By Maurice Hampton and Michelle Mills Clement, Chicago Tribune
“Chicago should really take the lead … say let’s be a model for the rest of the world and not be afraid to say when we talk about desegregating the city, we’re talking about creating a more equitable Chicago for everyone.”
— Lisa Yun Lee, associate professor of public culture and museum studies at the University of Illinois in Chicago, quoted in the book, “The South Side,” by Chicagoan Natalie Moore.
Lamell McMorris, founder and principal of Greenlining Realty, is building what he calls the Woodlawn Pointe development in the Woodlawn neighborhood on July 6, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
We from the Chicago Association of Realtors will take that challenge. As the voice for real estate in Chicago, we refuse to be absent from the conversations surrounding the very real issues regarding race and our industry.
Lately, we’ve fielded multiple requests to comment on the debate over language such as “master bedroom.” Words hold tremendous power. Certainly, there is no downside to removing real estate vernacular that carries an uncomfortable and racist undertone. Harmful language should be minimized and addressed. However, focusing on one term is a distraction from the larger issues around race.
In 2018, with the unanimous support of our board of directors and staff, we delivered remarks recognizing and apologizing for the association’s historical role in discriminatory practices in housing by promoting discriminatory zoning, neighborhood classifications and racially restrictive covenants; defining and allowing racial boundaries in our city; opposing fair housing laws; and defending the rights of property owners to discriminate. Our past actions closed the door to Chicagoans based on race and created a dual housing market: one for white Chicago and one for Black and minority Chicago. We have to acknowledge those wrongs, because words are powerful.
In 1968, Congress passed the landmark Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, handicap and family status — an acknowledgement that discrimination and segregation have permeated every aspect of American life, but particularly in housing.
Still, in 2020, fair housing remains under attack every day. Just recently, the White House repealed the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which combats housing discrimination and segregation by requiring municipalities to scrutinize their housing patterns for racial bias, publicly report the results and set goals for reducing segregation — meaning communities receiving federal dollars were required to take steps to actively promote integration in communities, rather than simply discourage discrimination. Now, they’re not.
The president announced the repeal in a tweet, which reads, “I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low-income housing built in your neighborhood. ... Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!”
Those words are a perfect example of how racism and discrimination flourish. Racism is not just a personal issue. Racism is structural and institutionalized by government policy. We must actively work to identify and dismantle segregationist and racist patterns in housing. Abolishing this rule washes the government’s hands of responsibility to deconstruct what they helped build and ignores the systemic racism in housing opportunity that has ensured Chicago remains one of the most segregated cities in the United States.
In Black communities, properties are undervalued and overtaxed — and research has shown this is deliberate. We must tackle the subjectivity and inequality in our current systems that make private property an inadequate vehicle for building Black wealth and equity.
Today, the Black homeownership rate remains essentially the same as it was in 1968, when the Fair Housing Act was signed into law. Redlining is still a reality in many of our communities, and rates are often times higher for Black and other homeowners of color.
How can we work to ensure that homeownership is not only available, but attainable? There are solutions: greater access to capital, education on fair housing and reporting violations and access to alternative lines of credit, but these are solutions that require us all to work together.
How can you help? It is critical that you report fair housing violations when they occur. We know these are still happening — we hear from many of our almost 16,000 members that this is a constant challenge — but unless you report specific violations when they occur, our hands are tied. Help us hold each other accountable. If we don’t know about it, we can’t stop it from happening. Our responsibility, as real estate agents and responsible citizens, is to ensure that everyone has equal and equitable opportunities.
Take another look at our president’s tweet. Those powerful words are evidence that changing one word — removing references to “master” — won’t solve the systemic issues in our industry.
Every Chicagoan has an obligation to address this — in our industry, in our individual business practices and in our daily lives. We invite you to join us as we work to be part of the solution.
Maurice Hampton is president of the Chicago Association of Realtors. Michelle Mills Clement is CEO of the Chicago Association of Realtors.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.