[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2118-E2119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE FAIR HOUSING COMMEMORATION BILL OF 2009

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 30, 2009

  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

[[Page E2119]]

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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