Forty years after lawmakers targeted some of the last bastions of segregation - American communities - a national commission met today in Atlanta to discuss whether federal officials have failed to ensure equal housing opportunities.
The bipartisan National Fair Housing Commission's daylong meeting at Morehouse College Friday concludes a three-month investigation into enforcement of fair housing laws.
Today’s meeting focused on fair lending practices amid the nationwide foreclosure crisis.
Shanna Smith is president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance:
“Over the last 40 years, we have failed as a government, as states, as local communities, to enforce the fair housing laws and to promote social integration.”Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997, under President Clinton chaired the morning session.
Cisneros says that a comprehensive solution may be necessary for the Atlanta area:
“This is a metropolitan area that needs to function as a whole, and it may be necessary to think in regional solutions that involve all of the counties, excepting some fair share of responsibility for creating economic opportunities.”
The panel, chaired by Henry Cisneros (center), former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development hear testimony at the morning session, held at Morehouse College, Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 17th, 2008. (Dave Bender)
The commission previously convened in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Boston.
A December report will outline recommendations to strengthen housing laws.
(With The Associated Press)
Click here for more GPB News coverage of housing issues.
