Johnson, Derrick, President, Mississippi State Conference, NAACP, Jackson, Kendrick, Honorable Kim, Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Rich, Joseph D., Project Director of the Housing and Community Develop- Smith, Shanna L., President and CEO, National Fair Housing Alliance .......... FAIR HOUSING ISSUES IN THE GULF COAST IN THE AFTERMATH Tuesday, February 28, 2006 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:00 a.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Robert W. Ney [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Ney, Pearce, Campbell, Waters, Lee, Green, and Frank. Chairman NEY. The Housing Subcommittee meets this morning to discuss recent fair housing issues in the Gulf Coast related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The events surrounding the late August and early September hurricanes in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas have certainly captured the attention of the American people, including this committee. Our subcommittee was the first committee of the House to go to New Orleans. We went in January, and then after that the Katrina Subcommittee went. I just got a notice that the Speaker of the House, Mr. Hastert, and the Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, are both going down on March 2nd; I believe it is for 2 days. We had written them a letter-I know Chairman Oxley also did encouraging both of them to get together and go down to the Gulf; and they are going to do that, as I understand it, for 2 days this week, which I think is good. The Housing Subcommittee and Financial Services Committee have been at the forefront of the hurricane relief effort with numerous hearings and multiple briefings with approximately 80 witnesses participating. Again, in mid-January, this Housing Subcommittee held the first post-hurricane congressional hearings in Louisiana and Mississippi, reviewing the housing issues that the Federal Government will need to consider in the next few years. I also note that when we had those hearings the members' participation was unbelievable-I think 5 hours in 1 day, 6 hours the next day and they gave full time and attention. I am very proud of the members of this committee for doing that because it is an extremely important issue to the many people whose lives have been horrifically disrupted down in the Gulf. In addition, this committee has shepherded needed relief legislation to the House Floor in the recent months following the disaster that will affect not only families in the immediate hurricane-ravaged areas but those families forced to suffer the aftermath due to flooding. As the thousands of hurricane evacuees in the Gulf Coast begin the process of looking for permanent housing, the Federal Government must do everything in its power to protect the rights of households to obtain the housing of their choice. The January 13th and 14th field experiences in the Gulf underscored some experiences and practices that could violate the Fair Housing Act. I look forward to working with HUD and other relevant enforcement agencies to ensure that these families have equal access to the housing opportunities that they need to rebuild their lives. It is my hope that today's hearing will give the members of this subcommittee a unique perspective on fair housing issues and on what steps HUD and individual groups can take to ensure that the relocation of these evacuees is fair and also legal. Fair housing and enforcement work best when people know their rights. To the extent that this committee can highlight patterns and practices that impede fairness and equal access to housing, government, private, and nonprivate sectors will be encouraged to adequately inform, monitor, and correct violations and to enforce the current law. Again, I want to thank our ranking member, Maxine Waters of California, for her participation down in the Gulf, also, Mr. Frank, our ranking member for the committee and Chairman Oxley. I also would like to welcome a new member, too, today, Mr. Campbell of California to the committee. With that, I will refer to the gentlelady from California. Mr. Chairman, let me thank you and our ranking member for organizing this very important hearing on fair housing and also for your leadership and Congresswoman Waters' leadership in leading the first congressional field hearing in the Gulf Coast after the hurricanes. That was such an important 2 days, Mr. Chairman. I think we learned quite a bit, and I believe this hearing is an important step in the correct direction. During the field hearings in New Orleans and Gulfport, we were really all quite outraged to hear stories of blatant discrimination in housing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. So I am pleased again that, under your leadership, we are seeking to investigate these Fair Housing Act violations as many of us, including myself, have requested. Housing, quite frankly, should be a basic human right. Any kind of discrimination that denies or hinders someone's ability to access that right is just plain wrong, and it should be prosecuted under the law. While we are here primarily to discuss discrimination in the provision of housing, we cannot ignore the ongoing discrimination in the financing of housing or the provision of brokerage services that also falls under the fair housing statute. We also cannot ignore the need for more funding to investigate cases of discrimination and to enforce the Fair Housing Act. Let's be for real. Over 300,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and over a million people were displaced. We have a huge housing shortfall right now in the Gulf Coast. We have numerous reports and we heard this during the hearing of price gouging and illegal evictions taking place. We need more money not only to house people but to ensure that they are not discriminated against, and I believe in the Baker bill and also in our Congressional Black Caucus bill we adopted an amendment which I wrote, and that would be to increase the number of housing discrimination advocates and complaint officers and to hire people who are from the region to really work with HUD's regional offices to enforce fair housing laws. That amendment, unfortunately, is stuck now. Increase in funding for fair housing compliance has not been moved forward. So I hope that we can figure out how, in a bipartisan way, to move some of these fair housing laws forward. On top of all of that, we have a GAO report from last October that documents many glaring problems with HUD's response and investigation of fair housing complaints. Despite these problems, the Administration has proposed a fair housing budget of just $45 million for fiscal year 2007. That is $1 million less than last year-$1 million less. That is just totally inadequate; and it shows once again, quite frankly, that this Administration is really out of touch. So, Mr. Chairman, I hope we can work together to strengthen the fair housing program, to encourage HUD to adopt the GAO recommendations, to provide a substantial increase in funding for testing and the enforcement of the Fair Housing Act, and to employ folks who have been traumatized and displaced by Hurricane Katrina to be our fair housing applicants and compliance officers so that they, too, can not only benefit from the employment opportunities that resulted from this disaster, but also make sure that housing discrimination does not exist in the Gulf region. So thank you again for holding this hearing, and I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses. Chairman NEY. Thank you. Mr. Frank. Mr. FRANK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I very much appreciate your holding this hearing. People were horrified by what they saw during the height of the Katrina disaster. I don't think I can remember such a sense of outrage and frustration on the part of many Americans to see their fellow citizens marooned in such terrible circumstances, in the middle of the United States. People didn't think that with our technology, you could have people in a major American city worse off than the survivors of a boat crash on Gilligan's Island, equally out of reach of any help. But there was at least the hope that this would be temporary and that, as time went on, we would alleviate the situation. Sadly, that has not been the case nearly as much as it should be. We have a situation where those victims of Katrina, in very large numbers, have been revictimized by the policies and the absence of policies of this government. And I want to repeat what I said. That was, I understand, provocative and it was meant to be, because we |