Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/CarlaHerbig

[Tulsa World] With media engrossed by skyrocketing home prices, Center on Metropolitan Housing and Communities Director Margery Austin Turner and Research Associate Carla Herbig remind readers that "for many Americans, spiraling home prices and rents aren't the only barriers to housing. Discrimination -- by landlords, real estate agents and mortgage lenders -- stands in the way of too many families searching for a place to live."

Not enough is known about the prevalence of housing discrimination against persons with disabilities. Only slightly more than half of Americans know that it is illegal for landlords to refuse to make reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities or to permit reasonable modification to a housing unit. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracted with the Urban Institute to advance the state of the art in testing to measure discrimination against persons with disabilities. UI found that persons with the disabilities studied encountered significant levels of adverse treatment when searching for rental housing in the Chicago area--even more than that of African-American or Hispanic renters in the Chicago-area housing market.

This report presents results from the second phase of the latest national Housing Discrimination Study (HDS2000). The national results presented here for Asians and Pacific Islanders are based on a sample of 11 metropolitan areas that account for more than three quarters of all Asians and Pacific Islanders living in metropolitan areas nationwide. The study finds that Asians and Pacific Islanders face significant levels of discrimination when they search for housing in large metropolitan areas nationwide—levels of discrimination similar to that of African Americans and Hispanics.

This study used paired testing to measure discrimination against African Americans and Hispanics by mortgage lending institutions, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, new construction sales agents, and mobile home sales agents in Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois.

There are two Highlights for each state. The income support and social services Highlights look at basic income support programs, employment and training programs, child care, child support enforcement, and the last-resort safety net. The Highlights capture policies in place and planned in 1996 and early 1997.

The state reports describe the safety net and health care programs in place for low-income people on the eve of welfare reform. The reports also analyze the particular circumstances that are shaping the state's response to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The state reports are based on case studies in the respective state.

There are two Highlights for each state. The income support and social services Highlights look at basic income support programs, employment and training programs, child care, child support enforcement, and the last-resort safety net. The Highlights capture policies in place and planned in 1996 and early 1997.

This report details the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) response to the major 1994 earthquake in southern California. It documents the policy response to the earthquake, synthesizes the evaluative impressions of individuals involved in formulating and implementing those policies, and distills the potential lessons and unresolved issues that will be of value for future disaster response. Also discussed is HUD's rapid development of three new policies for emergency relief—the Section 8 Emergency Certificate Program, the Mobility Program, and the HELP Program. An appendix presents a content analysis that examines the role played by five local newspapers played in shaping, documenting, and influencing HUD's efforts.

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