By Macy Meinhardt, V&V Staff, CA Local News Fellow
Marking its 32nd year of participation, the San Diego Fair Housing Council joined advocates, legal experts, and policymakers at the annual Fair Housing Laws and Litigation Conference on February 13-14 to discuss the evolving state of equal housing.
Born out of the civil rights movement, Fair Housing Act legislation protects individuals from housing discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality, sex, disability, and other protected characteristics. Despite its enactment over 57 years ago, long-lasting impacts of racialized housing practices like segregation still persist today. As a result, states like California have taken the lead in evolving and expanding upon these protections.
This year’s gathering comes at a critical moment. It comes as no surprise the agenda to make housing more equitable is at odds with the new presidential administration’s hostility on civil rights initiatives.
However, as noted by, Bobb Shwemm–a renowned housing litigation lawyer, researcher, and author— the challenges of today are not unprecedented, and plenty of progress can be made at the state and local level to further advance equal housing rights.
“Not being able to rely on the federal government in the upcoming years is neither new nor should it deter our continuing work,” wrote Schwemm, as an introductory message to members of the conference.
Specific Fair Housing Act challenges raised for 2025 will be tackling source-of-income discrimination, limiting unfair evictions, and AI-generated price-fixing software for home advertisements.
With the event falling within Black History Month, special homage was paid to civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King who played a critical role in getting Congress to pass the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Gary Rhoades, a fair housing attorney and author from Kansas City, broke down the legislative and political history of this passage, signed into law just four days after Dr. King was assassinated on April 8, 1968.
The passage of the Fair Housing Act prohibited overt kinds of housing discrimination, yet still, “forces driving residential segregation have persisted, sometimes taking on new forms to achieve the same discriminatory ends,” stated in a California Department of Housing and Community Development report.
The report highlights how racially explicit zoning practices were gradually replaced by race-neutral methods, such as single-family zoning, to maintain segregation by limiting affordable housing options like apartments and condominiums.
During the conference, civil rights specialist Stella Adams underscored the real-life consequences of these policies, citing the Eaton Fire in Altadena as a tragic example. She discussed how redlining and systemic racism deeply affected African American communities, segregating Black homeownership rates within certain areas of the city which promote disparities in emergency response times and infrastructure—factors that exacerbated the devastating impact of the fire, which claimed 17 lives and caused significant property damage.
“Fires have no color and have no boundary, but the services do,” said Adams, raising her voice, “Do you understand the fair housing implications in services and facilities?” Adams asked rhetorically.
In an effort to apply the courage and strength from moments past to the realities of today when it comes to fair housing, the conference sought to answer a pressing question: How should we proceed?
The conference brought together fair housing agencies, legal experts, and advocacy groups to discuss key issues, including legal compliance, women’s housing rights post-Roe, disability rights, environmental justice, and the state of fair housing in California courts. Discussions also focused on fostering awareness among appraisers and lenders, creating a fair housing vision for decision-makers, promoting multilingual and culturally competent outreach, and expanding civil rights protections.
Local leaders and housing advocates in attendance at the event included: US Rep. Scott Peters (CA-50), District 4 Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, District 4 Councilmember Henry Foster, Executive Director of San Diego’s Fair Housing Council, Mary Scott Knoll, Ricardo Flores, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Sophia Rebecca Maria, Pride Law Firm, and Catherine Rodman with Fair Housing Advocates.
As the fight for fair housing continues, even in the backdrop of a hostile administration, advocates stress the need for municipalities to push stronger protections and policy reforms to dismantle systemic barriers and create truly inclusive, equitable housing opportunities for all.
