Perspectives on Fair Housing

Vincent J. Reina is Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania and the Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative at Penn. Wendell E. Pritchett is Provost and James S. Riepe Presidential Professor of Law and Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Susan M. Wachter is the Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance, The Wharton School; and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, at the University of Pennsylvania. Marc Morial is president of the National Urban League and served as mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.

• ForewordMarc H. MorialIntroductionVincent J. Reina, Wendell E. Pritchett, and Susan M. WachterChapter 1. The Long History of Unfair HousingFrancesca Russello Ammon and Wendell E. PritchettChapter 2. Sociology, Segregation, and the Fair Housing ActJustin P. Steil and Camille Z. CharlesChapter 3. Parallel Pathways of Reform: Fair Public Schooling and Housing for Black CitizensAkira Drake Rodriguez and Rand QuinnChapter 4. The Economic Importance of Fair HousingVincent J. Reina and Raphael BosticChapter 5. The Fair Housing Act's Original Sin: Administrative Discretion and the Persistence of SegregationNestor M. Davidson and Eduardo M. PeÑalverChapter 6. A Queer and Intersectional Approach to Fair HousingAmy Hillier and Devin Michelle BuntenList of ContributorsIndex

"The United States is facing a dire crisis in housing. We cannot eradicate the catastrophe of unfair housing without understanding the history and politics of housing discrimination that have brought us to the current moment. This volume belongs in the toolkit we need to ideologically equip ourselves in this twenty-first-century struggle to end racism in U.S. housing." (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership) "Housing is the foundation for prosperity-it determines how we live, work, learn, eat, and so much more. For so many Americans that foundation has been broken and uneven since our nation's founding; and despite our progress, racism and segregation remain today. Perspectives on Fair Housing provides an unvarnished account of the progress toward equality and housing opportunity, as well as an account of the work that remains to ensure safe, affordable, and fair housing to every American." (Julián Castro, Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) "Perspectives on Fair Housing could not be more timely or true. At this moment of deepening focus on structural racism, Reina, Pritchett, and Wachter have brought together powerful arguments that housing remains at the center of our nation's shameful racial divide. Even more importantly, the book convincingly demonstrates that all Americans would benefit from more inclusive communities that nurture real opportunity and maps a path to that brighter future." (Shaun Donovan, Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) "Perspectives on Fair Housing comes at a pivotal point in the history of the United States when the nation faces a triple pandemic-the COVID-19 health crisis, the ensuing economic crisis, and the crisis of racism that has plagued us since before the inception of this country. Amid Black Lives Matter protests, the nation is reexamining its effort to address persistent systemic racism and inequality and gaining a better understanding of how residential segregation and housing discrimination fuel structural barriers. This book helps advance that understanding and explores how fair housing principles can be used to help build a better, fairer society." (Lisa Rice, President and CEO, National Fair Housing Alliance) "Many urban advocates can tick off a long list of housing programs and never mention fair housing initiatives. I was one of those, until as Secretary of HUD I saw clearly that all our goals in the housing field depend upon a basic pre-condition: fairness in the operation of the housing markets. This book argues correctly that we have some distance to go before we can say that decent housing is accessible to all Americans without discrimination or bias. Because housing is so central to our national ideal of economic mobility, fair access to housing opportunities must be assured. This book is a must read for everyone who values that ideal." (Henry Cisneros, Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development)