Maryland Commission on Civil Rights Honors the Life, Leadership, and Legacy of President Jimmy Carter

 

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Image Credit: National Park Service Dream Bigger. Fight Harder. Lead with Heart. It is with profound sadness and reverence that we acknowledge the passing of President Jimmy Carter, a towering figure whose life was a testament to the ideals of equity, justice, and human dignity. As the 39th President of the United States, he not only led with unwavering integrity but also exemplified the moral courage required to advance the causes of fairness and equality in every corner of our nation and beyond. President Carter's legacy transcends his time in office. Through his relentless advocacy for human rights, his commitment to eradicating poverty, and his ceaseless pursuit of peace, he reminded us all of the power of leadership rooted in compassion and conviction. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center illuminated the transformative potential of service and inspired generations to believe in the possibility of a more equitable world. At the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, we honor President Carter's enduring commitment to civil rights and social justice. His leadership taught us that progress is neither easy nor guaranteed, it is the product of courage, perseverance, and an unyielding belief in the inherent worth of every individual. His life challenges us to continue dismantling barriers, uplifting marginalized voices, and fostering inclusive communities. As we reflect on his extraordinary life, let us recommit ourselves to the values he championed. Let us strive to build a world where fairness prevails, where justice is accessible to all, and where humanity's shared potential is realized. President Jimmy Carter's legacy will forever inspire us to dream bigger, fight harder, and lead with heart. May we honor his memory not only in words but in action, as we continue the vital work of creating a more just and equitable society. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Carter family and all who were touched by his remarkable life.

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US Homelessness Increases 18.1% as Many Lack Affordable Housing

The U.S. had an 18.1% increase in homelessness in 2024, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required tallies taken across the country - the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) Count - in January found that over 770,000 were counted as homeless. This number misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own.

The source of the data was Part 1: Point-In-Time Estimates of Homelessness of HUD's The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, an annual report to Congress providing nationwide estimates of homelessness, including information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons. HUD released it on December 27, 2024.

2024's 18.1% increase comes after 2023's 12.0% increase, which HUD said was caused by soaring rents, the end of pandemic assistance, and by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the U.S., with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.

Among the most serious trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness - among the areas most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities. Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities impacted by migrants including Denver, Chicago, and New York City, while it rose less than 8% in the other 373 communities. Almost 150,000 children were homeless on a single night in 2024, a 33% jump from last year. California, the most populous state, continued to have the nation’s largest homeless population, followed by New York, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), to fully address America’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis, "Congress must invest at the scale needed to ensure that renters with the lowest incomes have an affordable place to call home. As outlined in NLIHC’s national HoUSed campaign policy agenda, federal investments are needed to bridge the gap between incomes and housing costs through universal rental assistance, build and preserve rental homes affordable to people with the lowest incomes, prevent evictions and homelessness by stabilizing families during a crisis, and strengthen and enforce renter protections to address the power imbalance that tilts heavily in favor of landlords."

While the data presents a grim picture, it also "demonstrates that success is possible when the federal government prioritizes evidence-based solutions and funds these resources to scale," said the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). One notable example is the reduction in veteran homelessness. From 2023 to 2024, veteran homelessness dropped by 7.6%, with unsheltered veteran homelessness falling 10.7%. This marks the continuation of a successful federal strategy that has reduced veteran homelessness by over 55% since 2010, one of the most significant achievements in the fight to end homelessness. In addition, several large cities had success reducing their homeless numbers. Dallas, which overhauled its homeless system, saw a 16% drop during 2022-2024. Los Angeles, which increased housing for the homeless, had a 5% decrease in unsheltered homelessness since 2023.

Read the December 27, 2024 AP News Article.

Read the December 27, 2024 NLIHC's full statement.

Read the December 27, 2024 NAEH article.

Senator Smith (D-MN) Introduces “Mapping Housing Discrimination Act”

Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) has introduced the “Mapping Housing Discrimination Act” (S.5534) in the U.S. Senate last week. The bill would support efforts to map and digitize data on racially restrictive covenants in property records and establish a grant program to enable educational institutions to collect and analyze racial covenants and racially or ethnically restrictive language in local governments’ property records. The legislation would also help local governments digitize deeds and would create a publicly accessible database administered by HUD to gather together information about historic housing discrimination patterns in property records.  

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has endorsed the legislation and will work with Senator Smith’s office to support efforts to document the impacts of racial covenants and other tools of discrimination used to keep Black families and other households of color from moving into certain neighborhoods. While such racial covenants were made illegal by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, documenting such records is crucial to tracking the history of housing discrimination, along with the impacts of housing segregation that persist today.  

Senator Smith also introduced a similar bill in July, 2021, that would examine the connection between historical racial discrimination and current racial disparities in housing. The bill would have created "a grant program for academic institutions to study the history of racially restrictive covenants - which were used as tools of discrimination to keep Black families and other households of color from moving into all-white neighborhoods - to better understand their scope and legacy. The bill would create a national, public database at HUD of historical housing discrimination patterns in property records and support local governments’ efforts to digitize local property records."

Read the 2024 bill text here. 

Read more about the history of fair housing in “Lofty Rhetoric, Prejudiced Policy: The Story of How the Federal Government Promised— and Undermined—Fair Housing” in NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.  

Recent Data on Maryland: Housing is Unaffordable for Many

Shortage of Affordable Housing

According to the June, 2024 "Maryland Housing Profile" compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), Maryland has "a shortage of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low income households (ELI), whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI). Many of these households are severely cost burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing. Severely cost burdened poor households are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent, and to experience unstable housing situations like evictions." The statistics are stark:

197,310 or 26% - .Renter households that are extremely low income.

-134,192 - Shortage of rental homes affordable and available for extremely low income renters.

$37,740 - Average income limit for 4-person extremely low income household.

$76,345 - Annual household income needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home at HUD's Fair Market Rent.

73% - Percent of extremely low income renter households with severe cost burden.

According to the NLIHC's Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing (2024), working at minimum wage of $15.00/hour each week you have to work 82 hours to afford a modest 1 bedroom rental home at the State's Fair Market Rent. In Maryland, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,909. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities - without paying more than 30% of income on housing - a household must earn $6,362 monthly or $76,345 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage of $36.70.

Read the Maryland profile in the NLIHC's Out of Reach report.

Housing Inventory Characteristics

In 2019-2023, Maryland had a total of 2.5 million housing units. Of these housing units:

72.4% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 

26.2% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 

1.3% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

When was the Housing Built?

8.6% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 10.8% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Maryland was 6.2 rooms, and of these housing units 66.4 percent had three or more bedrooms (Source: DP04 | Selected Housing Characteristics).

Occupied Housing Characteristics

In 2019-2023, Maryland had 2.3 million housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 206,022 were vacant. 

Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 67.5% while renters occupied 32.5%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.70 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.34.

Some 9.3% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 10.9% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 8.7% and another 22.1% had three or more vehicles available for use (Source: DP04 | Selected Housing Characteristics).

Financial Characteristics and Housing Costs

In 2019-2023, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Maryland was $397,700.

Of the owner-occupied households, 71.5% had a mortgage. 28.5% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $2,301 and for owners without a mortgage it was $728.

For renter-occupied households, the median gross rent for Maryland was $1,662. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house (Source: DP04 | Selected Housing Characteristics).

Disability

In Maryland, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2019-2023, 11.4% reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 4.3% of people under 18 years old, to 9.2% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 29.6% of those 65 and over (Source: DP02 | Selected Social Characteristics in the United States).

Go to the Census Bureau's 1999-2023 Maryland Narrative Profile.

Maryland Commission on Civil Rights' Symposium on Protecting Civil Rights is January 11th

 

Tuesday, December 24, 2024 The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR) is honored to invite you to join us at our upcoming symposium, "Protecting Civil Rights During Challenging Times." The symposium will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2025 from 9:00am-3:00pm at Howard Community College. This event is free of charge with lunch provided. REGISTER TODAY We will focus on addressing civil rights challenges in today's uncertain environment and the collaborative efforts needed to safeguard equity and justice for all Marylanders. Our guests include representatives from the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland, the Governor's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and more! Thank you for your continued support of the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights as we strive to break barriers, uplift voices, and create even greater change! Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships HOME      ABOUT MCCR      SERVICES      PUBLICATIONS      EVENTS      PRESS      CONTACT US

DRM and Partners Reach Agreement with Baltimore City to Improve Sidewalks and Ramps for People with Mobility Disabilities

 

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) and their legal partners Disability Rights Advocates, Fox & Robertson, and Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, on behalf of pedestrians with mobility disabilities, have reached a partial agreement with the City of Baltimore to make sidewalks and curb ramps more accessible for people with mobility disabilities. This is part of the class-action lawsuit Goodlaxson, et al. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (Case No. 1:21-cv-01454-JKB).    In 2021, DRM and their legal partners filed the lawsuit on behalf of several individuals and organizations, including Susan Goodlaxson, Janice Jackson, Keyonna Mayo, and the IMAGE Center of Maryland. They argued that Baltimore City failed to follow federal disability laws because many of its sidewalks and curb ramps were not built or maintained to be accessible, making it harder for people with disabilities to safely travel around the city and take part in community life.    Baltimore City’s own data shows the issue is widespread. A 2019 review found that only about 1.3% of surveyed curb ramps met ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards. Many sidewalks were also damaged or too narrow for wheelchairs and other mobility devices, forcing people with disabilities to use the street alongside traffic, which is dangerous.    This lawsuit aimed to help everyone with mobility disabilities who has had difficulty using Baltimore’s sidewalks, curb ramps, and pedestrian pathways because they were too steep, narrow, or damaged. The agreement, a partial consent decree, is a step toward fixing these problems. Beginning in the third year of the agreement, the parties will work on a long-term plan to make all sidewalks and ramps accessible.

What Baltimore City Agreed to Do:   Spend $44–50 Million Over Four Years  The City will repair or build thousands of curb ramps and fix tens of thousands of square feet of sidewalks. Focus on Key Areas First Improvements will start in important places like government offices, transportation hubs, hospitals, and business areas -  especially in high-need neighborhoods. Improve the 3-1-1 System People with mobility disabilities can use the City’s 3-1-1 system to report broken sidewalks or ramps. Baltimore City will: Investigate issues within 60 days.  Provide a timeline for fixing the issue within 10 days after the investigation. Aim to fix the problem within nine months.  Quickly respond to complaints about puddles forming on ramps.  Hire ADA Coordinators  Baltimore will appoint coordinators to ensure the repairs meet ADA standards. Raise Awareness The City will educate the public about keeping sidewalks and ramps clear of snow and debris, especially near bus stops and public transportation. Create a Public Database  Baltimore City will maintain an online system to track the conditions of sidewalks and curb ramps.

Source: Disability Rights Maryland email, December 19, 2024

Bazelon Successfully Advocates for Federal Medicaid Dollars to Go to Community Integration, Not Segregated Settings

On December 16, 2024, the Judge David L. Bazelon Center applauded the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for prioritizing community integration, quality healthcare, and oversight in considering California’s recent proposal to use federal dollars provided through Medicaid to build and operate segregated, residential settings that do not meet the state’s legal requirement to provide services to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting.

On August 30, 2024, Bazelon had filed comments with CMS expressing deep concerns about California’s proposal to use Medicaid dollars to build congregate settings, referred to as “enriched residential settings” (ERS), that would be populated exclusively or primarily by people with disabilities whose activities would be regulated and other restrictions imposed. The ADA and Olmstead v. L.C. (Lois Curtis) require that individuals with disabilities be served in the most integrated setting appropriate and not unnecessarily provided institutional care. 

Bazelon's comments argued that California has not made and is not making mainstream housing, subsidized and with appropriate supports, available to those it proposes to serve in ERS. In Bazelon's experience, these individuals could be served in such settings, like “supported housing,” with better results. Evidence and research also was cited that showed that a step-down model or “linear continuum of care” - where people with mental health disabilities are moved through temporary congregate settings before they are transitioned to independent housing - is not necessary nor effective. At a minimum, CMS was urged to impose guardrails limiting the use and size of these segregated, residential settings.

There was immediate progress. This month, in responding to the state’s application for funding, CMS denied California’s request for federal funding of ERS and instructed California to first develop, seek public comment on, and submit additional details on critical related issues such as how the proposed pilot will ensure people are placed in the least restrictive setting and how it will confirm service settings are committed to being truly integrated, with independent choice. Bazelon has praised CMS for its active and crucial oversight to ensure that people with disabilities are not unjustly segregated and instead can live and receive services in their own homes and communities.

Read the Bazelon Center’s comments (submission ID 2367).

Read the December 16 CMS response to California’s proposal.