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In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | The examples and perspectives in this article deal primarily with the United States and Canada and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (March 2019) |
Housing discrimination refers to patterns of discrimination that affect a person's ability to rent or buy housing. This disparate treatment of a person on the housing market can be based on group characteristics or on the place where a person lives.[1]
The most straightforward form of housing discrimination involves a landlord who rejects offers from potential tenants based on factors such as race, age, gender, marital status, source of funding,[2] and others. The landlord may perform the discrimination explicitly or implicitly. Housing discrimination can also occur among existing tenants, who may face detrimental treatment in comparison to others for the same reasons. Housing discrimination can lead to spatial inequality and racial segregation, which, in turn, can exacerbate wealth disparities between certain groups.
Sociologists Vincent J. Roscigno, Diana L. Karafin, and Griff Tester have determined that the variety of actions that constitute housing discrimination can be classified as either exclusionary or nonexclusionary.[3]
Exclusionary discrimination practices refer to practices that seek to prevent certain individuals or families from obtaining housing, based on factors of discrimination. This includes explicit refusals (which may also include harassment and verbal abuse), proactive requests for or against specific minorities in advertising,[4] as well as implicit tactics such as like lying about standards for rental qualification to disqualify certain individuals, unfair financing or loan qualifications or terms, steering or restricting the choices of people seeking homes, and refusing to provide insurance, which would prevent the individual or family from acquiring a home.[3] Consumer advocate groups conducted studies and found that many minority borrowers who were eligible for affordable, traditional loans were often steered toward incredibly high-priced subprime loans that they would never be able to repay.[5]
The majority of discriminatory actors in exclusionary discrimination are landlords and landowners, as they have the positional power and direct access to the individual or family and the housing being sought. Other discriminatory actors or institutions responsible for exclusion include real estate, insurance, and banking and lending agents and institutions.[6]
Nonexclusionary discrimination practices refer to "actions and practices that occur within an already established housing arrangement, most often entailing racial harassment, differential treatment of tenants, or disparate application of contractual terms and conditions of residency."[3] Individuals and families already housed experience ongoing intimidation, differential treatment, and harassment, and nonexclusionary discrimination often results in distress for victims since the victim is often legally bound to the home and usually has direct contact with the perpetrator on a regular basis. Landlords and owners are still responsible for the majority of this type of housing discrimination, but neighbors and banking and lending institutions participate more. For instance, even without institutionalized exclusionary power, residential neighbors can harass and intimidate tenants.[3]
Most nonexclusionary discrimination cases involve applying discriminatory terms and conditions within the victim's current residential setting. The majority of these cases involve terms, conditions, and privileges relating to a current rental arrangement. These cases are often seen as unfairly raising the rent of a select group or allowing certain tenants privileges, like using a facility after hours or being lenient on pet policies.[3] Many nonexclusionary discrimination cases involve the failure to provide equal access to services and facilities, such as purposely delaying or completely forgoing fixing a broken pipe. More terms and conditions cases involve discriminatory financing, loans, and appraisals of the individual or family's property, which is when the discriminatory actor takes advantage of the victim financially.[3]
Other forms of nonexclusionary discrimination include the use of harassment, intimidation, and coercion toward victims.[3] This includes racial slurs and threats of violence, both of which create an uneasy environment in which the victims live.[7] These forms can cause excessive anxiety and stress for the individual or family affected. If an individual holding a position of an authority, such as the landlord, is responsible for the nonexclusionary discrimination, the victim is left with a feeling of powerlessness and lack of ability to get help.[3]
In many countries, structural discrimination in housing disadvantages men and favors women. This is typically studied by correspondence studies, where fictitious applications are sent to landlords and real-estate agents. The experimenter can then manipulate the name of the applicant to change gender or ethnicity while keeping everything else identical. In 2018, a meta-analysis of 25 correspondence studies in 15 OECD countries (totalizing over 110,000 letters) found that women are 30% more likely than men to be chosen,[8] everything else being equal. There is an interaction between sexism and racism, so that sexist discrimination in stronger against men of ethnic minorities. However, men from the dominant majority also suffer from discrimination compared to women.
Consistently, men make up the vast majority of homeless people[9] and a 2019 French study found that 90% of homeless people who die in the street are men.[10]
In Ontario, housing discrimination is addressed under the Ontario Human Rights Code.[4]
In the United States, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is charged with enforcing fair housing laws, based on the Fair Housing Act of 1968.[11]
A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that "the greatest share of discrimination for Hispanic and African American home seekers can still be attributed to being told units are unavailable when they are available to non-Hispanic whites and being shown and told about less units than a comparable non-minority."[12]
In Turkey, the Human Rights and Equality Institution is charged with enforcing fair housing laws, based on the law of the same name as the institution, which published in April 2016.[13]
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Housing discrimination refers to patterns of discrimination that affect a person's ability to rent or buy housing. This disparate treatment of a person on the housing market can be based on group characteristics or on the place where a person lives. The most straightforward form of housing discrimination involves a landlord who rejects offers from potential tenants based on factors such as race, age, gender, marital status, source of funding, and others. The landlord may perform the discrimination explicitly or implicitly. Housing discrimination can also occur among existing tenants, who may face detrimental treatment in comparison to others for the same reasons. Housing discrimination can lead to spatial inequality and racial segregation, which, in turn, can exacerbate wealth disparities between certain groups.
Housing discrimination in the United States refers to the historical and current barriers, policies, and biases that prevent equitable access to housing. Housing discrimination became more pronounced after the abolition of slavery in 1865, typically as part of Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. The federal government didn't begin to take action against these laws until 1917, when the Supreme Court struck down ordinances prohibiting African-Americans from occupying or owning buildings in majority-white neighborhoods in Buchanan v. Warley. However, the federal government as well as local governments continued to be directly responsible for housing discrimination through redlining and race-restricted covenants until the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This Act included legislation known as the Fair Housing Act, which made it unlawful for a landlord to discriminate against or prefer a potential tenant based on their race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, when advertising or negotiating the sale or rental of housing. Such protections have also been extended to other "protected classes" including disabilities and familial status. Despite these efforts, studies have shown that housing discrimination still exists and that the resulting segregation has led to wealth, educational, and health disparities. The prevalence of housing discrimination and redlining in the United States has led to wide-ranging impacts upon various aspects of the structure of society, such as housing inequality and educational inequality. These phenomena can be seen through the lens of critical race theory as examples of systemic racism. The Fair Housing Act, which was part of the Civil Rights Act, made it illegal for landlords to discriminate against potential tenants based on their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin when selling or renting housing. Protections have since been extended to additional "protected classes" including individuals with disabilities and families with children. Despite these legal protections, housing discrimination persists, contributing to disparities in wealth, education, and health outcomes. Scholars have noted that government policies promoting homeownership historically favored middle and upper income white families while excluding minorities and low income Americans, reinforcing patterns of inequality and limiting access to wealth building opportunities.
The Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) is managed by the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The program provides funding to fair housing organizations and other non-profits who assist people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination. The FHIP program is the only Federal grant program whose purpose is to support private partnerships in preventing and overcoming housing discrimination.
The term "affordable housing" refers to housing that is considered economically accessible for individuals and families whose household income falls at or below the Area Median Income (AMI), as evaluated by either national or local government authorities through an officially recognized housing affordability index. However, in the United States, the term is mostly used to refer to housing units that are deed restricted (for typically at least 30 years) to households considered Low-Income (80% of AMI), Very Low-Income (50% of AMI), and Extremely Low-Income (30% of AMI). These units are often constructed by non-profit "affordable housing developers" who use a combination of private money and government subsidies. For-profit developers, when building market-rate developments, may include some "affordable" units (often 10-30%), if required as part of a city's inclusionary zoning mandate. Housing has consistently been the largest expenditure within the average American family's financial plan. Housing expenses have also traditionally outpaced income growth, especially impacting those who rent their residences. Following the Great Recession in 2008, there has been a substantial decline in the rate of home ownership, leading to increases in foreclosures and short sales. This, in turn, has driven a surge in the number of individuals and families opting to rent homes, causing greater rental expenses. According to the 2024 American Community Survey one-year estimates, median gross rent, including utilities, rose by 2.7 percent in inflation-adjusted terms, from $1,448 in 2023 to $1,487 in 2024. The median share of income paid toward rent remained 31 percent. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released its annual report, Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing in June 2023, showing a disparity between people's earnings and the cost of modest rental housing across the U.S. It emphasizes how rising rents, coupled with the end of COVID-19 pandemic-era support programs, are intensifying financial instability for low-income renters. The report's key figure, the "Housing Wage," reveals the hourly earnings necessary for full-time workers to afford fair market rental homes without exceeding 30% of their incomes. Nationally, the 2023 Housing Wage is $28.58 per hour for a modest two-bedroom home and $23.67 per hour for a one-bedroom home. The findings emphasize that housing remains unaffordable for workers across various job types and income levels. Sixty percent of workers earn less than the hourly wage required for a two-bedroom home, and nearly 50% earn less than the one-bedroom Housing Wage. Some of the main issues which lead to the need for affordable housing are homelessness, the housing affordability crisis, and historic housing discrimination against people of color. The reported effects of affordable housing range from improved health and educational outcomes to reduced homelessness. A series of legislative steps have been taken to address different aspects of housing policy in the United States, including the National Housing Act of 1934, Housing Act of 1937, Housing Act of 1949, and Fair Housing Act of 1968. Together, these acts represent a progression of federal housing policy, from facilitating mortgage insurance and creating public housing options to emphasizing the importance of affordable and equitable housing opportunities, while also addressing discrimination and promoting fair housing practices. Government policies and programs, such as subsidized housing, tax incentives, and inclusionary zoning, coupled with innovative solutions like tenant protections, mixed-income developments, and homeownership programs, have contributed to shaping the affordable housing landscape in the U.S. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report published a list of cities with affordable housing offering some 1br apartments in the range of $500-$600 per month.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
