Press Release Archive: GW Research Report Details Residential Discrimination in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area

GW News Center:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Matthew Nehmer

April 22, 2002

(202) 994-6467
Gregory Squires
(202) 994-6894

GW RESEARCH REPORT DETAILS RESIDENTIAL DISCRIMINATION
IN THE WASHINGTON, D.C. METRO AREA

Report Calls for Stronger Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws and More Programs
that Encourage Developers to Build Affordable Housing

WASHINGTON – A research team from the Center for Washington Area Studies at The George Washington University today released “The Continuing Significance of Race in Washington’s Housing Market,” a comparison of black and white households’ experiences in searching for housing in the District of Columbia and its inner suburbs.

Last spring the George Washington University Survey Research Center interviewed residents of the District and neighboring suburbs on a range of quality of life measures. Among the findings were the following:

· Less than 20 percent of whites compared to 33 percent of blacks said they had been denied their first choice when they moved into their current home;

· More than 25 percent of black householders report that they or someone they knew experienced unlawful racial discrimination in their efforts to find housing or a mortgage within the past three years;

· More than 90 percent of these respondents who claimed they had been subject to racial discrimination did not take any legal action, with more than half of them offering as their reason their belief that nothing would come of such action;

· 58 percent of whites compared to 18 percent of blacks believe that equal opportunity exists in the local housing market.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the report indicates that economic disparities do not account for these patterns. Differences in the share of blacks and whites who were able to secure their first choice in the housing market persisted even after taking into consideration household income and education and whether the household owned or rented, or lived in the District or a suburb. When asked why they were unable to get their first choice, there was no significant difference between the share of blacks and whites who pointed to financial reasons as the cause.

Choice does not appear to be a major factor either. A majority of both blacks and whites expressed a preference for racially mixed as opposed to homogeneous neighborhoods.

In addition to the self-reports of racial discrimination, other research points to unlawful practices as the primary culprit. Since 1997, the Fair Housing Council of Washington, D.C. has conducted paired testing (where black and white homeseekers are matched on all relevant criteria and approach housing providers to inquire about the availability of housing) and found that blacks were shown fewer homes, offered higher-cost loans, received less counseling or were somehow otherwise discriminated against approximately 40 percent of the time when they attempted to buy or rent a home or apply for a mortgage loan.

The authors of the report are sociologists at The George Washington University. Gregory D. Squires and Samantha Friedman are faculty members; Catherine E. Saidat is completing her master’s degree. They argue that while racial segregation is pervasive, perhaps even normal, it is not healthy nor is it inevitable. And it is not something a willing community must tolerate forever.

The report concludes with a series of policy recommendations, including stronger enforcement of current fair housing laws, greater use of systemic investigations for possible class action lawsuits by HUD, and more widespread use of paired testing by all fair housing enforcement agencies and non-profit fair housing organizations. The report suggests expanding HUD’s “Moving to Opportunity” program, which assists low-income households in finding housing in middle-income communities. The report also recommends a proliferation of “fair share” housing programs, like the initiative in Montgomery County, to encourage developers to build more affordable housing units.

The Center for Washington Area Studies was established in 1980 to bring the resources of The George Washington University to bear on the development of a fuller understanding of the Washington area as a locality, with its own history, politics, and culture, its own problems and opportunities.

Media interested in interviewing the report’s authors should call Professor Gregory Squires at (202) 994-6894. For a free copy of the report, please visit the Center’s website www.gwu.edu/~cwas/publications.html and click on Occasional Papers no. 23 Printed copies also are available for $10; contact Christi Fanelli at the Center for Washington Area Studies at (202)-994-5758.

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