The Fair Housing Act was first passed in 1968, shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and it prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status. Despite these protections, housing discrimination persists 50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Join us for conversation and reflection on how we as a community can work to challenge implicit bias. Building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision, the Beloved Community allows access, equality and opportunity for all. The Beloved Community is fair, just and built on the love of God operating in the human heart.
Habitat for Humanity Capital Region joins Habitat leaders across the country to undertake Beloved Community Projects here in Ingham & Eaton counties. Beloved Community projects include the construction of new affordable homes, critical home repairs and community revitalization initiatives.
Community members and business leaders joined together for a lunch to learn more about the history and current status of fair housing from the speaker panel. Moderator Sheri Jones (WLNS-TV6) spoke with Pamela Kisch (Fair Housing Center), Kim Laforet (Coldwell Banker Hubbell-BriarWood), Roshanak Mehdipanah (University of Michigan), and Cynthia Ward (MI Dept of Health & Human Services) to address some of the changes and impacts of the Fair Housing Act on its 50th anniversary date.
For more information on housing discrimination:
Fair Housing Center of Southeast and Mid MI
www.fhcmichigan.org/
Fair Housing Fact Sheets
www.fhcmichigan.org/fair-housing-fact-sheets/#.Wrv4gIjwaUk
City of Lansing Housing Ombudsman
www.lansingmi.gov/1642/Housing-Ombudsman
MSU Housing Clinic
www.law.msu.edu/clinics/housing.html
Sixty Plus, Inc. – Elder Law Clinic at WMU Cooley www.cooley.edu/academics/experiential-learning/sixty-plus
Harvard’s Implicit Bias Test
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard Rothstein
