Place, Poverty, and Politics: A Growing Divide
Relocation or reinvestment? This longstanding debate has been reignited by recent events in Baltimore, Ferguson and many other cities, and the release of a new report which finds that where […]
Forget Red and Blue States: Go Green for Better Jobs, Health, and Environment
How do you win an election in any red Southern state? If you are running as a senator, the conventional wisdom is you condemn government as an enemy of working families.
My House Is Worth What?!
The appraisal industry has a long, sordid history of discrimination, and bias still creeps into almost every step of the property assessment process today. Nonetheless, appraisals have been virtually invisible […]
Occupy Wall Street: A New Wave of Fair Housing Activism?
Is there a new community reinvestment movement afoot?
Fair Treatment of Homeseekers Improves, But Still Needs Work
A realtor should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality or any individual whose presence will clearly […]
4 Ways Critics of the Disparate Impact Doctrine Have Got It Wrong
On Feb. 8, 2013, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a rule clarifying the circumstances under which certain housing practices may violate the Fair Housing Act (FHA) […]
Adding to What We Know
The Rise of Residential Segregation by Income, by Richard Fry and Paul Taylor. Pew Research Center, August 2012.
Racial and Gender Diversity at the Top Is Good, But It Can’t Stop Greed
Last month Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest home mortgage lender and fourth largest bank, agreed to pay at least $175 million to redress blatant discrimination against African American and Hispanic […]
Speculators, Not CRA, Leading to Black Area Foreclosures
Foreclosures continue to decimate communities around the nation, with black neighborhoods being the hardest hit. Some pundits and politicians point to federal policies that encouraged homeownership in low- and moderate-income […]
Beyond The Foreclosure Crisis: Bank Mistrust Could Forestall Recovery
The financial costs of the seemingly endless foreclosure crisis have been widely reported with Credit Suisse estimating that as many as 12 million families will lose their homes before this […]
Next Target: Insurance Redlining
Bank reform offers a chance to address an under-the-radar form of redlining with the same sort of data disclosure HMDA requires about mortgage lending.
Are You An Advocate?
“Isn’t it true, Dr. Squires, that you are an advocate?” As an occasional expert for plaintiffs in fair housing lawsuits this is a question I almost always get during depositions. […]