[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 337 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 337
Promoting and supporting the goals and ideals of the Fair Housing Act
and recognizing April 2023 as ``Fair Housing Month'', which includes
bringing attention to the discrimination faced by everyday Americans in
the United States in housing and housing-related transactions on the
basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender
identity, familial status, disability, and religion.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 28, 2023
Mr. Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Waters, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin,
Ms. Norton, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mrs. Beatty, Ms.
Bonamici, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr.
Trone, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Brown, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Carson,
Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Lee of California,
Ms. Sanchez, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Williams of Georgia, and
Mr. Evans) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Promoting and supporting the goals and ideals of the Fair Housing Act
and recognizing April 2023 as ``Fair Housing Month'', which includes
bringing attention to the discrimination faced by everyday Americans in
the United States in housing and housing-related transactions on the
basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender
identity, familial status, disability, and religion.
Whereas April 11, 2023, marks the 55th anniversary of the date of enactment of
the Civil Rights Act of 1968, title VIII of which (42 U.S.C. 3601 et
seq.) is commonly known as the Fair Housing Act;
Whereas the Chicago Freedom Movement, led by the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther
King, Jr., expanded the fight for civil rights from the South to the
North, raised the national consciousness about housing discrimination,
and shaped the debate that led to the landmark Fair Housing Act;
Whereas the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, appointed by
President Lyndon B. Johnson and commonly known as the Kerner Commission,
found on February 29, 1968, that ``our nation is moving toward two
societies, one black and one white--separate and unequal'';
Whereas Congress passed the Fair Housing Act as part of the Civil Rights Act of
1968, and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Act into law on April
11, 1968, one week after the assassination of the Reverend Doctor Martin
Luther King, Jr.;
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant
on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recognize adequate housing as a
human right;
Whereas the original Fair Housing Act prohibited discrimination in housing and
housing-related transactions on the basis of race, color, national
origin, and religion;
Whereas the mission statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) reflects a commitment to ``build inclusive and sustainable
communities free from discrimination'';
Whereas, in section 808 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974
(Public Law 93-383), Congress amended the Fair Housing Act to include
protection on the basis of sex, including gender identity and sexual
orientation;
Whereas September 13, 2023, will mark the 35th anniversary of the congressional
passage of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988;
Whereas the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, passed by overwhelming margins
in Congress, included protection on the basis of familial status and
disability, created an important enforcement mechanism, and expanded the
definition of ``discriminatory housing practices'' to include
interference and intimidation, requiring HUD to issue regulations to
implement and interpret the Fair Housing Act and report annually to
Congress on the nature and extent of housing discrimination;
Whereas the intent of Congress in passing the Fair Housing Act was broad and
inclusive, to advance equal opportunity in housing and achieve racial
integration for the benefit of all people in the United States;
Whereas the intent of Congress in passing the Fair Housing Act was to prohibit
discrimination in all housing and housing-related transactions,
including policies or practices that appear superficially neutral, but
have a discriminatory effect on protected classes;
Whereas the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the use of the disparate impact
doctrine to challenge policies or practices that have a discriminatory
effect on protected classes;
Whereas the majority of large metropolitan areas in the United States are more
racially segregated today than in 1990;
Whereas research shows that, in some cases, the placement of housing funded
through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which is the single
largest source of Federal funding for the creation of affordable housing
in the United States, further entrenches racial residential segregation,
despite the Fair Housing Act requiring that Federal housing funds be
used to affirmatively undo patterns of residential segregation;
Whereas fair housing testing has revealed that discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity exists and that fair housing
protections must be extended to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and queer (LGBTQ+) community;
Whereas same-sex couples are 73 percent more likely to be denied a home mortgage
compared to heterosexual couples, and when same-sex couples are
approved, they pay an average of $86,000,000 more in combined annual
interest and fees;
Whereas fair housing testing has revealed that discrimination exists against
people who use public housing assistance, including support from the
Housing Choice Voucher and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing programs
and other sources of income, and that fair housing protections against
source-of-income discrimination must be provided to all people;
Whereas the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and Housing Trust Fund already
prohibit the refusal of housing funded through such programs to Housing
Choice Voucher holders or individuals receiving rental assistance
through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program;
Whereas there continues to be widespread discrimination in the housing industry
against Black, Latinx, and Asian-American home buyers by real estate
agents;
Whereas owner-occupied homes located in majority-Black neighborhoods are
undervalued by approximately $162,000,000,000 when compared to owner-
occupied homes in similarly situated communities that have very few or
no Black residents;
Whereas the average home in a White neighborhood is valued 2 times higher than
comparable homes in Black and Latinx neighborhoods, even after
controlling for neighborhood characteristics;
Whereas 92.4 percent of appraisers identify as White and 54.5 percent identify
as male, compared to the total United States population that identifies
as 59.3 percent White and 49.5 percent male;
Whereas more than 71 percent of people experiencing homelessness in the United
States are Black, Latinx, Asian American, Indigenous, or otherwise non-
White despite making up just over 43 percent of the total population of
the United States;
Whereas an individual's housing conditions impacts their health, educational
attainment level, employment opportunities, exposure to the adverse
effects of climate change, and personal wealth;
Whereas borrowers of color lack equal access to quality and affordable credit
compared to similarly situated White borrowers;
Whereas research shows that Black and Latinx borrowers pay $765,000,000 more in
combined mortgage interest each year compared to similarly situated
White borrowers due to discriminatory factors in mortgage lending by the
government-sponsored housing finance enterprises;
Whereas the 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data show that the majority of
loans purchased by the government-sponsored housing finance enterprises
primarily served higher income, White borrowers in wealthier, majority-
White neighborhoods;
Whereas Black and Latinx borrowers are more likely to receive mortgage loans
through the Federal Housing Administration, even when they qualify for
conventional lending options that may offer more affordable terms;
Whereas research shows that algorithmic bias and discrimination exist in online
housing platforms, automated valuation models, and lending that use
artificial intelligence for advertising and decisionmaking purposes, and
there is an urgent need to eliminate individual bias that enters into
the development of artificial intelligence systems and systemic bias
through the use of inappropriate or historically biased data;
Whereas the majority of Americans support neighborhood integration and numerous
studies have shown the universal benefits of residential integration;
Whereas reports indicate there are more than 4,000,000 violations of fair
housing laws each year against people of all protected classes, and fair
housing testing continues to uncover a high rate of discrimination in
the rental, sales, mortgage lending, and insurance markets;
Whereas 68,000,000 adults in the United States believe they have experienced
unequal treatment in their housing search due to their status as a
member of a protected class under the Fair Housing Act;
Whereas less than 1 percent of fair housing violations are reported each year;
Whereas private nonprofit fair housing organizations funded by the Fair Housing
Initiatives Program (FHIP) serve as the front line in the effort to
resolve housing discrimination and train local housing providers on how
to comply with the Fair Housing Act;
Whereas, in 2021, there were a total of 31,216 housing discrimination complaints
reported nationwide, an 8.7-percent increase over the number of
complaints filed in 2020, despite there being less FHIP organizations
available to process such complaints;
Whereas the Fair Housing Assistance Program funds State as well as local civil
and human rights enforcement agencies to investigate and process housing
discrimination complaints, conduct special enforcement projects, and
take part in training and other projects designed to enhance the
agency's administration and enforcement of fair housing laws;
Whereas while our Nation has made great strides in eliminating housing
discrimination, families with children, women, people with disabilities,
people of color, religious minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals,
and low-income people receiving public assistance, among others, still
face discriminatory barriers to housing;
Whereas fair housing education and enforcement play a pivotal role in increasing
housing choice and homeownership opportunities for members of protected
classes and combating predatory lending;
Whereas, amid a global health and economic crisis, housing discrimination
against health care workers and people who have been infected by the
coronavirus, or are perceived as having been infected, is contributing
to increased evictions and hate crimes;
Whereas systemic health and economic disparities have been exacerbated by the
coronavirus pandemic, disproportionately infecting communities of color,
destabilizing their employment opportunities, and resulting in higher
levels of evictions and foreclosures;
Whereas, during the coronavirus pandemic, as mortgage interest rates reached
historic lows, Black borrowers were disproportionately denied mortgage
loans to purchase and refinance homes due to biased and potentially
discriminatory appraisal and lending policies and practices, excluding
them from wealth-building opportunities and lower housing costs;
Whereas, during the coronavirus pandemic, harmful sentiments toward Asian
American and Pacific Islander communities incited increases in
racialized and gendered violence across the Nation;
Whereas reports of sexual harassment increased by 300 percent during the
coronavirus pandemic, with women of color and transgender women
disproportionately reporting such incidents;
Whereas immigrant and limited-English proficient communities must have in-
language access to online, telephone, print, and all other mediums of
housing information, notices, and resources during the coronavirus
pandemic to prevent predatory and discriminatory housing and lending
practices;
Whereas persons with disabilities must have equal access to online, telephone,
print, and all other mediums of housing information, notices, and
resources during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent predatory and
discriminatory housing and lending practices;
Whereas persons with disabilities, including seniors and children with
disabilities, have experienced unlawful denials of their reasonable
accommodation requests to insulate them from exposure to the coronavirus
and its associated life-threatening complications;
Whereas there is a chronic undersupply of accessible housing and an
underenforcement of housing accessibility standards, which denies many
people with disabilities their right to fair and accessible housing that
is integrated into community settings; and
Whereas the Fair Housing Act is an essential component of our Nation's civil
rights legislation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``Original Fair Housing
Resolution of 2023''.
SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR FAIR HOUSING ACT.
The House of Representatives--
(1) supports the goals and values of the 55th anniversary
of the enactment of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et
seq.) and the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Fair
Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-430; 102 Stat.
1619);
(2) supports efforts to expand, strengthen, and increase
fair housing enforcement, education, and protections, including
robust funding for enforcement and to fully staff the
Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair
Housing and Equal Opportunity and an expansion of fair housing
rights to include Federal source of income protections;
(3) supports activities to recognize and celebrate the
important historical milestones represented by the
anniversaries of the enactments of the Fair Housing Act and the
Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988; and
(4) encourages all people, every level of government, and
each Federal agency to rededicate themselves to the enforcement
and the ideals of the Fair Housing Act and supporting civil
rights laws.
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