Friday, October 2, 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

Thursday, September 24, 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.

*****

Source: Washington Post, September 21, 2020.

     Fed Will Overhaul Bank Law to Benefit Poorer Areas

Lael Brainard, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, moderates a panel discussion titled “Perspectives on Maximum Employment and Price Stability” at the Federal Reserve in Washington in October 2019.

Lael Brainard, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, moderates a panel discussion titled “Perspectives on Maximum Employment and Price Stability” at the Federal Reserve in Washington in October 2019. (Zach Gibson/Bloomberg News)
September 21, 2020 at 2:12 p.m. EDT

The Federal Reserve on Monday took steps toward revamping a 40-year-old law intended to ensure low- and moderate-income Americans have access to credit and banking services.

The move comes as the Fed is under urgent pressure to craft policies that lift all Americans, and in particular, reduce the long-standing racial gaps that are only widening in the current recession. Apart from setting monetary policy, the Fed could go further in building a more fair economy through its supervision of banks, which includes the Community Reinvestment Act, economists and lawmakers say.

The Community Reinvestment Act, known as the CRA, was crafted to encourage banks to lend in low-income neighborhoods. Under the CRA, regulators routinely look at banks’ lending practices for low- and moderate-income borrowers, so that those with less money also have access to loans to buy houses, cars and make other purchases.

“The CRA is a seminal statute that remains as important as ever as the nation confronts challenges associated with racial equity and the covid-19 pandemic,” Fed Gov. Lael Brainard wrote in a statement. “We must ensure that CRA is a strong and effective tool to address ongoing systemic inequities in access to credit and financial services for low- and moderate-income and minority individuals and communities...... ”

*****

Source: Washington Post, September 22, 2020, A20.

Friday, September 18, 2020

 


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*****

Source: Beyond the Boundaries, September 18, 2020..

Thursday, September 10, 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.

***

Source: NCRC release, September 10, 2020.












Thursday, September 3, 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. 

Thursday, August 27, 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)