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Copyright © 2020 Beyond the Boundariesbtb.org, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Beyond the Boundariesbtb.org 3615 Harford Rd Baltimore, MD 21218-3150 Add us to your address book ***** Source: Beyond the Boundaries, September 18, 2020..

New NCRC study finds More Chronic Disease, Shorter Lifespans, and Greater Risk Factors for COVID-19 in Segregated Neighborhoods Redlined 80 Years Ago

The new historical study, from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) - done in conjunction with researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health and the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab - compared 1930’s maps of government-sanctioned lending discrimination zones with current census and public health data.

The study found that lower-income and minority neighborhoods that were intentionally cut off from lending and investment decades ago now have both reduced wealth and greater poverty, and also lower life expectancy and higher prevalence of chronic diseases that are risk factors for poor outcomes from COVID-19, a new study shows. 

This study confirms the previous research that many of today's most economically struggling neighborhoods in urban areas are the same places that had intentional, systematic segregation and lending discrimination in past decades. For example, a 2018 NCRC study found that three out of four neighborhoods marked “hazardous” in the HOLC's 1930 maps were still struggling economically.

The new study further establishes the very strong correlation between redlining and health outcomes in those same neighborhoods: more chronic illnesses like asthma, COPD, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, kidney disease, obesity and stroke. 

View maps and read the full report

View maps and read the full report here.

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Source: NCRC release, September 10, 2020.

 

CDC/HHS Announces Nationwide Eviction Moratorium The Centers for Disease Control, together with the US Department of Health & Human Services, issued an order late yesterday temporarily halting residential evictions in some circumstances to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.   The order recognizes explicitly what HPRP and others have been saying for years - housing is health care.    When is the order effective?  The order will take effect on Friday, September 4, 2020 and will end on December 31, 2020.   Are all tenants protected? No.  Only tenants who meet ALL of the following criteria are protected:     (1)   Tenants who are unable to pay the rent due to substantial loss of income or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses; (2)    Tenants whose income is less than $99,000, they did not have to pay income tax in 2019, or they received a stimulus check; (3)    Tenants who have used "best efforts" to obtain all available government assistance for rent or housing; (4)    Tenants who are using "best efforts" to make timely partial payments to the landlord; and (5)    Tenants who would likely become homeless or need to double-up if evicted.     What do tenants need to do to show they are entitled to protection? Tenants must sign a form - called a "declaration" - showing they are protected by this order and give the signed declaration to their landlord.  This form will be available starting Friday, September 4, 2020. Are Maryland tenants still facing eviction?  Yes.  Many Maryland tenants are still at risk of eviction.  HPRP has been in court in both Baltimore City and Montgomery County this week assisting and representing tenants facing eviction.  The CDC's Order is a step in the right direction, but it does not cover everyone.   Questions or Want Assistance with the Declaration? Call Carisa Hatfield at HPRP at 443-402-5395 or 410-685-6589 x32             ***             Source: Homeless Persons Representation Project email, September 3, 2020.

CURRENT FAIR HOUSING NEWS

Some current news relevant to Fair Housing selected from various news and information sources

Sillerman Center Publishes List of Efforts to Support Housing Integration. The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy at Brandeis University has published a "landscape survey" on grassroots efforts to support housing integration in the country, Inhabiting Change: Roles for Philanthropy in Reducing and Redressing Housing Segregation. (PRRAC Update, August 27, 2020)

Council on Economic Mobility RFI About Economic Mobility for Low-Income Households. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is a member of the Council on Economic Mobility (Council), a new federal interagency effort. The Council seeks to create an accountable and effective structure for interagency collaboration and to use federal authorities to promote family-sustaining careers and economic mobility for low-income Americans. Recently, the Council published a request for information (RFI) to gather feedback from all of its stakeholders. Click here to view the RFI. Your input is important! The information gathered in response to the RFI will be used to better inform the Council's priorities, working group activities, stakeholder engagement, and federal programs. Feedback on the specific economic mobility, recovery, and resilience challenges in local communities in the short, medium, and long term is welcome. We understand that this may be a busy time. While we encourage you to comment as soon as possible, the RFI is open for comment until October 2, 2020. (HUD PD&R Updates, August 25, 2020)

HUD Reaches Conciliation Agreement Resolving National Origin Housing Discrimination The three Conciliation Agreements with the owners and property management company of Springdale Ridge Apartments in Springdale, Arkansas, resolves allegations that they discriminated against several residents because of their national origin and retaliated against an employee living on site who sought to inform the residents of their fair housing rights. Read the agreements. (HUD press release, August 21, 2020)

NCRC And SLEHCRA Call On Edward Jones To Add St. Louis Assessment Area For New Banking Division. NCRC and the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) have urged the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to require Edward Jones Bank to meet Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) assessment requirements in the St. Louis area. Read more. (Just News, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, August 6, 2020)

Why Are There No Disability-Related Questions on the 2020 Census? There is still time to be counted in the 2020 Census! Visit 2020census.gov or call 884-330-2020 and be counted in the 2020 Census today. The deadline to respond is September 30, 2020. (News from NDRN, National Disability Rights Network, August 27, 2020)

 

VIRTUAL FAIR HOUSING FILM FESTIVAL

Join the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights for this year’s Civil Rights Week, celebrated with our first annual Fair Housing Film Festival. Watch films, join panel discussions, and see original performances all based on the idea of fair housing- everyone’s right to live free from housing discrimination.

All films, panel discussions, and performances will be hosted on Eventive, check back soon for links to register or sign up today to receive more information.

Happening All Week:

Virtual Resource Fair - Check out the videos from organizations all over Baltimore City to learn more about the services they provide. http://bit.ly/VirtualResourceFair.

Student Film Festival  - Watch student films and help decide who will win a cash prize for the most film with the most views. Deadline extended to 8/24! learn more at https://filmfreeway.com/FairHousingFilmFestival.

Social Media Contest - Participate in the festival by joining our social media contest, posts with the most views win a cash prize.

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Learn more about the Festival.

Go to the Baltimore Office of Equity and Civil Rights

Study Finds Black Families Pay 10% Higher Property Taxes than White Families

Washington Post, July 7, 2020.

A new working paper by economists Troup Howard of the University of Utah and Carlos Avenancio-León of Indiana University found that unfair property assessments lead to widespread overtaxation of black Americans’ homes. Their data analyzed more than a decade of tax assessment and sales data on 118 million homes across the US found that black families pay 13 percent more in property taxes each year than a white family in the same situation. The study showed that black-owned homes are assessed at higher values, compared to their actual sale price, than white homes.

In almost every US state, they found that property tax assessments were higher in areas with more black and Hispanics. The gap persists in differences in buildings or land but also in the racial composition of the neighborhood. The gap between white families and minority households (Hispanic and Black families) is 10 percent.

This represents an updated version of the Jim Crow era when "local white officials routinely manipulated property tax assessments to overburden and punish black populations and as a hidden tax break to landowning white gentry,” according to University of Virginia historian Andrew Kahrl.
This sometimes was done in direct retaliation for black political action. Kahrl found that in 1932 a black North Carolina resident was taxed for the value of two stray dogs that had been seen on her property.

In 1901, W.E.B. Du Bois showed that because of their unequal tax burden, black people paid more in taxes than they received in public education funds. The recently-released 2020 study stated that the absolute fiction that “black people take services but they don’t pay taxes” is widespread in the US.

Recently, the forces raising black tax bills are more subtle. The sale price of Black-owned homes tend to grow slower because the whites who are most of the home buyers tend to avoid black neighborhoods and thus eliminate many potential buyers. If an assessor assumes a black-owned home gains value as fast as a white-owned home, the assessed value of the black-owned home will exceed  its true market value. The black family annually pays more in property taxes, although the sales price is not increasing as much. The nearby white families benefit because their homes increase in value quicker than their assessments - producing an ever-growing tax break. In addition, the supposedly neutral appeals process also penalizes black wealth. While the property tax gaps are worst for low wage earners, even the highest-earning black Americans pay more on average in property taxes than similar white peers living nearby.

The authors noted that their data showed “you can equally tell the story that assessors don’t realize how unequally the burden is landing along racial and ethnic lines”

Read the Washington Post article. Read the study.

Virtual Discussion on Ending Systemic Racism in Law Enforcement with guests Marc Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League and Hilary Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. 

Monday, June 8, 2:00 p.m.

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin is holding this discussion as a call for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and victims of police violence in black communities. It also is meant to strengthen  the urgent need for action to reform policing nationwide and eliminate racial profiling in the criminal justice system.

During the discussion, Senator Cardin will be taking questions from constituents via email and social media and will answer many of these. To send a question, send his office an email or comment on Facebook. Questioners are asked to please be respectful of all in the online community and keep questions and comments civil and relevant to the subject matter.

This conversation will stream live at Facebook.com/SenatorBenCardin. Can’t access Facebook? This conversation also will be streaming live on YouTube at YouTube.com/SenatorCardin.



Source: Email from Senator Cardin, June 4, 2020.