Agenda - 05-04-2021; 8-a - Minutes

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12 1 opportunities for all. Housing can also be a tool to erase economic and education inequalities 2 and help dismantle systemic racism. 3 4 In the 1930s, the federal Government Federal Housing Administration ("FHA") was part of the 5 New Deal, whose job was to guarantee Americans' loans so they could buy a home in 6 subdivisions and suburbs across the United States. FHA made homeownership possible for 7 millions of average Americans by ensuring long-term, low monthly paying mortgages. However, 8 the FHA required deed restrictions that prevented Blacks from purchasing these homes. This 9 housing boom was bolstered by the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 ("G.I. Bill") that 10 provided $95 billion into expanding a range of benefits for returning World War II Veterans. 11 Benefits included helping 16 million veterans receive low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to 12 start a business or a farm, getting one year of unemployment compensation, and receiving 13 education expenses to attend high school, college, or vocational school. Veterans 14 Administration Mortgages guaranteed mortgages for nearly five million new homes for veterans. 15 Between 1946 and 1947, VA mortgages alone accounted for 40% of the homes purchased 16 during that year. Residential ownership became the critical foundation to economic 17 empowerment in the United States. The G.I. Bill was championed as improving returning 18 veterans' economic prospects, promising each soldier the status of the "unforgotten man." 19 20 Ira Katznelson in, When Affirmative Action Was White: The Untold Story of Racial Inequality in 21 the Twentieth-Century America , contends that the New Deal and Harry Truman's Fair Deal 22 Programs discriminated and contributed to the widening gap between Black and White 23 Americans. Katznelson says the G.I. Bill "was deliberately designed to accommodate Jim 24 Crow." He argues that President Franklin Roosevelt, to gain legislative support for the G.I Bill, 25 made compromises with Southern legislators that allowed the G.I. Bill to be drafted in a 26 discriminatory manner. As a result, the G.I Bill, while race-neutral, disproportionately impact 27 black veterans because the legislation as written allowed the program to be in the hands of 28 state and local officials who could interpret guidelines in a racially discriminatory manner, thus 29 excluding Black veterans from receiving benefits. 30 31 A study conducted by the Research Division of Veterans Administration in 1950 demonstrated 32 that between September 1940 and August 1945, returning Black veterans participated almost at 33 the same levels as their white counterparts in G.I Bill programs. However, they did not benefit 34 in the same way. White local officials, businessmen, bankers, and college administrators were 35 in charge of local programs that disenfranchised programs Black veterans. Depending on 36 locality, Blacks veterans were denied housing and business loans, admission to white-only 37 colleges and universities, unemployment benefits, and excluded from job training programs and 38 career opportunities. It didn't take long after the G.I Bill's passage for reports of the obstacles 39 Black veterans faced in obtaining benefits to come to light, from securing loans to being 40 discharged without a hearing and given "less than honorable" ratings so Black veterans wouldn't 41 be eligible for benefits. The disparate impact was apparent even in the North, where in New 42 York and Northern New Jersey, less than 100 out of 67,000 G.I. Bill VA Mortgages were 43 provided to Black veterans. 44 45 Because of these past discriminatory practices, this year, the Department of Human Rights and 46 Relations highlights the protected class of"Veterans" during Fair Housing Month and throughout 47 this next year. The County honors all veterans' service and the missed opportunities of those 48 who served and did not receive the full benefit of what the Country promised them for their 49 service. This month the Department will host a Webinar with the Equal Employment 50 Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") regarding discrimination issues faced by Veterans in 51 Housing and the Workplace, "Hot Topics for Veterans: COVID & Beyond."