RECENT FAIR HOUSING NEWS

Same-Sex Couples 73% More Likely to be Denied Mortgage. The just-published analysis of 2009-2015 national mortgage date compared same-sex couples' experiences to that of heterosexual couples with the same financial worthiness, according to an analysis of national mortgage data from 1990 to 2015. The researchers say their findings signal a need to include sexual orientation as a protected class under federal lending laws. 

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study also found that when same-sex couples were approved for a home loan, they were given inferior terms. They paid an average of 0.2% more in interest and fees, which totals annually up to as much as $86 million. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/17/same-sex-couples-applying-mortgage-face-higher-rejection-worse-rates-study-finds/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c072a491e8cb.

State Farm Agrees to Pay $250 Million, Avoids Racketeering Trial. The payment is to customers who claimed the company tried to rig the Illinois justice system to wipe out a $1 billion jury verdict from 19 years ago. The largest U.S. auto insurer apparently led an effort to get a judge friendly to its cause for the Illinois Supreme Court, secretly funding Judge Lloyd Karmeier’s 2004 election campaign by giving money through advocacy groups that were not required to disclose donors. Under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, any damages would have been tripled. A judge granted preliminary approval to the accord and set a final fairness hearing for December. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/09/04/500127.htm.

IN THE LATEST FAIR HOUSING NEWS:

Providence, RI Considers Banning Landlords Who Refuse Section 8 Vouchers. Read the March 21, 2019 WPRI.com article.

New Study Finds that Residents of  Historically Redlined Neighborhoods are Over Twice as Likely to go to the Emergency Room (ER) for Asthma. People of color are far more likely to breathe polluted air. Read the May 23, 2019 Citylab article.

Pattern Reversed in Diversifying Neighborhoods: The Decline in Racially Segregated Neighborhoods Between 2000-2017 is Caused by Whites Moving into Minority Areas. Read the April 27, 2019 New York Times article. Read the May 1, 2019 New York Times analysis article.

New Report Discovers that America's Most Polluting Incinerators Disproportionately Affect Low-Income Neighborhoods and Communities of Color. Read the report. Read the May 21, 2019 London Guardian article. Read the May 21, 2019 Pacific Standard article.

Multiple Complaints of Racial Discrimination in Harford County. . Read the April 1, 2019 Atlanta Black Star article. Read the June 1, 2019 Baltimore Sun article.

Study by the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) Finds that “Immigrant Integration” – New Immigrants Inclusion in American Society – is Endangered by their Housing and School Segregation. Immigrant Integration and Immigrant Segregation. Read the April 2019 PRRAC report.