Fair Housing Month: Understanding Our Past to Secure Our Future.
- Felicia Smith
- Apr 22
- 3 min read
April is Fair Housing Month, and the significance of the purpose behind the Fair Housing Act is one that is still very prominent today in the state of property ownership in America. It was only 58 years ago that a federal law prohibited discrimination in house. 58 years ago, is not long ago, and all marginalized groups faced discrimination in housing, and it was legal to do from purchasing, financing, insurance and taxation.
Key civil rights leaders fought for the right to end housing discrimination that included the renowned Martin Luther King Jr and other prominent figures Lyndon B. Johnson, Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins. The National Association of Advancement of Colored People better known at the NAACP challenged discriminatory practices in court and with advocacy Wilkins AND Marshall being two prominent figures within that organization.
There were many grassroots organization nationally throughout various cities, and while the African American free communities did establish thriving neighborhoods through the United States prior to the civil rights movement, these neighborhoods often lacked government resources and funding through the legal methods of redlining and in addition many discriminatory groups often burned down these thriving towns or bought out land through process of eminent domain.
In 2026 housing discrimination is still active while it may be more subtle because it may seem that any group can purchase in any neighborhood that scenario is not entirely true. Valuation and taxation still effectively hamper African American homeowners from buying or selling in certain area, some African Americans still face blatant discrimination in some towns where they aren’t the majority this reflects in the school systems as well and how black and brown children area treated. While other groups are not exempt from discriminatory practices but based on statistics has appeared that African Americans are still widely affected in all areas across the United States.
Deed theft which has been a more prominent conversation that has disproportionately impacted black homeowners in New York, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania. Deed theft is illegal and a crime, however the history of redlining and gentrification has left generational black neighborhoods more vulnerable and needs to be further examined.
African American have paved the way for other marginalized racial and ethnic groups the ability to purchase property in the United States with their fight for Fair Housing Rights yet despite the advocacy and the continuous fight African Americans are still the most vulnerable when it comes to purchasing, inheriting, maintained and keeping property in the United States. Sharing history helps prevent repeating mistakes. The fight for housing equality and community stability continues, but awareness remains strong.
When one generation is denied the ability to build equity—through redlining, eminent domain, or "urban renewal" projects, the subsequent generation starts with significantly less capital to enter the market, so if you think property ownership isn’t significant why would there be such a force to hold some groups back from purchasing. While the Fair Housing Act made the act of discrimination illegal, it did not provide a mechanism to restore the trillions of dollars in lost equity resulting from the previous century of legal exclusion. Advocacy needs to continue, and sharing history helps prevent barriers to property ownership for certain groups in the U.S. The fight against housing discrimination is ongoing until further progress is made.
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