Housing Discrimination Complaint Against Redfin in 10 Cities Including Baltimore

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has filed a federal complaint against the Redfin national real estate firm, alleging the company’s online listing services unlawfully favor white consumers and neighborhoods compared to their nonwhite counterparts in Baltimore and nine other cities.

The NFHA said that Redfin’s minimum home listing price guidelines violate the Fair Housing Act by denying service to customers in largely segregated communities: "Redfin redlines communities of color in this digital age by setting minimum home listing prices in each housing market on its website under which it will not offer any real estate brokerage services to buyers or sellers,” reads the complaint, adding that Redfin conducts much of its services online and has few in-person offices. “By disproportionately withholding its services to homebuyers and sellers in these communities, Redfin disincentivizes homebuying within these communities, reduces housing demand and values, and perpetuates residential segregation."

The NFHA complaint names Baltimore as one of 10 cities where Redfin is more likely to offer service in “Extremely White” ZIP codes (over 70% white) and less likely to list homes in “Extremely Non-White” ZIP codes (over 70% not white). The other cities named are Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, and Memphis, as well as Kansas City, Missouri; Newark, New Jersey; and Long Island, New York. 

The NFHA alleges that Redfin is over five times as likely to not offer services in Black neighborhoods in Baltimore, and more than six times as likely to offer its “Best Available Service” in white neighborhoods. The term “Best Available Service” refers to the most comprehensive level of service offered by the company, which connects buyers and sellers to Redfin agents and offers perks such as reduced listing commission fees and refunds.  

Redfin has denied the allegations.

Baltimore Sun

October 30, 2020

https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bs-bz-national-fair-housing-alliance-baltimore-complaint-redfin-20201029-zbkmdalxdndrtfltvvipi7o6xu-story.html

 New Book: 

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

by Martha S. Jones 

352 pages.

hardcover, $30.00

Basic Books, 2020.

This is an important book for all of us that has just been published in September, 2020. It interestingly tells the history of how black women fought for their right to vote, for overcoming various barriers restricting their vote, and the relevance for all voters. Anyone interested in civil rights, public access, and the political process should read this.

Like all civil rights laws, the Nineteenth Amendment was an achievement, but much remained - and remains - to be done.

From the Amazon description:

"In Vanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women's political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of black women -- Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more -- who were the vanguard of women's rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals."

STUDY FINDS LENDING DISCRIMINATION WITHIN THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM

A just-released study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has found that there has been racial discrimination in the implementation of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). 

The PPP is a lending program that provides money, in a potential grant format, to small businesses to help them weather the economic effects of the pandemic. The majority of the loan needs to be allocated for employee salaries and then the remainder can be used for other business expenses like rent and loan payments.

The study involved matched-pair testing for requesting loans in Washington, D.C. It was found that there was racial discrimination in levels of encouragement in applying for a loan, the products offered, and the information provided by the bank staffer.

To correct this, the NCRC proposes:

1. Financial institutions should implement rigorous compliance programs that include matched-pair testing of their bank branches and review of their decision to deny a PPP loan to ensure that there is no disparate treatment or impact. 

2. The federal government can aid compliance efforts by ensuring that data related to small business lending is made public. The SBA should immediately release the business name and address for businesses that were able to access a PPP loan for less than $150,000 and the terms of those loans, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should fast track its efforts to implement the Small Business Data Collection provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1071, that requires lenders to disclose small business loan data. 

Without these measures, it is concluded that existing disparities will continue, hampering economic development in minority  communities.

Read the study: https://ncrc.org/lending-discrimination-within-the-paycheck-protection-program/.

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Source: NCRC, November 6, 2020.

 

Please Report If a Voting Drop Box and/or Polling Location is not Accessible!

Unfortunately, there still are various public facilities and services that are not accessible. Thanks to the assistance of a Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) friend who identified a trashcan obstructing the path to a ballot drop-off box in Frederick County, DRM successfully had the the barrier removed to insure accessibility. Help DRM identify inaccessible drop box and ballot locations by contacting our voter hotline by phone at 443-692-2492; 800-233-7201 ext. 2492; TTY 410-235-5387, or by email at Voting@DisabilityRightsMD.org.    And don't forget the DRM's 2020 Breaking Barriers Gala Awards Banquet on November 12, 2020 at 6:30-7:30 p.m.  The Breaking Barriers Awards Gala is DRM's signature celebration where individuals, law firms and organizations that have demonstrated exceptional leadership, vision and achievement in safeguarding the legal rights of people with disabilities in Maryland are recognized and honored. Funds raised at the Gala will directly support DRM and expand their ability to provide legal assistance so that Marylanders with disabilities, regardless of income, age or race, can live full independent lives in the community. At this event, the DRM will honor Floyd Hartley On Behalf Of CARS, Gayle Hafner Grassroots Advocacy Award; Wade Henderson, Judith Heumann Champion Of Justice Award; Judith E. Heumann, Presenter, Judith Heumann Champion Of Justice Award; and Andrew D. Levy, Lorraine Sheehan Lifetime Achievement Award.  Buy your tickets. Become a sponsor. ***** Source: Disability Rights Maryland's DRM Spotlight, October 2020.

 

National Community Reinvestment Coalition Special Event Redlining And Neighborhood Health October 20, 12:00 pm EDT - 1:30 pm EDT In this webinar, National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) staff and other advocates will discuss their new redlining and health report, major findings, and the effects of redlining today in Baltimore and Rochester, New York. There also will be a demonstration of the web application that allows you to examine the relationship between redlining and public health in more than 140 cities. Speakers: Jason Richardson, NCRC Jad Edlebi, NCRC Bruce Mitchell, PhD, NCRC Marceline White, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition Ruhi Maker, Empire Justice Center

Register Now

***** Source: NCRC email, October 16, 2020.

 Study Finds Higher COVID-19 Risk Factors in Redlined Neighborhoods - Like Parts of Baltimore

"People of color are disproportionately contracting COVID-19, and because they are more likely to have underlying health conditions, are also facing an increased risk of severe illness and mortality from COVID-19 (CDC, 2020). While COVID-19 has pushed racial health inequities into the national spotlight, the underlying differences in social, economic and environmental conditions that have given rise to inequities in COVID-19 infection, transmission and severe illness are not new (CDC, 2020)."

The just-released Redlining and Neighborhood Health study of multiple cities - including Baltimore - by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), working with two researchers each from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Richmond, has found that:

"Further, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact on the country’s Black population, Barber et al. (2020) examined racial residential segregation and COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia, guided by theoretical frameworks for studying structural racism. The HOLC’s historical practices of redlining and other discriminatory lending practices were instrumental in driving the stark segregation seen in Philadelphia today. While not explicitly measuring HOLC redlining maps, Barber et al. (2020) acknowledge how these historical processes established the physical, economic and social conditions that are giving rise to racial inequities in COVID-19. They illustrate how structural racism embedded in our interlocking social, legal, economic and political systems interact to drive disproportionate prevalence of COVID-19 infection, transmission and mortality in Black communities (Barber et al., 2020). Their results showed that the most segregated neighborhoods in Philadelphia were more likely to have structural susceptibility to COVID-19 (a measure encompassing neighborhood indicators that increase the likelihood of exposure and community transmission, limit ability to access testing and treatment, and capture economic hardship). Further, the COVID-19 case rate in the five most segregated neighborhoods was twice that of the COVID-19 case rate in the five least segregated neighborhoods. These findings suggest that segregation acts as a structural driver of racial inequities in Philadelphia and calls for both short- and long-term solutions that center structural racism and health equity in the COVID-19 response."

Concerning Baltimore, a comparison between the 1930 situation and 2020 indicates that almost all of the parts of the city that had high racial segregation have continued to have the Center for Disease Control's High Vulnerability Index census tract score regarding COVID-19 possibility. Read an explanation of how to interpret the SVI map of Baltimore. The SVI combines social and economic, housing and transportation, minority status and language, household composition, and disability to provide numerical area comparison. Since development in the 2000s, indices of social vulnerability have been an important tool for emergency planning and public health assessment. 

To counter this, the study recommends:

• Restore the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) rule that President Trump and Secretary of Housing Ben Carson have cancelled. This rule encouraged communities to identify and reduce concentrated areas of poverty.
• Support inclusionary zoning that adds affordable housing choices outside of the redlined sections of the city and promotes the reduction of concentrated areas of poverty.
• Expand the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to include non-banks and to modernize how this law is implemented.
• Encourage locally relevant solutions such as expanded Section 8 and rent control/vouchers. Protect public housing.
• Modernize and expand access to data and other information for local communities on lending and investment in their area.
• Explore how reparations, housing and desegregation intertwine. Talk with residents about how best to preserve culture and community while moving towards a solution where one’s health is not detrimentally affected by the place where they were born.

*****

Source: National Community Reinvestment Coalition, September 10, 2020

Scientists to Use Artificial Intelligence to Fight Online Anti-Semitism

By Kirsten Grieshaber | AP

September 21, 2020 at 1:45 p.m. EDT

BERLIN — An international team of scientists said Monday it had joined forces to combat the spread of anti-Semitism online with the help of artificial intelligence.

The project Decoding Anti-Semitism includes discourse analysts, computational linguists and historians who will develop a “highly complex, AI-driven approach to identifying online anti-Semitism,” the Alfred Landecker Foundation, which supports the project, said in a statement Monday.

“In order to prevent more and more users from becoming radicalized on the web, it is important to identify the real dimensions of anti-Semitism — also taking into account the implicit forms that might become more explicit over time,” said Matthias Becker, a linguist and project leader from the Technical University of Berlin.

The team also includes researchers from King’s College in London and other scientific institutions in Europe and Israel.

Computers will help run through vast amounts of data and images that humans wouldn’t be able to assess because of their sheer quantity, the foundation said.

“Studies have also shown that the majority of anti-Semitic defamation is expressed in implicit ways – for example through the use of codes (“juice” instead of “Jews”) and allusions to certain conspiracy narratives or the reproduction of stereotypes, especially through images,” the statement said.

As implicit anti-Semitism is harder to detect, the combination of qualitative and AI-driven approaches will allow for a more comprehensive search, the scientists think.

The problem of anti-Semitism online has increased, as seen by the rise in conspiracy myths accusing Jews of creating and spreading COVID-19, groups tracking anti-Semitism on the internet have found.

The focus of the current project is initially on Germany, France and the U.K., but will later be expanded to cover other countries and languages.

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Source: Washington Post, September 21, 2020.