50th Anniversary of Fair Housing Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. On this day in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law groundbreaking legislation to protect Americans from housing discrimination and uphold the values of fairness and equality under the law.

Prior to the passage of the law and its subsequent amendments, it was legal for Americans to be denied access to housing based on their race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disability, or familial status. African-American soldiers returning from fighting for their country on foreign shores would come home to find that they couldn't purchase a house in certain neighborhoods because of the color of their skin. The Fair Housing Act was a bold commitment to eradicating this kind of discrimination, which still continues to this day.

When my own parents moved to New Jersey, illegal racial real estate steering efforts nearly kept them from buying a house in an all-White neighborhood. It took a sting operation coordinated by the local Fair Housing Council with a White couple posing as my parents to break the cycle of segregation in the town in which I would eventually grow up. The Fair Housing Act empowered my parents and their advocates and lawyers to press for their right to fair and quality housing, and it stands today as one of the seminal pieces of legislation passed in our country's history.

Today, as we recognize the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, we remember that this landmark civil rights law was not meant to be the end of our efforts to make housing in this country more fair and more just, but just the beginning.

We know we have so much work left to do when it comes to expanding access to affordable, safe, and fair housing in America, and we must remain committed to protecting and expanding on the progress made 50 years ago today by the Fair Housing Act.

Thank you.

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