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Tri-Caucus Calls on HUD and DOJ to Investigate Fair Housing Violations Exposed in Newsday Report

December 23, 2019

Report revealed real estate agents engaged in “steering”—the unlawful sorting of home seekers based on race or ethnicity

WASHINGTON— The Congressional Tri-Caucus – which represents over half of the Democratic Caucus and includes the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) – called on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Carson, Attorney General Barr, and Assistant Attorney General Dreiband to address rampant discriminatory treatment of home buyers of color and violations of the Fair Housing Act, as revealed by a recent Newsday investigation in Long Island, New York.

The letter was led by Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (CA-27), and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass (CA-37), and signed by 14 additional Tri-Caucus members.

"A new report by the National Fair Housing Alliance found that housing discrimination is rising and that housing-related hate crimes have surged. Housing impacts a person's ability to access quality jobs, food, health care, and education and housing discrimination interferes with families' ability to secure homes in the neighborhood of their choice," the Members wrote. "The disturbing findings by Newsday and increasing trends of housing discrimination suggests that this is indicative of a larger problem across our country that HUD and DOJ must immediately address. The Tri-Caucus respectfully urges an investigation and enforcement into the potential fair housing violations exposed in the Newsday report and full enforcement of the Fair Housing Act."

Full text of the letter can be found here.

Dear Secretary Carson, Attorney General Barr, and Assistant Attorney General Dreiband,

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), collectively known as the Tri-Caucus, write to urge your immediate action in response to the recent investigative report published by Newsday.[1] The report reveals widespread separate and unequal treatment by real estate agents of minority potential home buyers and minority communities on Long Island, New York. The findings show that real estate agents, associated with some of the largest residential brokerage firms in the nation, placed more stringent conditions on minorities, engaged in "steering"—the unlawful sorting of home seekers based on race or ethnicity—provided fewer home listings to minority buyers, and disparaged minority communities when speaking with white buyers. We firmly believe that the investigation uncovers substantial evidence of conduct in violation of the Fair Housing Act[2], which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability requiring immediate action by the U.S. Department of Housing (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Newsday led a three year investigation using "paired-testing," a method regularly used by the federal government and nonprofit fair housing organizations in measuring the extent of housing discrimination nationwide and the only viable method for detecting violations of fair housing laws by agents.[3]Newsday conducted 86 matched-pair tests: thirty-nine of the tests paired black and white testers, 31 matched Hispanic and white testers and 16 paired Asian and white testers. In 40 percent of the tests, minority testers suffered disparate treatment when compared to white testers. Hispanic testers' experienced unequal treatment 39 percent of the time – compared with 49 percent for black testers and 19 percent for Asian testers.

The Fair Housing Act was enacted to ensure fair and equal access to housing throughout the United States, by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics. The Act applies to all types of housing, public and private, including single family homes, apartments, condominiums, mobile homes, and others. The U.S. Department of Housing alongside the Department of Justice may pursue enforcement actions under the Fair Housing Act when there is an observed "pattern or practice" of discrimination or when discrimination against a protected class raises an issue of "general public importance."[4] The Newsday investigation reveals a wealth of evidence suggesting that minority homebuyers are subject to unequal and discriminatory treatment by real estate agents in large brokerage firms based on their race.

Recently, a new report by the National Fair Housing Alliance[5] found that housing discrimination is rising and that housing-related hate crimes have surged.[6] Housing impacts a person's ability to access quality jobs, food, health care, and education and housing discrimination interferes with families' ability to secure homes in the neighborhood of their choice. The disturbing findings by Newsday and increasing trends of housing discrimination suggests that this is indicative of a larger problem across our country that HUD and DOJ must immediately address. The Tri-Caucus respectfully urges an investigation and enforcement into the potential fair housing violations exposed in the Newsday report and full enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.

We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

# # #

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.