Race should not determine where you live | Editorial

As demonstrated through The Inquirer’s “A More Perfect Union” series on the legacy of racism in Philadelphia, bias and discrimination have a long history in our city. It is a rot in the foundation of America that we must all continue to repair and rebuild.

A recent housing lawsuit may be the latest part of that effort.

A Philadelphia landlord is accused of steering federal housing voucher recipients into properties in majority-Black neighborhoods, but not in predominantly white areas. This closes even more doors for people already hemmed in by a growing shortage of available rental housing and perpetuates racial disparities.

It is also a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and the city’s own prohibition against tenant discrimination, as detailed in the suit against ProManaged Inc., a Mount Laurel-based landlord with 77 rental properties throughout Philadelphia.

Housing choice vouchers were designed to give low-income households a choice in where they live. Rather than being forced into disinvested areas, these families would have options, with market-rate housing in middle-class neighborhoods finally on the table. At least it was supposed to be.

A 2018 Urban Institute study found that two-thirds of landlords in the city refused to even meet with voucher holders. Compared to municipalities around the country, Philadelphia also had one of the highest disparities between acceptance rates in high- and low-income neighborhoods, a difference of 26%.

For their part, landlords complain that accepting vouchers is costly and cumbersome. Unlike a private rental license — which in Philadelphia does not require an inspection — apartments leased to voucher holders must be inspected, and are held to higher standards. The landlord must also become certified through the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Leasing to voucher holders also comes with significant delays to the move-in process, keeping tenants unhoused and landlords unpaid from anywhere between 45 and 90 additional days when compared to a nonsubsidized rental. With record-low vacancy rates in the city, keeping units empty is expensive.

Still, these landlords must comply with the legal requirement against source-of-income discrimination. The Housing Equality Coalition, which filed the suit with the support of the Public Interest Law Center, is right to take on the challenge of what they’ve called a modern-day form of redlining. These groups could use some help, however.

Enforcing important laws should not fall solely on the shoulders of advocacy organizations and low-income tenants, a group that is often short on time and resources. While the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations is supposed to enforce the city’s source-of-income discrimination law, the high prevalence of landlords who don’t take vouchers indicates that scofflaws abound. One solution, as suggested by the Public Interest Law Center, is to increase staffing, which could enable a more proactive approach to investigating discrimination in the city.

The lawsuit against ProManaged Inc. is just another reminder that segregation remains high in Philadelphia, and that significant obstacles remain for Black households to build wealth through real estate, the primary driver of household wealth in the United States.

Many of the civic illnesses that plague Philadelphia stem from the city’s legacy of disinvestment and exclusion based on race and location. This is what has led to generational poverty, toxic schools, a lack of opportunity, blight and abandonment, and so many other challenges. It’s no accident that maps showing structural racism in housing and the current epidemic of gun violence are nearly identical, according to a study by the Office of the City Controller.

Tackling source-of-income discrimination in the rental market is only one part of untangling this legacy, but it is a transformative one. Where someone grows up can have a strong influence on their life trajectory — including educational attainment, income level, and health outcomes — a correlation that some social scientists call “zip code destiny.”

Beyond better policing of discrimination, the Philadelphia Housing Authority must take steps to make accepting vouchers feel more like a regular part of business and less like a chore for landlords. This means expediting the move-in process, which would also help tenants. It may also mean raising the threshold for rents, which would increase the number of rental properties that tenants can afford.

When voucher holders can access abundant rental housing in all of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, we’ll have taken a substantial step to unraveling the years of discrimination that have held back our city and its people for generations.