National Fair Housing Commission Focused on Gulf Coast Housing Crisis in the Wake...

National Fair Housing Commission Focused on Gulf Coast Housing Crisis in the
Wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Second of Multi-City Hearings in Houston During National Bar Association's
Annual Convention Investigates Housing Discrimination

HOUSTON, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Trailing the 40th anniversary of the Fair
Housing Act of 1968, the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity held its second of five multi-city hearings in Houston, Texas,
yesterday during the National Bar Association's 83rd Annual Convention.
Gordan Quan, former Houston Mayor Pro Tem and Chair of the Housing Committee
for the City of Houston, and Okianer Christian Dark, Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law, led
the Houston investigational hearing on the state of fair housing in America,
with a focus on the post-Katrina and Rita housing crisis on the Gulf Coast.
Local and regional housing experts and advocates testified during the
hearing, themed "Still Separate and Unequal," held at the Westin Oaks Hotel.
Charles McMillan, President-Elect, National Association of Realtors (NAR),
served as a guest commissioner and the hearing was moderated by Barbara R.
Arnwine, Executive Director, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
(LCCRUL), and John Payton, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense
& Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF).
Over half a million Gulf Coast residents, many of whom were reliant on
governmental housing programs, faced longstanding effects of the ravenous
hurricanes. At the helm of disastrous outcomes was the Administration's
handling of Hurricane Katrina housing programs which violated evacuees'
constitutional rights. Hurricane survivors, many with little or no resources,
were grossly failed by the largest housing debacle in history, according to
national fair housing advocates. Nearly 150,000 survivors alone sought refuge
in Houston.
The commission, co-chaired by former Department of Housing and Urban
Development Secretaries Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros began its cross-country
investigation into the alarming state of U.S. housing on July 15 in Chicago
with a focus on the subprime housing debacle. The commission is being hosted
by LCCRUL, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCR/EF),
NAACP LDF and the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). Additional hearings
will be held in Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta. The findings and
recommendations of the commission will be released in a December report.
The hearings are expected to draw hundreds of housing advocates and
residents who will testify to the nature and extent of illegal housing
discrimination, its origins, its connection with government policy and
practice and its effect on communities across the United States.
Remaining hearings span many subjects, but will highlight regional
challenges, for example:
-- Los Angeles, September 9: The Foreclosure Crisis

-- Boston, September 22: The Effects of Housing Discrimination on
Education and Children

-- Atlanta, October 17: Federal Accountability and Enforcement of Fair
Housing Laws

In addition to co-chairs Cisneros and Kemp and Commissioners Dark and
Quan, the National Commission also includes Pat Combs, former President of the
NAR; I. King Jordan, President-Emeritus of Gallaudet University and Myron
Orfield, Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Law.
"The hearing in Houston focused on the myriad fair housing issues arising
after the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and address systemic
problems in federal housing programs. The affordable housing crisis on the
Gulf Coast and fair housing problems arising from the accompanying diaspora
continue and this hearing will offer important testimony and perspective of
what has happened in light of housing problems discussed at other hearings."
-- Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Executive Director
Barbara R. Arnwine
"The images of the hurricanes of 2005 made it clear that racial
discrimination and segregation have prevented generations from gaining
opportunities. Because housing is a crucial link in all aspects of our lives,
it is incumbent upon our government to carry out strong fair housing
enforcement and education in order to prevent a recurrence of segregated
living patterns. Fair housing must be an essential component of our dialogue
if we are truly sincere about the need to eradicate segregation and lift the
barriers to viable, strong and integrated communities."
-- National Fair Housing Alliance President Shanna Smith
"Three years after Hurricane Katrina a silent storm persists. There are
constant reports of families, trying to put their lives back together, now
encountering housing discrimination. Unlike Katrina, which did not
discriminate by race or socio-economic standing, we can do something to
prevent this."
-- Leadership Conference on Civil Rights President Wade Henderson
"This hearing -- before the National Bar Association in Houston -- should
prove extremely valuable in fulfilling our mission to examine the structural
inequality that still exists today in every region of the country. It is
imperative that the Commission hear testimony about the critical housing
issues still affecting the Katrina Diaspora, including discrimination,
segregation and the wholesale displacement of communities of color."
-- NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. President and
Director-Counsel John Payton
SOURCE Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights Under Law

Stacie Miller for Lawyers' Committee, +1-202-662-8317, or +1-202-445-6101, or
Maggie Kao for Leadership Conference, +1-202-466-2735, or Nhu-Han Duong for
National Fair Housing Alliance, +1-202-898-1661