Greater Baltimore Community Housing Resource Board, Inc. (GBCHRB) August, 2001 / Vol. 7, No. 4

FAIR HOUSING NEWS - A newsletter about fair housing, community development, and neighborhood quality of life

GREETINGS!
Contact us for a free copy of any mentioned article, a free subscription to Fair Housing News, to suggest a topic, or to post a notice in Fair Housing News: 410-453-9500 / 800-895-6302 / mail@gbchrb.org. More info, resources, & links are at our web site: http://www.gbchrb.org.

IN THE NEWS

Misperceptions Frequently Obscure Whites' Opinions of Blacks. A national survey by the Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University has found 40-60% of whites say the average Black is doing as well and maybe better than the average white in jobs, incomes, schooling, and health care. In fact, the national data indicates Blacks have significantly lower income, health care, jobs, and schooling than whites: a 2000 Census study found Blacks were nearly twice as likely to be without health insurance; twice as many Blacks hold low-paying, less prestigious service jobs (23% to 12%), and the May, 2001, jobless rate was 8% for Blacks compared to only 3.8% for whites; and the 1999 median income for Blacks was $27,910 compared to whites' $44,366. However, there was a note of optimism. The uninformed view of many whites differed greatly with those whites who had an accurate view: 79% of whom said the government had "an obligation to ensure that the races were treated equally by the courts and police." (Washington Post, July 11, 2001:A01)

Minority Homeownership Rate Reaches Record High of 48.8% But Still Is Only 72% of White Rate. The HUD press release noted that there were 13.2 million new minority homeowners. Overall, 72.3million American households owned their own home. (HUD Press Release, July 26, 2001).

President George Bush Lauds & Urges Strengthening of Americans With Disabilities Act. Bush especially advocated improving transportation and encouraging private companies to develop technologies to help people do their jobs. (National Fair Housing Advocate, July 28, 2001).
Three Disabled D. C. Residents File Accessibility Lawsuit vs. CVS Pharmacy Corp. The federal lawsuit alleges a violation of the ADA because area CVS drugstores "have so much merchandise cluttering the aisles they are often inaccessible to people using wheelchairs." One complainant said the name of CVS should be changed to MIS - Messy Inaccessible Stores. (National Fair Housing Advocate, July 27, 2001)
Baltimore City Council Enacts Resolution Supporting Anti-Discrimination Act of 2001 Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation. The measure - introduced by Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell (D-4th District) and several others - shows strong support for the Law which currently is facing a voter's referendum if a lawsuit fails. Also banned by eleven states and D. C., the City has banned such discrimination since 1989. (Press Release, July 23, 2001)

Federal Prosecution of Illegal Property Flippers Continues. An Overlea man, described as one of the earliest flippers in Baltimore, was given three years probation because he is suffering from incurable cancer. The man still faces civil litigation from buyers of homes he flipped. (Baltimore Sun, July 19, 2001:3B)

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume Says the Country Needs President Bush to Push for Justice. Speaking at a news conference on the first day of the organization's 92nd annual convention in New Orleans, Mfume said the Bush Administration "gets a mixed report" on civil rights, social justice, and criminal justice issues. He added "there is so much more it can do." Among the foci of the NAACP will be curbing racial profiling and pursuing meaningful election reform. (Baltimore Sun, July 8, 2001:4A)

The GBCHRB Continues State-Wide Fair Housing Education Campaign. Funded by the Maryland Department of Housing & Community Development & targeted at the Eastern Shore as well as southern & western Maryland, the campaign distribution of includes Fair Housing brochures, self-help guides, posters, and other information; curriculum development; training; and advocacy. Emphasis is being placed on supporting locally-based organizations. Please contact us at 410-453-9500 / 800-895-6302 for free Fair Housing informational materials, information, and training. Let's work together!

FAIR HOUSING RESOURCES

HUD Has Upgraded Its Internet Fair Housing Resources & It's Worth a Look. For example, check out the "Fair Housing Gateway" atwww.hud.gov/fhegtway.cfm. You will find internet resources; Fair Housing sites; mapping; law school & legal resources; mortgage data, regulations, & data; subscription services, etc.

Join the National Low Income Housing Coalition & You'll Receive "The NIMBY Report." Formerly produced by the American Friends Service Committee, the Report is an excellent resource with articles, court cases, and other resources regarding efforts to oppose inclusive community. The 17 earlier copies of the Report are available on the Coalition's website - www.nlihc.org, and if you are interested in affordable housing, group homes, subsidized housing, etc., you should take a look. A regular membership in the Coalition is $50, low-income $20, nonprofits $50 and up.

TV Worth Watching!?! Local! Community, Improvements, Housing, Neighborhoods, Living, People, Rights! The GBCHRB's Neighborhood Beat is on Seven Cable-TV Stations. The 30-minute interview show runs on Channels 21 and 5 in Baltimore City, 99 in Anne Arundel County, 71 in Baltimore County, 3 in Carroll, 3 & 7 in Harford, and 71 / 8 in Howard County! Call 410-453-9500 or the stations for days and times!

INTERESTING BOOKS

Parish Boundaries : The Catholic Encounter With Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North (Historical Studies of Urban America), by John T. McGreevy, $27.50. Hardcover - 368 pages (May 1996). University of Chicago Press. According to the publisher's description, "McGreevy's excellent history is a struggle within the church. Many priests and nuns were in the forefront of the civil rights movement. And yet, such liberals often acted without taking into account the fears and securities of the traditionally white and working-class congregations in the local parishes. McGreevy vividly brings to life this struggle within the church between a universal vision and a parochial one."

Making the Second Ghetto : Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960. (Historical Studies of Urban America), by Arnold R. Hirsch. $18.00. Paperback - 362 pages. Reprint edition (May, 1998). University of Chicago Press. Hirsch argues that in the post-depression years Chicago was a "pioneer in developing concepts and devices" for housing segregation. Hirsch shows that the legal framework for the national urban renewal effort was forged in the racial struggles waged on Chicago's South Side. His chronicle of the strategies used by ethnic, political, and business interests in reaction to the great migration of southern blacks in the 1940s describes how the violent reaction of an emergent "white" population combined with public policy to segregate the city.
Sharing America's Neighborhoods : The Prospects for Stable Racial Integration. by Ingrid Gould Ellen. $39.95. Hardcover - 240 pages (January 2001). Harvard University Press. This somewhat encouraging report on the state of racial integration shows that while the majority are indeed racially segregated, a substantial and growing number are integrated, and remain so for years. Still, many integrated neighborhoods do unravel quickly, and the book explores the root causes. The author argues racial change is driven primarily by the decision of white households not to move into integrated neighborhoods when they are moving for reasons unrelated to race - assuming that integrated neighborhoods quickly become all black and that the quality of life in them declines as a result. The author concludes that while this explanation may be less troubling than the more common focus on racial hatred and white flight, there is still a good case for government intervention to promote the stability of racially integrated neighborhoods.

Our Town : Race, Housing and the Soul of Suburbia, by David L. Kirp, John P. Dwyer, and Larry A. Rosenthal. $19.00. Paperback - 267 pages. Reprint edition (September 1997). Rutgers University Press. A well-written, exhaustively researched account of the legal battle to open New Jersey's suburbs to the poor. It tells the story of an attempt by the African-American community of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey - a community whose origins date back to the colonial period - to create affordable housing in what was then, in 1968, a largely rural, white township of southern New Jersey.

CALENDAR

Interfaith Action for Racial Justice is Holding a Leadership Breakfast Even "Through the Census Looking Glass: Shape of the Region" on August 16, 2001, from 8-10 a.m. Dunbar Brooks of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council is the keynote speaker, and the organization's new projects will be discussed. Reservation required. $20 donation. Contact IARJ at 410-889-8333.

"Leveraging Resources for Partnerships & Progress" Conference is being held by the Maryland Center for Community Development on September 20, 2001. Location: La Fontaine Bleu, 7514 South Ritchie Highway, Glen Burnie. The keynote speaker is Joe Brooks, Director, Capacity Building & Civic Engagement, PolicyLink. Info: 410-752-6223.

MCIL - Making Choices for Independent Living - Will Hold Its Annual "Picnic in the Park" from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on August 11, 2001. To be held at Merritt Park (7710 Dunmanway in Dundalk), the event charges members $3 and others $5. MCIL also is holding a celebration of its 20th anniversary on September 13, 2001, from 6-9 p.m. at the Overlea Hall, 6809 Belair Road. Information: telephone 410-444-1400.

REST IN PEACE

Stanley Mosk, Civil Rights Jurist, 88. For 37 years from 1964 to 2001, Mosk was a California Supreme Court Justice, writing landmark decisions on civil rights, free speech, and criminal justice. Self-described liberal Mosk established the state attorney general's civil rights division in the late 1950s. One victory was helping to persuade the Professional Golfers Association to drop its whites-only rule. (Baltimore Sun, June 21, 2001:7B)

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