Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - June 28, 2007)
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By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. Brown):
S. 1733. A bill to authorize funds to prevent housing discrimination through the use of nationwide testing, to increase funds for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, I introduce the Housing Fairness Act of 2007, legislation that would strengthen efforts to detect discrimination and enforce equal housing opportunities. This legislation is especially timely given that June is National Homeownership Month.
The Housing Fairness Act promotes equal housing opportunities for all people by authorizing funds to process complaints, investigate cases of housing discrimination, and develop and operate education and outreach programs to inform the general public of fair housing rights. The legislation also creates a competitive matching grant program for private nonprofit organizations to examine the causes of housing discrimination and segregation and their effects on education, poverty and economic development.
Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act almost 40 years ago, more than 4 million fair housing violations still occur each year. When the Department of Housing and Urban Development designated certain real estate companies for investigation, studies uncovered an 87 percent rate of racial steering and a 20 percent denial rate for African-Americans and Latinos. In part due to fair housing violations, the homeownership gap between people of different racial and ethnic groups is larger than it was in 1940. These facts confirm that we need to be doing more to promote fair housing.
I invite my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation and work with me to find solutions to further detect discrimination and enforce the Fair Housing Act.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record as follows:
S. 1733
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