By Bill Mefford, photo by Ben D’Alessio
As things get crazier by the day, even by trump administration standards, it is easy to miss some of the “smaller” things that this current administration is doing to hurt people. Last week, HUD Secretary Ben Carson implemented a new rule called the Disparate Impact rule, which places an onerous five step process to prove racial disparities in housing on the complainant. Changing the disparate impact rule put into place by the Obama administration which made it easier for those victimized by racism in housing, and now making it more difficult by creating more processes for complainants to go through only benefits racist slumlords and big housing corporations. Unfortunately, racism in housing is an all-too-common occurrence in many places throughout the country. In fact, it is so common that it barely draws the attention of the media these days.
The media is focused on the bungling of foreign policy towards Turkey and the Kurds, which is sacrificing the lives of Kurds, and on trump’s criminal efforts to get foreign leaders to investigate his political rivals - for which he will rightly be impeached by the House for - there is a lot to focus on. So, it is difficult to remember that poor people are still being hurt by this inhumane administration. Making it harder for people who have been denied fair housing based on their race to seek redress gets too easily ignored.
And that is precisely why we must raise these issues.
In 1968 Congress passed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, handicap, and family status. In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld this part of the Fair Housing Act, stating, “Much progress remains to be made in our Nation’s continuing struggle against racial isolation…The Court acknowledges the Fair Housing Act’s continuing role in moving the Nation toward a more integrated society.”
The National Fair Housing Alliance gives several examples of what disparate impact looks like:
An apartment complex only allows people with full-time jobs. This bars disabled veterans and other people with disabilities who may not be able to work full-time, even though they can afford the apartment. The complex could instead consider all income to assess someone’s ability to afford rent.
A city decides to prohibit all housing that would be affordable to working-class people, and that has the effect of excluding most or all people of color in that region. If the city cannot show a valid reason for its policy, or if a more fair and effective alternative is available, then the policy would have to be set aside under the disparate impact approach.
A lender has a policy of allowing its loan officers to overcharge consumers at the loan officer’s discretion. The result is that women are charged higher prices than their male counterparts—even though both have the same credit profiles. In a case like this, the lender would have to abandon the discretionary pricing policy and take steps to ensure that women are not over-charged for lending products and services.
Despite support for fair housing from a very conservative Supreme Court, this administration has decided to make it even more difficult for people who have been discriminated against in attaining fair housing. They are heaping oppression on oppression. People who have experienced discrimination rarely have time and energy, much less the resources, to seek justice. But this is how this administration works: find those already carrying the heaviest burden and just heap more on their already heavy load.
So, yes, let’s enjoy the chants of “Lock Him Up!” and the chorus of boos he got at Game 5 of the World Series. And let’s anticipate the coming impeachment in the House - it will be sweet to watch. But let’s also remain focused on the small ways this administration continues to make life so very hard for the poorest among us. More than anything, this is how we remain faithful.