Housing Integration Proposal #2: Target housing discrimination with a new focus and strategy

Return to 2019 Chicago Housing Agenda

Though not focused on Chicago where source of income discrimination is illegal but still an issue, a recent pilot study by the Urban Institute found denial rights for housing choice voucher applicants of as low as 15% and as high as 78% in Fort Worth Texas, and found higher denial rates in low-poverty communities (Urban Institute Pilot Study, August 20, 2018). Housing discrimination continues to be an impediment to mobility for households (for many minority and disabled households and individuals, not just those with vouchers) and municipalities like Chicago should step up in the void left by the retreat by the Department of Housing & Urban Development to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule under the leadership of Secretary Ben Carson and President Donald Trump.

The “gold standard” of combating discrimination is “paired testing” where auditors go (one white, one minority) and gather direct evidence of unequal treatment. Though this approach has suffered cutbacks since its origination in Chicago in the 1960s, it should be continued and combined with an approach centered on targeting offenders based on data. Indeed, the recent lawsuit file by HUD against Facebook shows the extent the extent to which the advent of big data (and changes in how properties are marketed) can enable a more targeted approach to identifying housing discrimination.

Through the restructuring of the Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance, Chicago should set an example by embarking on re-establishing the importance of vigorously enforcing fair housing through the reliance of the old and new methods.