Segregation Reported In Federal Housing Project
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Despite Federal laws barring racial discrimination, most of the nearly 10 million residents of federally financed housing are segregated by race, with whites faring much better than black and Hispanic people, according to a report published today by The Dallas Morning News. Almost all the projects that the reporters visited that were predominately occupied by whites were far superior in condition, situation, services and amenities to those that housed mostly black and Hispanic people, the article said. The newspaper said it had conducted a 14-month investigation of the nation’s 60,000 Federally subsidized rental projects. The News said its reporters visited 47 cities to examine a system that provides almost 3.7 million apartments and on which the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development spent $9 billion in 1984. Pattern of Segregation Cited The News said its investigation, based on inspections, scholarly studies and voluminous Federal reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, documented a pervasive pattern of Government-sponsored racial segregation and inequity. The newspaper said did not find one locality where federally subsidized housing was fully integrated or where conditions were equal for whites and minorities living in separate projects. The article said the Department of Housing and Urban Development, responsible for more than 90 percent of the nation’s federally-subsized rental housing, has often ignored illegal segregation of tenants in projects operated by local housing authorities and private developers. Hundreds of suburban communities, The News said, have refused to accept subsidized housing for families, the type of housing in greatest demand by minorities. Racial Breakdown Given The article said whites occupied about 63 percent of the nation’s almost 3.7 million Federally-subsidized rental apartments, and the elderly 45 percent; also, that almost 90 percent of the rental units have been provided since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in all federally financed programs. The article said Gary Orfield, a housing expert at the University of Chicago and a consultant for the housing agency, charged the Federal Government ”was deeply involved in the creation of the ghetto system, and it has never committed itself to any remedial action.” The News said the Federal housing agency has cut the size of its fair housing staff and reduced its annual number of investigations during the Reagan Administration. In 1984, Federal housing officials referred five cases of housing discrimination to Federal prosecutors, a 90 percent drop from the administration’s first year. The newspaper said John Knapp, the agency’s general counsel and the principal legal adviser to Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr., said he did not doubt that there is ”a good bit” of segregation. And he acknowledged that apartments occupied mostly by members of minority groups tend to be in worse condition than those occupied mostly by whites. He said he ”would certainly hope” that a modernization program will ”level out” inequities. Secretary Pierce, the only black member of Mr. Reagan’s Cabinet, refused to talk to News reporters about the investigation, agreeing to respond only to written questions. In an interview a year ago, Mr. Pierce said the Reagan Administration is doing all within its power to eliminate racial discrimination in federally subsidized housing. More : query.nytimes.com |