Discrimination: It’s Happening in Our Backyard Yards AND in Our Homes

In “Fences and Neighbors: Segregation in 21st-Century America”, sociologists John E. Farley and Gregory D. Squires make it clear that although housing discrimination has declined, it has not disappeared. Despite the establishment of the Fair Housing Act, which was signed 35 years ago, racial minorities still face discrimination in their efforts to rent, buy, finance, or insure a home. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD), there are still more than two million estimated discrimination incidents in housing each year. Furthermore, “research indicates that blacks and Hispanics encounter discrimination in one out of every five contacts with a real estate or rental agent” (Ferguson, page 624). The text argues that even though discrimination is less common nowadays and segregation has gone down, inequality in the housing market based on race is still prevalent.

The authors define segregation has “the residential separation of racial and ethnic groups in different neighborhoods within metropolitan areas”. The index of dissimilarity (D) is a measure used to indicate how segregated two groups are, with 0 being considered perfect integration and 100 representing total segregation. Instances where the value of D is in the 60s or above are considered to an indication of high levels of segregation. Over the past three decades, segregation scores between non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics have been in the lows 50s.

Similarly, segregation scores between non-Hispanic whites and Asian Americans have been in the low 40s. Both of these scores reflect the improvement of segregation by implying that at least some minority groups live in neighborhoods experiencing some levels of integration. However, research suggests that out of all the minority groups African Americans experience the most extreme levels of housing discrimination.

Although the national statistics on segregation in the United States has lowered and the average level of segregation between African Americans and whites has been declining, further investigation suggests that the decline is not as significant as we assume. In other words, the statistics may suggest improvement but in reality African Americans are still being heavily discriminated against with regards to access and opportunity in the housing market. For example, the text notes that segregation has declined most rapidly in the southern and western parts of the United States. This is important to consider because the African American population happens to be small within cities in these areas whereas in large northern areas with many African American residents, segregation scores have declined the least.

According to Farley and Squires, “places with the highest proportions of black populations, segregation decreased least between 1980 and 2000”. Therefore, it is important to understand that even though as a whole the nation’s housing segregation has shown improvement, when examined individually it is easier to detect the existence of racial discrimination in the housing market and the effects it has on how society functions.

Most explanations for segregation point to “income differences and to people’s preferences for living among their ‘own kind’. Research shows that of all the minority groups, African Americans have the most difficulty buying homes in integrated neighborhoods even when they have the same, if not better, income of those living there. Furthermore, studies found that generally most African Americans have stated an equal mix of black and white households as their ideal neighborhood whereas white people reported a neighborhood with a large white majority as their preference. The studies also show that of all the racial and ethnic groups, whites reported being most hesitant about moving into a neighborhood with a large African American population. In other words, white-black segregation seems to be the product of the white community’s reluctance to integrate.

This popular preference among whites to maintain predominantly white communities isolates African Americans’, as well as other minority groups, restricts them access to certain resources and decreases room for social mobility. It also promotes segregation because the stereotypical assumptions associated with black neighborhoods perpetuated by many whites contribute to the stigmatization of the African American community and other minority groups.

The fact that white preference has the power to influence the decisions of agents that work within the housing market exemplifies how white privilege and racial prejudices are embedded into our society operates. In order to expose the racial discrimination that occurs within the housing market, many researchers have used the “paired testing” method. This approach sends testers to real estate or rental agencies to pose as potential clients as a way to receive information from firsthand accounts on how they were treated and how significantly if at all their race played a role in how they were treated.

Farley and Squires illuminates the fact that discrimination can take many forms and may even go undetected. Interestingly, studies have shown that “invidious comments” by real estate agents are one form of discrimination that has remained common over time. Other paired-testing studies concluded that whites are more likely to be offered home insurance policies, offered lower prices and more coverage than African Americans or Hispanics. For example, the Boston Federal Reserve Bank reported that even among equally qualified borrowers in its region applications from African Americans were 60 percent more likely to be rejected than those submitted by whites.

There are laws present in our legal system that prohibit racial discrimination and warrant lawsuits however legal action is rarely taken. As mentioned in the text, many Americans are not familiar with these laws or they are convinced it will do them any good. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has been credited for its concentration in low-income, urban areas and its successful efforts providing members of the communities with resources to pursue legal action. However, not only do we need to implement more changes on a macro, institutional level, but we also need to pursue more micro, individual shift as well. Plenty of studies and research has discredited the assumption that segregation is the result of income differences or a biological desire to prefer living near people of the same race.

The presence of segregation remains in the housing market because the majority, or whites, has continually justified the isolation of minority groups by using socially constructed, stereotypical racial assumptions as a scapegoat. The misconstrued conception created a system of hierarchies based on power that operates to maintain the status quo. As Farley and Squire point out, segregation will continue until more and more legal programs, like CRA, emerge to help people being discriminated against take legal action.