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LCCR logo
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
2027 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.,
Washington, D.C., 20036
202/667-1780

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Founders
Arnold Aronson
A. Philip Randolph*
Roy Wilkins*

Officers
Honorary Chairperson
Marvin Caplan
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.

Chairperson
Benjamin L. Hooks

Vice Chairperson
Marian Wright Edelman
Antonia Hernandez

Secretary
Judith L. Lichtman

Treasurer
J. C. Turner

Legislative Chairperson
Jane O'Grady

Counsel
Joseph L. Rauh, Jr.

Executive Committee
Bayard Rustin, Chairperson*
A. Philip Randolph Institute

Owen Bieber
International Union of
United Automobile Workers

Kenyon C. Burke
National Council of Churches

Jacob Clayman
National Council of Senior Citizens

Jerome Ernst
National Catholic Conference for
Interracial Justice

Mary Futrell
National Education Association

Morton Halperin
American Civil Liberties Union

Dorothy Height
National Council of Negro Women

John E. Jacob
National Urban League

Elaine Jones
NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.

Leon Lynch
United Steelworkers of America

Irene Natividad
National Women's Political Caucus

Nancy Neuman
League of Women Voters of the U.S.

Melanne Verveer
People For The American Way

Alexander Schindler
Union of American Hebrew Congregations

Molly Yard
National Organization for Women

Patrisha Wright
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund

Kenneth Young
AFL-CIO

Raul Yzaguirre
National Council of La Raza

Compliance/Enforcement Committee
William Taylor, Chairperson

Staff
Executive Director
Ralph G. Neas

Administrative Assistant
Lisa M. Haywood

*Deceased
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Some Questions and Answers on the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1987

Q. Since we already have a fair housing act, why do we need new legislation?

A. Because after 19 years it is clear that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 simply isn't working. Unlawful housing discrimination is still widespread. Indeed, the law's ineffectiveness is generally recognized. Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development, both Republican and Democrat, Congressional members of both parties, and both President Carter and President Reagan, have all called for strengthening enforcement of the Act. The issue before this Congress is how best to improve the law.

Evidence of unlawful housing discrimination is abundant. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has estimated that two million instances of housing discrimination occur each year. The most recent HUD-commissioned survey, one covering 3,000 brokers and rental agents in 40 metropolitan areas, found that black families looking for a home to buy stand a 48 percent chance of encountering discrimination; blacks looking for a place to rent have a 72 percent chance of encountering discrimination. A similar study in Dallas concluded that a dark-skinned Mexican-American has a 96 percent chance of experience discriminationin a typical search for housing. Complaints of housing discrimination against women and Asian Americans are numerous and increasing.

Disabled people, of whom there are approximately 36 million, continue to be excluded from large segments of the housing market.

Families with children also are denied housing simply because they have children. A 1980 HUD national survey found that 26 percent of the nation's rental housing units ban families with children. A 1979 survey of five major California cities found that 53 percent to 71 percent of their rental market was closed to families with children.

"Equality In a Free, Plural, Democratic Society"