Zillow’s New Free AI tool aims to Promote Equality in Housing

 

The open-source tool, which is available for free, addresses bias in large language models. Zillow's open-source tool, the Fair Housing Classifier, is part of the company’s efforts to “promote responsible and unbiased behavior in real estate conversations powered by large language model (LLM) technology.“ Zillow explained that artificial intelligence (AI) tools often fail to account for the myriad requirements of fair housing laws. These tools, when deployed, “can perpetuate bias and undermine the progress achieved in advocating for fair housing.“ 

The Fair Housing Classifier (FHC) is designed to act as a protective measure against steering, or the act of influencing a person’s choice of home based upon protected characteristics. The Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended, prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status or national origin. The FHC is equipped to detect questions “that could lead to discriminatory responses about legally protected groups in real estate experiences, such as search or chatbots.“ The AI technology can identify cases of noncompliance with equal housing laws when it is given a question or answer. System developers have the ability to intervene in these cases.

In a recent survey of over 12,000 Americans, Zillow found that 57% reported some type of housing discrimination during their life. This was 79% for LGBTQ+ respondents, 69% for Blacks, and 64% for Hispanics and Latinos.

“In today’s rapidly evolving AI landscape, promoting safe, secure and trustworthy AI practices in housing and lending is becoming increasingly important to protect consumers against algorithmic harms,“ Michael Akinwumi, chief responsible AI officer for the National Fair Housing Alliance, said in a statement. “Zillow’s open-source approach sets an admirable precedent for responsible innovation. We encourage other organizations and coalition groups to actively participate, test, and enhance the model and share their findings with the public.”

Companies and individuals that want to use the Fair Housing Classifier can access its code and comprehensive framework on its page on GitHub. Anyone wanting to provide feedback and/or improve the tool can connect with the email alias on the GitHub page.

Read the May 21, 2024 HousingWire article..

Court Finds City of Anaheim Violated the FHA when It Blocked Permits for a Transitional Housing Development.

 

The ruling rebuked the City of Anaheim, California for imposing different standards on a local nonprofit, Grandma's House of Hope, aimed at providing transitional housing for women with mental health disabilities who recently experienced homelessness, an act labeled by the court as discriminatory. Despite the city's insistence on a conditional use permit (CUP) for the nonprofit to house 16 women, the court sided with the state and the nonprofit in a decision that signaled an end to tolerating such exclusions

The California Department of Housing and Community Development brought the case in 2022, after Anaheim officials rejected an application from local service provider Grandma’s House of Hope to open a new 16-unit facility for homeless women suffering from abuse and mental health issues. Although the city’s staff experts had recommended the permits be approved, city planning commission members voted the proposal down following a public meeting where people from the surrounding neighborhood railed against Grandma’s House. This February, a court found in favor of Grandma’s House. The Orange County Superior Court’s decision to overrule Anaheim’s denial and allow Grandma’s House of Hope is celebrated as a significant victory for fair housing in California, signaling that discriminatory practices and NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) attitudes will not be tolerated. Governor Gavin Newsom emphasized the importance of transitional homes in addressing homelessness and appropriately warned that communities refusing to allow housing for all Californians will face consequences.

Its original plan was to host up to 21 women at an 8-bedroom house in a single-family neighborhood on West Street near Anaheim's downtown. They would receive therapy and other services from seven House of Hope staff members, several of whom would be on-call 24/7 to respond to emergencies. The plan would be to move these women into permanent housing within 18 months.

The next steps in the legal process are now anticipated, as discussions venture toward potential remedies beyond the court's order. 

Read the February 3, 2024 Hoodline article.

 

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Harvard Rental Study Finds 50% of Renters Have Housing Affordability Problems

A 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University reveals that although the rental market is cooling, evictions and homelessness are rising. The rental housing affordability crisis has deepened across all income groups and now affects half of all U.S. renters.

It was found that:

(1) Rental costs have stabilized following historic increases in 2021 and 2022. As of 2023's  third quarter, rental growth slowed to rates of less than 1%, down from 15% in early 2022. Although these reduced growth rates have offered relief for some households, asking rents still exceed pre-pandemic levels. The report finds that 50% of all renters are now cost burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.

(2) The supply of lower-cost units has diminished; over 2.1 million units renting for less than $600 per month have been lost since 2012. From 2012-2022, higher construction costs and increased demand from high-income renters resulted in an increase of 8.4 million units renting for more than $1,400, which is unaffordable for most renters.

(3) As of January 2023, more than 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, which was the highest number on record. 

(4)  Although multifamily housing construction increased during the pandemic, it began to slow in late 2023. In October 2023, new multifamily housing starts were down by 30% from 2022, and the reduced starts could have lasting effects on the current shortage of multifamily housing. 

(5) Property insurance premiums have skyrocketed by 30 or 40% in some areas, which can limit the number of affordable units a property owner can provide. In some cases, borrowers opt for reduced coverage to bring down their insurance costs, but this strategy can place properties in an insecure position if a natural disaster occurs. In addition, these increased insurance costs also can lead property owners to compensate by cutting back on maintenance and necessary upgrades.

(6) The report indicates that the country's rental housing stock is aging, with a median age of 44 years in 2021 compared to 34 years in 2001. This aging housing stock requires substantial upgrades in habitability, energy efficiency, and accessibility standards, and it also faces a heightened risk of damage from climate change and extreme weather events.

Read the March 19, 2024 PD&R Edge article.

HUD and Rocket Mortgage, LLC Reach Agreement on Montana Fair Lending Complaint for Home Purchase within Tribal Lands

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s Conciliation Agreement with Rocket Mortgage, LLC resolves allegations that Rocket Mortgage denied a mortgage loan application based on race because the home being purchased was located within the Tribal boundaries of a federally recognized reservation. Read the Agreement.

The case originated when a complaint was filed by a couple applying for a mortgage to purchase a single-family home within the boundaries of the Flathead Indian Reservation in St. Ignatius, Montana. Rocket Mortgage denied the loan application. As a result, complainants allege they were forced to pay a higher interest rate and accept a loan from another lender on less-favorable terms. The agreement resolves the complaint with Rocket Mortgage.

The agreement secures $65,000 compensation to complainants, requires Rocket Mortgage to provide fair lending training to its employees, and requires Rocket Mortgage to abide by fair lending requirements for applicants seeking residential mortgage credit located within the boundaries of a Native American reservation. Additionally, Rocket Mortgage will invest at least $30,000 to provide financial support for programs that improve housing conditions, consumer financial literacy and education, outreach and homeownership education or counseling for Native Americans. Rocket Mortgage also agreed to conduct outreach through its website and social media platforms describing the company’s broad range of financing options available to eligible applicants whose loans are secured by property located within the boundaries of Native American reservations.

People who believe they have experienced discrimination may file a complaint by contacting HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (Relay).

Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed at hud.gov/fairhousing.

Read the May 13, 2024 HUD article.

HUD Study Finds "White Flight" Continues to Worsen Residential Segregation

HUD's research publication PD&R Edge has just published the results of two surveys examining recent White Flight migration. “Validating the White Flight Hypothesis: Neighborhood Racial Composition and Out-Migration in Two Longitudinal Surveys” uses data from two longitudinal surveys, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), to compare probabilities of neighborhood out-migration for Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians by neighborhood racial and ethnic composition. “White flight,” or the tendency of White households to move out of neighborhoods as the proportion of racial and ethnic minorities living in the neighborhood increases, is a basic assumption of theories of racial and ethnic residential segregation. Few studies, however, have empirically tested this assumption, with those that have relying almost entirely on PSID. Although PSID is a rich source of longitudinal data on the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of U.S. households, it is based largely on a sample of households originally drawn in the 1960s and their descendants. While research using PSID data has consistently confirmed that White households frequently move out as the number of minorities in a neighborhood increases, these studies examine the post-1960s period of increasing racial and ethnic diversity.

Findings

The researchers found that, for White households, the likelihood of out-migration increases as neighborhood minority shares grow. The trend is most apparent in predominantly White neighborhoods  - that is, when the percentage of minorities (non-White residents) in a neighborhood increases from 0-20%. Because most White households live in neighborhoods with few minorities, this finding suggests that in predominantly White neighborhoods, small increases in the share of minority residents can spur out-migration for some White households. In neighborhoods in which the minority share exceeds 20%, the rate of out-migration was slower. When the researchers examined Whites' responses to neighborhood proportions of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians alone rather than the minority population as a whole, the results were similar: as neighborhood shares of each group increased from 0 to 20%, White households were more likely to out-migrate.

The studies' research also found that out-migration of Black households increases as the neighborhood share of Hispanic residents rises from 0 to 20%. Also, there was increasing out-migration of Hispanic households as Black neighborhood shares increased. Finally, it was found that the mobility behaviors of Asian households are largely indifferent to neighborhood racial composition.

Conclusions

The research highlights the continued important determining role of race in the migration decision making process and the broader spatial foundations that shape inequality and mobility. 

Earlier work appearing in PD&R Edge documented the difficulties HUD’s housing assistance programs have encountered in reducing racial and ethnic segregation. While housing assistance programs have successfully improved neighborhoods and the lives of individuals receiving assistance, these programs have not significantly reduced racial and ethnic segregation. 

This research found that additional barriers to efforts to reduce residential segregation are:

(1) The active resistance of some White households, who may resort to moving to new neighborhoods to avoid living with minorities. 

(2)  The tendency for minorities to  avoid neighborhoods predominantly occupied by other minorities. 

Therefore, "White flight” and minority neighborhood avoidance combined with discrimination in the search for housing, differential access to credit, and restrictive zoning laws are significant obstacles for HUD to achieve the stated goals of the AFFH, namely reduced racial and ethnic residential segregation. 

Read the May 14, 2024 HUD User article.

State's 60th Anniversary Celebration of Civil Rights Act to be on July 2nd

 

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Bazelon Center Celebrates Critical Civil Rights Protections for People with Disabilities in New HHS Rule

 

The Bazelon Center commends the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for issuing the new Section 504 Final Rule, Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs or Activities.   The rule updates and strengthens the lead regulation implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal law that prohibits disability-based discrimination in federally funded health and human service programs and activities, including in healthcare and child welfare programs. The HHS Section 504 rule incorporates the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. (Lois Curtis) that people with disabilities have a right to live and receive services in their homes and community and to be free from segregation and unnecessary institutionalization. It also explains how this mandate applies in the child welfare system.   “HHS’ new Section 504 rule updates and clarifies federal disability rights regulations that had not been updated since the 1970s,” explained Bazelon Legal Director Megan Schuller. “The new rule is an important step towards realizing the promise of these laws to eradicate disability discrimination in all its forms, including the continued isolation and unnecessary institutionalization of people with mental disabilities.”   Last fall, the Bazelon Center co-authored coalition comments with members of the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) that responded to HHS’ then-proposed Section 504 rule. The comments included key Bazelon Center priorities. Bazelon led coalition efforts to ensure the full integration of people with disabilities in the community and to advance the rights of children and parents with disabilities in the child welfare system. We are pleased to see our recommendations reflected in the rule.   Responsive to feedback from Bazelon and partners, the rule defines “most integrated setting” broadly. This updated definition aligns with longstanding Department of Justice Olmstead guidance, as well as widely accepted Key Principles for Community Integration for People with Disabilities. The rule also recognizes that an entity’s practices, as well as its policies, can result in segregation, and that settings like group homes that are located in the community can still be segregated and discriminatory.   The rule also requires child welfare agencies to place children with disabilities in the most integrated setting and prohibits “the unnecessary or unjustified segregation of children with disabilities, such as default placement in institutional or other congregate care,” which “should never be considered the most appropriate long-term placement for children.” Children with disabilities must be supported to live in the most integrated setting, which “is almost always the family home or a foster care setting.”   In response to our comments, HHS also made explicit that Section 504 applies to family preservation services and reunification efforts and that parenting assessments must be individualized and measure parenting ability, not a parent’s disability. The final rule was officially published today.   Please join us in sharing this critical information, and in ensuring that the promise of Section 504 and the ADA is fully realized.   Read the Bazelon Center’s summary and analysis of key provisions. Read the Final Rule, which will take effect on July 8, 2024. Read the Final Rule Fact Sheet, which summarizes key updates. Learn more about the protections of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Maryland Hate Bias Reporting Forum will be on June 6th in Bel Air

 

Join us at our LIVE forum that brings together law enforcement and the community to improve hate bias reporting. To register, click on the picture above or click HERE.   Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships HOME      ABOUT MCCR      SERVICES      PUBLICATIONS      EVENTS      PRESS      CONTACT US