Haas Institute Co-Authors and Files Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Fair Housing Case

The Haas Institute and the Economic Policy Institute jointly filed an amicus brief (friend of the court) of 62 housing scholars in the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. the Inclusive Communities Project, a critical case before the Supreme Court that will determine the scope of the nation’s landmark Fair Housing Act. The case presents the question to the nation’s highest court whether the “disparate impact” standard can be used to enforce the Fair Housing Act. Disparate impact recognizes that policies often have discriminatory results regardless of intent. The Civil Rights Act of 1968, which remains the U.S.’s most vital mechanism for promoting equal housing opportunity and eliminating patterns of racial segregation, prohibits housing discrimination by charges all governmental units with the duty to “affirmatively further fair housing.”

The Haas Institute/EPI brief (PDF), filed in support of the Inclusive Communities Project, explains why disparate impact claims are necessary to redress the legacy of government sponsored segregation. Using a series of maps (including the one below), the brief reminds the Court that, historically, governmental policies at the federal, state and local levels created the segregated conditions of our metropolitan regions. The brief reiterates that seemingly race-neutral government decisions and private housing choices both perpetuate and exacerbate those patterns of segregation. The Haas/EPI brief was one of over a dozen briefs filed to the Court in this case, including briefs in support of the Inclusive Communities Project by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Fair Housing Alliance, the City of San Francisco, among others. A full list of briefs and responses can be found at the SCOTUS blog. Read more about the amicus brief.

Distribution of Low Income Housing Tax Credit subsidized developments in Dallas County as of 2010. Only six out of 162 LIHTC projects were sited in majority white neighborhoods. Seventy-two percent of projects approved in the Dallas Metropolitan area are sited in predominantly non-white census tracts. Map by Samir Gambhir for Haas Institute.

FACULTY CLUSTERS

Economic Disparities Chair Hilary Hoynes Receives Prestigious Economics Award

UC Berkeley Economics Professor Hilary Hoynes, Chair of the Haas Institute Economic Disparities cluster, is the recipient of the prestigious Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the American Economics Association’s (AEA) Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. Announced in December 2014, the award is granted yearly to “an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession or mentoring others,” according to the AEA. Prof. Hoynes (pictured here on Capitol Hill with john a. powell) has broadly focused her research on economic inequality and the social safety net. More specifically, she studies the effects of the social safety net and labor markets on poverty, inequality and the well-being of children and their families. Recently, she has centered her research on the Food Stamp program and its effects on infant health, adult health, and family income and poverty, and is currently working on a series of projects that use the Great Recession as a “stress test” on domestic social safety nets.

According to the AEA award announcement, Prof. Hoynes is known as a “tireless and effective teacher and mentor.” As part of her nomination, 19 economists and colleagues lauded her as an “equal opportunity mentor."

Prof. Hoynes noted that despite decades of growth, women are still significantly underrepresented in the economics profession — they make up about a third of new PhDs, 25% of new Assistant Professors, and 12% of Full Professors. Read more about Prof Hoynes award.

#BlackLivesMatter
Responses, Opinions, Media From Haas Institute and UC Berkeley Faculty

Insurgency: The Black Matter(s) Issue: An online publication produced and published by the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley, under direction of Haas Institute Race, Diversity, and Educational Policy Cluster Chair Na'ilah Nasir

Systemic Problems Require Systemic Solutions: by john a. powell

If We're Having a Real Conversation About Race, Let's Make Sure It's the Right One: by john a. powell

Statement on Brown and Garner Cases from Berkeley Law Faculty and Staff

Become the Change We Want to See: Op-ed in the The Daily Cal by Gibor Basri, UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion

If Black Lives Matter, End the War on Crime: by Jonathon Simon, Professor of Law and a member of the Haas Institute Diversity & Democracy cluster

We are in Danger of Becoming Separate Societies: An interview with john a. powell in SF Chronicle

EVENTS

SAT. JAN 10
RIGHT TO FOOD: FOOD AS A HUMAN RIGHT
University Lutheran Chapel
2425 College Avenue, Berkeley
Saturday, January 10, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Organized by the United Nations Association, East Bay Chapter
Elsadig Elsheikh, Haas Institute Global Justice Program Director, will be a featured speaker

Faculty Profiles

Seth Holmes: Migrant Workers, the US agricultural system, and Structural Inequality. Prof. Holmes is a member of the Haas Institute Diversity and Health Disparities Cluster.
Juana María Rodríguez: Prof. Rodríguez discusses the "politics of respectability" in the gay marriage movement and how sexual identity politics influence discourse surrounding policy decisions. Prof. Rodríguez is a member of the LGBTQ Citizenship cluster.
Michael Omi: Prof. Omi, Associate Director of the Haas Institute and cluster member of the Haas Institute Diversity & Democracy Cluster, discusses the third edition of his landmark book on race which is updated according to our changed political and social landscape, including the inauguration of America’s first Black president, the journey towards a “majority minority” nation, a growing immigrant-rights movement, and the rise of race/class/gender ‘intersectionality’ theories.

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