Presented by: Erin Boggs, Esq. Deputy Director Connecticut Fair Housing Center Opportunity, the Analysis of Impediments and the Fair Housing Equity Assessment: Practical Strategies for Exploring Fair Housing Issues

Connecticut Fair Housing Center Who we are: What we are doing: 2 Statewide non-profit dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to a full range of housing opportunities. Fair housing testing and advocacy/litigation. Policy advocacy grounded in opportunity mapping. Authoring the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice for the State of Connecticut. Partnering on the CT Knowledge Corridor SCI grant.

Issues for today: Tools you can use… 3 Talking about fair housing to people unfamiliar with equity concepts. Practical thoughts on FHEA/AI components and data gathering strategies.

Why should I care about fair housing? 4 It is an injustice. It has an impact on children and education. It has an impact on economic development.

Righting an Injustice 5 81% of Blacks and 79% of Latinos live in lower opportunity areas compared to 44% of Asians and 25% of Whites. (See also

Righting an Injustice – History: Racial Covenants 6 Courtesy of Professor Jack Dougherty of Trinity College. More information available at

Righting an Injustice – History: Redlining 7 100% of tracts that were redlined in 1937 are lower opportunity areas today.

Schools and Kids 8 Connecticut has one of the worst racial achievement gaps in the country. Pointing to significant narrowing of the achievement gap when low-income and/or children of color are given access to mixed income or upper income schools. (See Century Fund Study and, in CT, Sheff Magnet School findings) Town% Students Proficient – 4 th grade Math Non-Hispanic White Percentage Hartford50.3%16% Bridgeport36.5%23% New Haven51.9%32% Farmington94.3%84% Avon96.4%87% Glastonbury94.8%86%

Economic Development CT is 26% people of color. Our working age population (25-64) will be 27.7% people of color by (Nellie Mae Foundation report By 2020 nearly half of our year old population will be comprised of people of color (see Nellie Mae report).

Economic Development 10

Practical Thoughts on Data Collection 11 Interns, interns, interns. Sources for information: Local or Regional HUD Office (perhaps some other federal agencies like the Veterans Administration) State Agencies Housing Authorities Towns Make the process as collaborative as possible – build on any previously existing relationships.

Practical Thoughts on Data Collection 12 See if state housing agencies have a list of all housing programs in the state. Ask agencies to tell you the funding level for each program that has been active over the last ten years. We are limiting our data requests to larger programs or programs that have a particularly important fair housing angle (e.g. mobility counseling).

Practical Thoughts on Data Collection 13 We are focusing our analysis of state and federal program data on: Where housing is located; The racial composition of each development, and More detailed questions particular to certain programs (e.g. Housing authority recommended housing lists)

Practical Thoughts on Data Presentation 14 Mapping and good data presentation will help tell the story. It is worth investing in mapping assistance or partnering with a local university. Think hard about what geographic units make the most sense for your area – Counties? Statistical Metropolitan Areas? Labor Market Areas? Consider making as much of your data available online. Get out there and talk to people – advocates, community members, minority group representatives, academics. Racial profiling Housing authority Section 8 housing lists.

Putting data to use… 15 Analyzing the extent of segregation in CT

Putting data to use… 16 Assessment of race/ethnicity and government programs Where are we putting subsidized housing supported by state and federal funding? Preliminary analysis: 86.9% of Family Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developments are in Lower Opportunity areas.

Elements of the AI continued… Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program Preliminary Analysis: 68.8% of family developments in majority-minority census tracts

Putting data to use… Source: Michael Hanley, Empire Justice Center Where are people using government housing subsidies living? Does this differ by race?

Putting data to use…

In conclusion… 20 Heart-strings to purse-strings reasons fair housing and integration are important. Marshal resources and networking relationships to gather the data you need and broaden your understanding of the factors affecting fair housing choice. Invest in the expertise needed to effectively display your data and make it as useful as possible to future planning.