Model Cities information

              RENDS IN HOUSING
IONAL COMMITTEE AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING
LEXINGTON AVENUE, NEW YORK. N. Y. 10016 (212) ©85-6911
UME XH, NUMBER  1
JANUARY 1968
Local FH Law Surge
'67 Action Equals
Number Enacted
From '58 to '66
At least 47 local open housing
ordinances were adopted in 1967,
exactly half the total of 94 laws
reported to ncdh as adopted since
the first local law went into effect
in New York City in 1958.
Extensive local legislative action
in 1967 came against the backdrop of dramatic marathon open
housing marches in Louisville,
Ky., and Milwaukee, Wis., and
mounting demands of Negro citizens in communities of all sizes
for full access to the total housing market in cities and suburbs.
At least five cities—Madison.
Wis.; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia,
Pa.; Louisville, Ky.; and St. Paul,
Minn. —significantly strengthened
and broadened coverage under
existing ordinances during 1967.
Seven Laws Defeated
Of the 94 laws passed by local
jurisdictions since 1958, seven-
Akron, Toledo, and Springfield,
0.; Berkeley, Calif.; Seattle and
Tacoma, Wash.; and Jackson,
Mich.—have been struck down in
referenda. Two—Dayton, O., and
Montgomery County, Md.—were
not in effect at trends' press
time, pending the outcome of
court challenges. Sufficient signatures have been gathered to force
referenda tests in Milwaukee, Wis.
(April 7) and Flint, Mich. (Feb.
20). and in Kansas City, Mo.,
and Muskegon and Detroit, Mich.,
where dates have not yet been set.
The cities, suburbs, and counties, which approved local open
occupancy ordinances during
1967, and in which the laws were
reported in effect as trends went
to press are:
Prince George's County, Rock-
ville, and Annapolis, Md.; Joliet.
Weston. Wheaton, Freeport, Elgin, Champaign, Bloomington,
Normal. East Moline, Galesburg,
Skokie, Rock Island, and Evanston.
111.; Covington, Lexington, Fayette County, and Kenton County,
Ky.; Kansas City, Lawrence, and
Continued on page 7
FH Law Box Score
21 States
District of Columbia
5 Counties
75 Cities, Villages
(In effect at Trends' press time)
More than 115 million Americans
now live in areas covered by state
or local fair housing laws reaching at least a portion of the private market. At the end of 1967,
open occupancy laws were in
effect in 21 states and in at least
30 local jurisdictions in states
which do not have statewide open
housing statutes. A state law approved during 1967 in Washington is not in effect, pending the
outcome of a referendum vote.
This initial issue of trends for
1968 reports in an adjoining column local legislative action which
during 1967 doubled the number
of local laws.
Prop. 14 History
Recounted in Book
Hi Court To Review
Key FH Law Case
Validity of 1866 Law To Be Argued
Apartheid
American
Style
Fundamental Photographs
Apartheid American Style by John
Denton, a California attorney, describes that state's Proposition 14
controversy, ncdh cooperated in
publication of the book in order
to make available the background
of the historically significant Prop.
14 drive. Copies are available
from ncdh at $1.95 in paperback.
The US Supreme Court decision
to review a private housing discrimination case, in which the
present validity of a century-old
Federal open housing law is asserted, is being hailed as a "hopeful and encouraging sign" for the
civil rights movement.
Specifically the Court will review a decision of the US Court
of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit which upheld a lower court
decision denying a complaint of
housing discrimination brought by
a St. Louis, Mo., couple.
Attorneys acting for ncdh in
a "friend of the court" brief in
the appellate court and in a petition for Supreme Court review
contended that the Alfred H.
Mayer Co., a private St. Louis
County developer, violated the
Civil Rights Act of 1866, which
they argue is valid though long
unused, in refusing to sell a lot
and house to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Lee Jones, because of race. The
developer admitted that his refusal to sell was based on the race
of Mr. Jones, a Negro. The subdivision was financed wholly from
conventional mortgage financing
sources, without any Federal
funds of any kind.
The Jones's counsel, Samuel H.
Liberman II of St. Louis, and
the ncdh attorneys contend that
a decision favorable to Mr. and
Mrs. Jones would establish, without the need for further Congressional action, the effectiveness of
the 1866 law in barring discrimination throughout the private
housing market. The US Justice
Department, which also asked the
high Court to review the appellate decision, took a more limited
view and argued that a decision
favorable to the Joneses would
bar discrimination in new subdivisions constructed with private
financing.
The attorneys for ncdh are Sol
Rabkin, ncdh legal committee
chairman and director of the Law
Department, Anti-Defamation
League of B'nai B'rith; Joseph B.
Robison, ncdh general counsel
and director of the Commission
on Law and Social Action, American Jewish Congress; and Robert L. Carter, ncdh executive
committee vice chairman and general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
Ncdh Chief Executive Officers
Edward Rutledge and Jack E.
Wood, Jr., called the high Court
action "the most hopeful sign for
the civil rights movement since
the 1954 Supreme Court school
desegregation decision."
Rutledge and Wood pointed
out that the pattern of the 1954
decision in which the appellate
court had invited high Court review had been followed in the
current test of the 1866 law, and
added the hope that this would
be "an omen of final results similar to the 1954 decision."
In arguing the present validity
of the 1866 statute, the Jones's
petition for review stated: "Clearly what Congress intended when
it enacted this law was to prevent
all sellers of property from continuing in effect one of the incidents of slavery, denial to former
slaves of the power to purchase,
own, or convey and sell such
property.
"So long as the clear intent and
purpose of Congress . . . continue
to be ignored, so long will our
country suffer from the vestiges
of Negro slavery; the present
strife and violence arising out of
the resultant racial ghettos will
continue and expand.
"And until this court rules thai
the statute means what it says and
is within the constitutional authority of Congress, our country
shall continue to be faced with
the evils of continued discrimination in housing, racial ghettos
which are festering sores and
remnants of Negro slavery."