For the purpose of this exercise, I chose the article ‘ Fair-Housing Groups Say New York City Is Falling Behind’ by David W. Chen dated June 14, 2004. The reason behind this choice was to investigate the role played by housing agencies which receive direct support from state and federal government. Also, I wanted to know whether the housing segregation witnessed in the city is a matter of class or race. Despite the economic elevation of several African American families, i.e. they are not restricted by low income; they still end up living in the same segregated neighborhood. Does this mean that income level does not play any role in housing segregation in New York?
From our class article, on Emigrant Savings bank, we see a bank which has targeted the minorities as their customer pool. As such, the predominantly deal with the Hispanic, African Americans, the Asians, Pacific Islanders amongst other minorities. However due to the knowledge that their customers are financially unstable and as such are unable to seek the assistance of financial advisors or brokerage fees, the Bank has been taking that advantage to hoodwink the people into buying subprime properties at exorbitant interest rates. Generally, housing segregation in the country could be to blame for the value of the houses but that does not give the bank authority in taking advantage of their clients to recoup the original value of the houses.
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The scenario of my article I believe that the issue of housing segregation is caused by several factors other than race or financial capacity of the minorities. Apart from the available laws and policies enacted to outlaw housing discrimination in the city, the vice is still rife and this is brought by little goodwill on the part of the state government and politicians to fight the vice. Even at the high rate of housing segregation and discrimination in the city, Open Housing Center, an agency empowered with fighting discrimination was closed down without providing an alternative agency. Also, during its time of operation, the agency reported crucial challenges of funding and shortage of workers. To make matters worse, when members of the public through the National Fair Housing Alliance proposed to come up with another office to replace the Open Housing Center, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rejected the application citing technicality in the law. The Recent rule had changed baring organizations from getting fair-housing credit in consecutive years. As such we can see how the rules and the HUD are being counterproductive. Their main mission is to see that all citizens enjoy fair housing but in this case, they declined from the commitment.
The issue of house segregation in New York cannot be blamed on the income level of the minorities but on racial discrimination and lack of political goodwill to fight the vice. The issue of fair housing in New York is so delicate that the politicians would rather not touch it. With politicians deferring their roles to formulate laws, the civil society will have to step up and fight for the rights of the minority in the city.
Reference
Chen, W. D. (2004, June 14th). Fair-Housing Groups Say New York City Is Falling Behind. New York Times .
