Senate Resolution No. 4871

BY: Senator COMRIE

COMMEMORATING the 50th Anniversary of the Civil
Rights Act of 1968, commonly referred to as the Fair
Housing Act, in conjunction with the observance of
National Fair Housing Month, April 2018

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to commemorate the
50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, commonly referred to
as the Fair Housing Act, in conjunction with the observance of National
Fair Housing Month, April 2018; and

WHEREAS, In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson set his pen upon the
Civil Rights Act, thereunto evoking the writs of history, channeling the
life's cause of a humble visionary dedicated to true justice, the
then-recently-late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., each bold stroke
echoing to tell a restless nation that the battle for equality under the
law had, at least partially, been won; and

WHEREAS, President Johnson, signing the landmark civil rights
legislation, professed to his country that "We have come some of the
way-not near all of it," a truth that stands as resolutely today is it
did half a century ago; and

WHEREAS, Each year in April, we come together as a community, a
State and a Nation to recommit ourselves to that goal which inspired us
in the aftermath of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's assassination
in 1968: to eliminate housing discrimination and create equal
opportunity in every community; and

WHEREAS, Fundamentally, fair housing means that every person can
live free; this means communities across the State of New York are open
and welcoming, free from housing discrimination and hostility; and

WHEREAS, This also means that each one of us, regardless of race,
color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability,
has access to neighborhoods of opportunity, where our children can
attend quality schools, our environment allows us to be healthy, and
economic opportunities and self-sufficiency can grow; and

WHEREAS, Most individuals or families invest and hold their wealth
in the equity of the homes they purchase, the wealth of black families
today is only five percent of the wealth of white families-an immense
discrepancy directly rooted in the history of housing discrimination in
the twentieth century; and

WHEREAS, The unscrupulous actors that brought about the 2008
financial crisis and subsequent recession, while harmful to many,
knowingly and disproportionately targeted homebuyers of color; and

WHEREAS, These reverse-discriminatory practices of sub-prime
mortgage lending were, in essence, the modern equivalent to
state-sponsored redlining and race-based housing discrimination, and
decimated what wealth these historically deprived families had been able
to accumulate since the passage of the Fair Housing Act; and


WHEREAS, The lasting effects of housing segregation are not limited
to neighborhood composition or wealth distribution, but also extend
deeply into the modern realities of poverty and school segregation; and

WHEREAS, In some cases, current levels of housing segregation are
the same as they were decades ago , school segregation rates have
drastically increased , and the wealth disparity between black or Latino
families and white families has widened; and

WHEREAS, The incongruence in rates of homeownership that currently
exists between whites and people of color is not significantly different
than it was ten years after the Fair housing Act was signed into law,
with 68% of whites owning homes, but only 46% and 42% of blacks and
Hispanics, respectively; and

WHEREAS, Fifty years after its passage, the portion of the Fair
Housing Act which calls for deliberate policies and actions to achieve
the goal of integration has not been realized, a reality which beseeches
us to strive toward a future of true integration that reflects the needs
of our State and our Nation today; and

WHEREAS, Just last month, March of 2018, a lawsuit was filed against
Facebook by the National Fair Housing Alliance and its partners for
allowing online real estate listings to discriminate against
specifically protected classes of people; and

WHEREAS, This case illustrates the pernicious evolution of housing
discrimination since the Fair Housing Act became law-from de jure to de
facto-transforming from blatantly discriminatory laws, policies, and
attitudes, to tacit or indirect means of segregating communities; and

WHEREAS, The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, recently
removed the phrase "free from discrimination" from the mission of his
Department, eschewing past progress and lowering future expectations for
housing justice; and

WHEREAS, The practice of fair housing is not simply a tool in
eradicating discrimination, it is a means of lifting up communities,
uniting divided peoples, and extending, through the letter and spirit of
the law, historically exclusive benefits and privileges to all people;
and

WHEREAS, The true intent and spirit of the Fair Housing Act must not
only be embraced by New Yorkers during the month of April, but year
round, and year after year, until an integrated and equitable society is
achieved, where fairness in housing is available to those of any race,
color, nation, religion, sex, disability, or family status; now,
therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair
Housing Act), in conjunction with the observance of National Fair
Housing Month, April 2018.