ALL BOATS DIDN’T RISE - RACISM IN REAL ESTATE
Why is there
such disproportional racial disparity in wealth in this country? Other than the obvious that those of Northern
European decent came to North America in the 1600’s and took over. “Non-whites” were looked down on and things
went down-hill from there up to and including today. But here’s the thing, we can look back as
recently as the end of World War Two, in the 1940’s when Americans were coming
back home to the USA, to see that all financial boats didn’t rise
together. Some were weighted down by
racial segregation, in housing legal documents.
Virtually
all subdivisions have a document called CC&R’s, Covenants Conditions &
Restrictions. These documents contain
the rules under which everyone who purchases or lives in that subdivision must
abide. Every subdivision in our area has
CC&R’s. Some of these subdivisions
were created so long ago that many homeowners don’t even realize that they
exist.
In the
1940’s after WW2 ended, real estate developer Abraham Levitt
and his two sons, William and Alfred, created four housing developments called
"Levittown" in the eastern U.S.
Even though the Levitt family was Jewish, their developments became the
poster-child for racial discrimination in housing. Even Jews were discriminated against at the
beginning, from purchasing in Levittown.
But even more onerous, African Americans and other people of color were
targeted.
Non-white citizens who gave their all for their country
returned home to the U.S. to face the same old racist B.S. Many lost their lives and their families were
left with nothing except the despair of racist hatred, segregation and
repression. The housing wealth-building
mechanism was denied them. Housing appreciation
built family wealth for many whites, not people of color.
The Federal Housing Administration, FHA, allowed and
encouraged developers to segregate and discriminate. FHA even made it policy to only make housing
loans to segregated communities.
In Levittown sale and rental agreements, only members of
the “Caucasian” race were allowed to purchase or rent. At that time, one could purchase of new home
for as little as $8,000.
The Levittown discrimination model became the model for
housing developments all over the country including here in Northern California
and Mendocino County.
In 1948 the Ukiah Rogina Subdivision CC&R’s reads,
“No lots shall at any time be sold to anyone except an individual or
individuals of the white race.” In that
same year the “Covenant of Building Restrictions Mendocino Gardens Tract” read
“That no lot or portion thereof shall at any time be used or occupied by any
person not of the white or Caucasian race except in the capacity of domestic
servants in the employ of a white or Caucasian owner or occupant.”
In Levittown Jews were eventually allowed in, but all
others were “discouraged” from buying or moving in.
Here’s the thing about wealth creation that I referred
to. As the market value of these $8,000.
houses grew to $40,000., then $80,000., then $120,000. And today the mid
$200,000’s up to over half-a-million – so did the savings and net worth of
those home owners grow. But the wealth
of those citizens who were prevented from buying one of those homes, didn’t
grow.
Those excluded soldiers and workers and U.S. citizens
were delegated to slum housing as renters - or segregated, low appreciation
housing. Their dollars did not grow in value at anywhere the rate of their
“white” fellow citizens. Their legacy
was, and still is, poverty in large numbers.
You can’t participate in or pass along wealth that you were never
allowed to be a part of. That boat has
sailed now.
Although such discrimination is now, at least officially,
unlawful – the damage is done and so far little has been done to rectify
it.
California code ARTICLE 2. 12956.1 now reads in part:
“If this document contains any restriction
based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender
expression, sexual orientation, familial status, marital status, disability,
genetic information, national origin, source of income as defined in
subdivision (p) of Section 12955, or ancestry, that restriction violates state
and federal fair housing laws and is void, and may be removed pursuant to Section
12956.2 of the Government Code.”
As Eliza Doolittle said in My
Fair Lady, “Word, words, words. I’m so
sick of words. Is that all you blighters
can do?” We have a major dilemma in our
great nation. We have legislators that
keep creating more and more mechanisms to massively build and protect the
wealth of a small percentage of the super wealthy, while the middle-class and
poor are turned into the new working slave class. Look at how many hard-working Americans lost
their homes in the past 10 years as the equity from their homes got passed
along to the wealthiest few. Is that really what you want for your country,
yourself and your loved ones?
About
the author
Bill Barksdale is a 2016 inductee in the Realtor Hall of Fame.
He can be reached at Coldwell Banker
Mendo Realty Inc. 707-489-2232, bark@pacific.net.
