Fair Housing Month: The Fight for Equitable Housing Continues

April is Fair Housing Month, when we celebrate the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968. This landmark civil rights law made discrimination in housing rental and sales transactions unlawful, aiming to level the playing field for all Americans regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, and familial status.

Our experiences—and our data—tells us that while we have made great strides toward fairness, the fight for equity is just starting. Fairness demands that all be treated equally, regardless of circumstance; equity demands just treatment for those who have been discriminated against and disadvantaged. 

In Bexar County, incidence of Black homeownership is less than two-thirds that of White homeownership, and Hispanic rates trail Anglo rates by more than 10 percent. According to the Brookings Institution, in 2020 White households accounted for 60 percent of the U.S. population but held 84 percent of total household wealth, while Black households—who account for 13.4 percent of the population—held just four percent of total household wealth. Hispanic and Black households, on average, hold less than 10 percent of the wealth of White families.

In addition to lack of resources, we know that bias in appraisals and mortgage approvals also make it harder for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) families to purchase and benefit from a single-family home. Systemic racism and other barriers prevent too many San Antonians from realizing the financial, health, educational, and other benefits of sustainable homeownership. It is entirely appropriate to mark the end of Fair Housing Month by looking toward what must come next: equitable housing. LISC SA has outlined a plan of action that will help our community achieve our goal of centering equity and opportunity in our homeownership strategies. 

The time is right to focus on sustainable homeownership as a strategy for wealth-building and a tool to combat displacement and the negative impacts of gentrification. The City of San Antonio has recently adopted a Strategic Housing Implementation Plan (SHIP) that focuses on affordability and equity, and a $150 million municipal housing bond proposition will go to voters in May. The San Antonio Area Foundation has jump-started the conversation—and resulting actions—on Black asset-building, and will soon take up an expanded program examining the post-COVID status of Hispanic households.

To learn more about LISC SA's recommendations, click here for a link to Building Wealth with Homeownership: Closing Racial and Ethnic Opportunity Gaps.We hope you will read through the report and learn more about strategies like expanding housing counseling, supporting title clearance, developing employer-assisted housing programs, and integrating manufactured housing and garage apartments into our homeownership approach.