The state of housing access in America - Jessica Silverman
Currently, there are segregated neighborhoods all across the country, which means that only people of the same race will live in certain areas. The Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
department of US government created a rule, The Rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, that states, “because no
child’s ZIP code should determine her opportunity to achieve.”
This segregation that's occurring should be a huge concern in 2017, but it's not even the biggest housing issue America is facing. Unfortunately, equal access is the biggest issue to tackle, because citizens aren't receiving equal opportunities to housing. This can result in major struggles for certain groups of people such as those with disabilities and those with criminal records. Their struggle can range from months of searching for housing to homelessness altogether.
It's important to explain why access to housing needs to be considered a civil right. All citizens deserve a place to live, and they shouldn't face discrimination in the process of searching for a home. On justice.gov, under the Housing and Civil Enforcement page, access to housing is declared a civil right when it states “The Housing and Civil Enforcement Section works to protect some of the most fundamental rights of individuals, including the right to access housing free from discrimination…” On the most basic level, minority groups who are willing to pay for a particular housing situation should not be hindered from doing so for any reason.
So, if housing access is a civil right, then why is this issue persisting?
Well, the problem lies within the rhetoric surrounding housing access. The groups that are often discriminated against, prior criminals for example, are seen as undeserving of housing. They're labeled as dangerous or a nuisance and people don't want to deal with them. Properties that require background checks do so in order to maintain a certain image and set of standards for their residents. However, if every property turns away those with a criminal record, where are they supposed to go?
The reality is, discriminating against past criminals from equal housing access is actually driving them towards more reckless situations and illegal activities. The vast majority of citizens that live comfortably in a home aren't concerned with this issue and feel little to no empathy for these struggling groups. Therefore, a big part of my solution will be utilizing pathos to help more property owners, developers, and American citizens within the comfortable majority understand why everyone deserves a place to call home.
The message I'm aiming to send is that more Americans, and especially those who play a role in the housing industry, need to care about equal access to housing because discrimination in regards to this civil right only causes more issues. When past criminals can't find housing, they're likely to get wrapped up in sketchy situations all over again. When people with disabilities can't access the housing they require, their lives are made much more difficult.
I'm not trying to convince my target audience that having a home is a privilege afforded to anyone and everyone; I'm trying to convince them that the ability to pay for housing should be the only requirement. Access to housing should see no discrimination. Segregated neighborhoods shouldn't still exist, our homelessness rates should be lower, and no one should be discriminated against while attempting to find a place to live. That would be the ideal goal for the state of this civil right.
In my analysis, I proposed a Youtube campaign to spread this message. Because I'm treating this as a national issue as opposed to only a state-wide one, I believe that social media is the best way to spread the word. Plus, Youtube is free, so anyone with access to the internet could potentially access the video campaign. In order to hold audience attention, the video would only be 3-8 minutes long, but it would cover the main points I've made above as well as visuals of people who are suffering in this country due to discrimination from housing access. The images of citizens struggling along with their testimony could serve to increase the pathos of the campaign. It would also include statistics to increase the logos. For example, the fact that “Residential segregation by income has increased over the past several decades, with research from the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis showing that the share of families living in middle-income neighborhoods plummeted by 24 percentage points from 1970 to 2012 while the shares living in low- and high-income neighborhoods increased by 11 and 13 percentage points, respectively.” Ethos would be formed by pairing up with a non-profit organization, such as Hearth Homes, that aims to promote fairer housing access in America, to produce the video.
For now, here is a bumper sticker I created that would spread awareness about this issue, at least on a local level:
This segregation that's occurring should be a huge concern in 2017, but it's not even the biggest housing issue America is facing. Unfortunately, equal access is the biggest issue to tackle, because citizens aren't receiving equal opportunities to housing. This can result in major struggles for certain groups of people such as those with disabilities and those with criminal records. Their struggle can range from months of searching for housing to homelessness altogether.
It's important to explain why access to housing needs to be considered a civil right. All citizens deserve a place to live, and they shouldn't face discrimination in the process of searching for a home. On justice.gov, under the Housing and Civil Enforcement page, access to housing is declared a civil right when it states “The Housing and Civil Enforcement Section works to protect some of the most fundamental rights of individuals, including the right to access housing free from discrimination…” On the most basic level, minority groups who are willing to pay for a particular housing situation should not be hindered from doing so for any reason.
So, if housing access is a civil right, then why is this issue persisting?
Well, the problem lies within the rhetoric surrounding housing access. The groups that are often discriminated against, prior criminals for example, are seen as undeserving of housing. They're labeled as dangerous or a nuisance and people don't want to deal with them. Properties that require background checks do so in order to maintain a certain image and set of standards for their residents. However, if every property turns away those with a criminal record, where are they supposed to go?
The reality is, discriminating against past criminals from equal housing access is actually driving them towards more reckless situations and illegal activities. The vast majority of citizens that live comfortably in a home aren't concerned with this issue and feel little to no empathy for these struggling groups. Therefore, a big part of my solution will be utilizing pathos to help more property owners, developers, and American citizens within the comfortable majority understand why everyone deserves a place to call home.
The message I'm aiming to send is that more Americans, and especially those who play a role in the housing industry, need to care about equal access to housing because discrimination in regards to this civil right only causes more issues. When past criminals can't find housing, they're likely to get wrapped up in sketchy situations all over again. When people with disabilities can't access the housing they require, their lives are made much more difficult.
I'm not trying to convince my target audience that having a home is a privilege afforded to anyone and everyone; I'm trying to convince them that the ability to pay for housing should be the only requirement. Access to housing should see no discrimination. Segregated neighborhoods shouldn't still exist, our homelessness rates should be lower, and no one should be discriminated against while attempting to find a place to live. That would be the ideal goal for the state of this civil right.
In my analysis, I proposed a Youtube campaign to spread this message. Because I'm treating this as a national issue as opposed to only a state-wide one, I believe that social media is the best way to spread the word. Plus, Youtube is free, so anyone with access to the internet could potentially access the video campaign. In order to hold audience attention, the video would only be 3-8 minutes long, but it would cover the main points I've made above as well as visuals of people who are suffering in this country due to discrimination from housing access. The images of citizens struggling along with their testimony could serve to increase the pathos of the campaign. It would also include statistics to increase the logos. For example, the fact that “Residential segregation by income has increased over the past several decades, with research from the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis showing that the share of families living in middle-income neighborhoods plummeted by 24 percentage points from 1970 to 2012 while the shares living in low- and high-income neighborhoods increased by 11 and 13 percentage points, respectively.” Ethos would be formed by pairing up with a non-profit organization, such as Hearth Homes, that aims to promote fairer housing access in America, to produce the video.
For now, here is a bumper sticker I created that would spread awareness about this issue, at least on a local level:
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you believe that the current state of housing access in America is a prominent issue? Why or why not?
2. Could housing access ever actually be equal?
3. Could neighborhood segregation ever disappear in this country completely?
4. Do you believe that past criminals deserve equal access to housing? Why or why not?
5. Should people who can't afford housing be included in this project's efforts? Why or why not?
1. Do you believe that the current state of housing access in America is a prominent issue? Why or why not? Before taking this course I really didn't have prior knowledge on the issue of housing being a civil right. Your post helped me understand more about how housing is and should be a civil right for all people, especially disabled individuals and former felons. The more I consider the issue of housing I can say that we do have a problem in the United States. I think background checks do serve a general overall good purpose and shouldn't be eliminated. However, I would argue that many apartment complex's in particular could do a better job at allowing individuals a place to stay. By this I mean that those who fail a background check and say have at least 4-6 months of rent as a down payment already show trustworthiness. Excluding individuals on the basis on a background check should ultimately be eliminated.
ReplyDelete2. Could housing access ever actually be equal? I don't have high hopes on housing ever being equal. I would like to believe it will happen over time, but essentially there are so many loop holes put in place for property managers to discriminate against future homeowners or renters.
3. Could neighborhood segregation ever disappear in this country completely? I do not think so. I think it gets harder and harder for individuals to move when the economy is bad. However, the people who are even a little better off than others will ultimately move and the cycle of segregation will continue. The term "white flight" is evident in many neighborhoods across the nation.
4. Do you believe that past criminals deserve equal access to housing? Why or why not? Yes, I do believe they deserve access to housing. Your point about how it will only drive them to more reckless situations is spot on. Our environment plays a key role in determining who we are and the choices we make. In a previous semester I was a student in a criminology class offered here at UGA. Our professor discussed a theory called, "strain theory." Strain theory applies in this situation because the theory holds that individuals who feel strained are likely to feel triggered to commit crimes. Therefore, we can understand that limiting these individuals to housing may seem like a good idea on the outskirts, but in reality only contribute to the continuous cycle.
5. Should people who can't afford housing be included in this project's efforts? Why or why not? People who cannot afford housing should be included in this project's efforts. I think it would be good to include this in your paper because it is a topic that is up for debate. If housing is a civil right, essentially that would include these individuals as well. Recently, I heard many millennial are not buying homes. Are we past the white picket fence and onto something new because of wages or because of something else?
1) The current state of housing access in America is definitely a prominent issue, though mostly ignored by the general upper American class. Ignorance about the problem is also prominent, therefore making the problem worse and increasing homeless rates and general poverty among Americans. Rather than addressing the problem of housing access, it seems as though America directly attacks the problem of unemployment, ignoring the fact that segregated neighborhoods and homelessness will still exist even if unemployment rates diminish. This only allows for the problem as you said, to grow larger, as it already has.
ReplyDelete2. No, I don't believe housing access will be equal. Maybe overtime, the problem will grow smaller, but even with laws and attempts in place, they will not be capable of completely eliminating the inequality. Segregated neighborhoods will still exist due to gaps in poverty.
3. No, I believe this will especially be difficult to overcome. Racial gaps in poverty significantly affects neighborhood segregation, as well as many other factors, so those factors would have to be corrected in order for the problem to disappear in the country completely. This, therefore, is extremely unlikely.
4. Though I do understand the concern of a neighborhood's inhabitants of granting housing access to past criminals, the levels of unwillingness to grant equal access to housing significantly affects the ex-criminals' lives. Therefore, though I believe that granting criminals equal access should not happen, I believe that they should not be as strict on these criminals.
5.Yes, I believe that people who cannot afford housing should be included in this project's efforts. Though this is a completely new introduction of another problem within America, it allows for an audience to realize the connection between your topic and those people, because they are related. Furthermore, in regards to rhetorical factors, including these individuals will make your project easier to strengthen in regards to especially pathos.
Regarding discussion question 4, I had a bit of trouble answering that one. Though I understand the difficulties of these ex-criminals as well as the likeliness for them to have no choice but to return to criminal acts to solely survive, I also put into thought the effects upon a neighborhood if a criminal was granted access. First, the inhabitants of this neighborhood would protest or even move out, and the criminal would be treated harshly in the community. This further would affect and push for the value of the neighborhood to plummet, therefore resulting in most likely, another segregated neighborhood. With this in mind, I am still unsure about whether ex-criminals should be granted access, in regards to the state of America as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the current state of housing access in America is a prominent issue. I never some discrimination laid within the current housing access, yet before reading your post, I was not aware of how apparent this discrimination was. I think that it is an issue because as you said, equality in housing access is a civil right, and therefore it is a right that all Americans should have. I also think this issue goes overlooked by many Americans because they regard other civil rights issues as more of a pressing issue when in reality, as seen by the increasing numbers of homeless people and impoverished areas in society, inequality in housing is just as big of a concern.
2. I have some hopes that the housing inequality can be solved. I think there are many loopholes that can prevent this, as well as property managers having too much leeway in their decisions of who gets the housing. Because the property managers can be biased, I think a smart way to deal with housing would be to use a robot or something to see who would be most fitted for the house with income and credit score, ex. rather than the property managers, so they could not discriminate.
3. I think this would be very hard to solve. This, often times, is a result of gerrymandering. i.e. impoverished and predominately black neighborhoods are often grouped together in poor districts and therefore it is harder for them to get any of the funding or help they need, and they continue to be segregated. In order to fix neighborhood segregation gerrymandering needs to be demolished first and foremost.
4. I don't see why criminals should face any defiance getting housing because as long as they can provide the funds and have completed their time, there is nothing that reasonably should hinder them from getting housing. An argument may be that since they have a criminal record, they should not be trusted, but no one can predict another's actions. Therefore, someone with a perfect record could easily do something unpredictable and reckless, and therefore, someone with a criminal record could also act responsible and be a exceptional tenant. Allowing discrimination in housing for criminals actually prevents these people from moving up and forward in their lives, and can resort them back to unlawful practices in order to survive, even if they don't have that intent.
5. I do believe that people that cannot afford housing should be included in this project. It can connect to your current argument, as well as drawing attention to the efforts needed to make it easier for everyone to have housing. I think a civil right should really be that every American should be able to have a roof over their heads.
These are great questions. I enjoyed reading your blog. I would love to know that housing could be equal in the United States one day. I have noticed in my own county places of living that seem to be segregated. Many of them are closer to the city areas rather than on the outskirts of town. I do believe that one day we could have equal housing everywhere, but it would take a lot of effort.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in answering your question about previously incarcerated individuals having access to housing.
I do believe they should have access to housing. As long as they can provided the means needed for the housing I do not see a problem with them having equal access to it. I believe if they did not have the option it could push them back into making the choices they have made to get them incarcerated in the first place.