The Real Housing Crisis

 

In “A Raisin in the Sun”, Mama wants to buy a house in the Clybourne Park neighborhood with the money she received from her deceased husband’s insurance. She wants to achieve the American Dream of living in an actual house with rooms for each family member, she wants bathrooms she doesn’t have to share with her pesky neighbors, and she wants an open yard where children can play. However, this dream may not be achievable for her. One reason is the price of the homes in this neighborhood. Houses were expensive and everyone in her family wanted a piece of the $10,000 Mama received. Another main problem would be that this neighborhood was probably primarily white, since the wealth gap for whites and blacks was huge during this time.

Housing discrimination was a prominent issue in “A Rasin in the Sun” and, appallingly, still is in real life today. Despite efforts to eliminate it with laws prohibiting the refusal to sell a home to a person based on race, we can clearly see the effects of it in action, even very close to home. For instance, The New York Times Article talks about many instances in the thousands of tests they conducted where a person of color received different treatment from a white person. Sometimes POC were told no units were available, meanwhile they were being offered to white customers. Sometimes they were asked more questions about finances and given less offers to loans to help with finances. This is part of what’s causing neighborhoods, communities, and cities to have distinct racial segregation or uneven population. 

Now how can we stop housing discrimination? Cities can utilize the Assessment of Fair Housing to gather data and identify patterns of housing to first understand the problem at hand. From there, they can provide support and help for those who feel they have been discriminated against. They can also make sure the legal policies and laws of housing are being properly enforced by landlords. Taking these additional steps to make sure this problem doesn’t keep recurring is crucial. Advocating for those who have lost their voice in this housing crisis is substantially important.