Washington Informer

April 11th marked the 44th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, passed in 1968, just one week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the iconic civil rights leader traversed the nation addressing countless inequities faced by African-Americans and other people of color, he included the right of all Americans to enjoy fair and decent housing opportunities as a mandate requiring legal enforcement by federal and local legislation. He even moved himself and his family into a housing slum in Chicago in 1966 to be closer to ground zero where a national campaign for fair housing was being fought. When Dr. King was killed, President Lyndon B. Johnson immediately pushed Congress to enact legislation aimed at ending housing discrimination in America. Yet, today, Dr. King would find himself still leading the same fight due to the historic housing crisis that has led to the biggest loss of land owned by African Americans in the nation's history. In addition, HUD, the agency responsible for enforcing the Fair Housing Act, continues to receive thousands of discrimination complaints annually. This week, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) announced plans to file a discrimination complaint against several large banks for failing to maintain foreclosed properties in African- American neighborhoods in the same manner as in white neighborhoods. This pattern of negligence, found in D.C. and Prince George's County, causes distressed properties to fall further into disrepair, including broken windows and doors, trash and unkempt lawns lessens their marketability and decreases the housing values of neighboring homes. The Fair Housing Act is only as effective as those responsible for enforcing it and all agencies, including the Department of Justice, should come down hard on those institutions that continue to discriminate.