 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:19 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 095071 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\37395.TXT TERRI VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:19 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 095071 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\37395.TXT TERRI THE FAIR HOUSING ACT: REVIEWING EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION AND PROMOTE OPPORTUNITY IN HOUSING Tuesday, April 2, 2019 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Maxine Waters [chair- woman of the committee] presiding. Members present: Representatives Waters, Maloney, Velazquez, Meeks, Clay, Scott, Green, Cleaver, Himes, Foster, Beatty, Heck, Vargas, Lawson, San Nicolas, Tlaib, Axne, Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, Wexton, Lynch, Adams, Dean, Garcia of Illinois, Garcia of Texas, Phillips; McHenry, Wagner, Lucas, Posey, Luetkemeyer, Huizenga, Stivers, Barr, Tipton, Williams, Hill, Zeldin, Loudermilk, Davidson, Budd, Kustoff, Hollingsworth, Gonzalez of Ohio, Rose, Steil, Gooden, and Riggleman. Chairwoman WATERS. The Financial Services Committee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Today’s hearing is entitled, ‘‘The Fair Housing Act: Reviewing Ef- forts to Eliminate Discrimination and Promote Opportunity in Housing.’’ I now recognize myself for 4 minutes for an opening statement. Good morning, everyone. Today, the committee convenes for a hearing on the Fair Housing Act to review efforts to eliminate dis- crimination and promote equal opportunity in housing. April is National Fair Housing Month, and last April marked the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, the landmark 1968 legis- lation that outlawed housing discrimination. But here we are 51 years after the Fair Housing Act became law and housing discrimi- nation remains a widespread problem in this country. According to the National Fair Housing Alliance, individuals filed 28,843 housing discrimination complaints in 2017. Under the Trump Administration, fair housing protections are under attack. In 2018, HUD Secretary Ben Carson halted implementation of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule, an impor- tant rule finalized by the Obama Administration that provides communities with greater clarity on how to help break down bar- riers to fair housing opportunity, including by providing local au- thorities with better data to analyze their housing needs. According to news reports, Secretary Carson proposed taking the words, ‘‘free (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:19 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 095071 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\37395.TXT TERRI 2 from discrimination,’’ out of HUD’s mission statement. He also re- portedly halted fair housing investigations and sidelined top advis- ers at HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. These are unprecedented attacks on fair housing and must not go unanswered. Let’s not forget that Donald Trump and his father were once charged with violating the Fair Housing Act for discrimi- nating against African-American and Puerto Rican renters. Given that Trump was engaged in housing discrimination himself, it is unsurprising that his Administration has been so hostile to fair housing protections. My bill, the Restoring Fair Housing Protections Eliminated by HUD Act, is designed to put protections that Ben Carson and the Trump Administration have diminished back in place. The legisla- tion requires HUD to implement the AFFH rule as soon as pos- sible, codifies HUD’s mission statement in statute, and requires HUD to reverse other harmful actions the Trump Administration has taken to weaken fair housing. It is also important to recognize that as technology has evolved, so, too, have the ways that Americans are searching for and finding housing. A recent study found that 73 percent of all renters use on- line platforms to find housing. Regulators must be proactive in scrutinizing online platforms where housing is advertised to ensure that the algorithms and targeting tools are not been utilized to dis- criminate against minority groups. It is a positive development that, following public pressure from advocates, HUD reversed its decision to halt its investigation into Facebook and allowed HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Op- portunity to charge Facebook with violating the Fair Housing Act. However, much more must be done to ensure that digital platforms are not being used for housing discrimination. So I look forward to discussing these matters with our panel of experts and hearing their insights on fighting discrimination and ensuring that there are fair housing opportunities for every Amer- ican. With that, I now recognize the ranking member of the com- mittee, Mr. McHenry, for 5 minutes for an opening statement. Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Chairwoman Waters. Achieving fairness in housing