Fair Housing Act: Are Its' Implicit Economic and Institutional Assumptions Supported by Recent Research

摘要

This paper addresses where assumptions underlying the Fair Housing Act are consistent with research on housing market discrimination. The authors first discuss four policy issues critical to evaluations of public policy and program performance in the fair housing and equal opportunity areas: equal access to housing versus equality of housing construction, the measures of discrimination and its effects, economic rationales for discriminatory behavior by sales brokers, and the costs of discrimination. The paper presents empirical evidence bearing on each of these four issues. The findings demonstrate that racial discrimination on blacks' housing consumption has no perceptible effect on quality of black owner - occupied housing, but results in a 9 - percent increase in crowding among black owner - occupants, a 9 - to 10 - percent increase in the degree of segregation, and a 12 - percent decrement in black homeowner - to - renter ratio. In addition, discrimination results in some 13 - percent higher prices paid and a 16 - percent greater distance from home to work for black homeowners. The authors conclude that while discrimination may not explain as much of racial differences as some people expect, the total social costs of discrimination justify far larger Federal enforcement efforts. Furthermore, distributing Federal enforcement resources on the basis of complaints is not the same as distributing resources to areas where discriminatory practices are most prevalent. The expected costs to those who do discriminate are so low under the existing law that its deterrent value rests on moral and ethical grounds. Other implications of the research findings are explored. Tables are included.