NAACP Youth Council advisor James Groppi marching to protest housing discrimination
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, designed to prevent housing discrimination by lenders, real estate agents and landlords. In Milwaukee, marches to protest housing discrimination against minorities—headed by Roman Catholic priest and NAACP Youth Council advisor James Groppi, Alderwoman Vel Phillips and other community activists—began on Aug. 28, 1967, and ended on March 14, 1968, after 200 consecutive days. Groppi, who eventually left the priesthood, organized the Commandos, a group of 100 African American men, to shield marchers from violence by residents who were against integrating city neighborhoods. He passed away at the age of 55 in 1985; Vel Phillips just recently passed away at the age of 95.
On Wednesday, April 11, the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors (GMAR) held a press conference on the Marquette University campus to commemorate the Fair Housing Act anniversary and to recognize the marchers for their resilience and courage. Event speakers included Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; former member of the Commandos Fred Reed; civil rights activist and Groppi’s widow, Margaret Rozga; First District Alderman Ashanti Hamilton; and president and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, William Tisdale.
“It was really touching to have the NAACP and Commandos there to talk of the struggle it took to make this an issue, not only in Milwaukee, but nationally,” Hamilton said in a telephone interview. GMAR chairwoman Vickie Kelsall said the conference speakers—in particular those marchers such as Rozga who shared their memories—were “amazing; this made people aware of how much more work we still have to do.” Rozga said that, while she was surprised that the conference was held by realtors (historically not advocates of fair housing legislation), the event was a success.
She became active in the civil rights movement in 1965 when, after watching footage of civil rights protesters being beaten by police officers, she traveled with Groppi and others to work on a voter registration program in African American neighborhoods in Alabama. “I was a white, Polish, Catholic girl who grew up on the South Side of Milwaukee. I never heard of people not being able to vote,” Rozga recalled. When she returned to Milwaukee, Rozga joined the NAACP Youth Council, feeling she needed to become active in the civil rights movement at home. Rozga and Groppi married after he left the priesthood in the mid-’70s. The couple had three children.
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Rozga said Milwaukee has unfortunately earned an international reputation of being a highly segregated city, in part due to a recent BBC documentary.
Closing a Housing Loophole
Rozga—along with Fourth District County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic and others—are working on a proposal that would eliminate a loophole in Milwaukee County’s Fair Housing Ordinance that excludes housing choice vouchers as a legal source of income. “It’s a form of legal discrimination,” she said. Rozga explained that, in Wisconsin, housing vouchers are not included as a “legal source of income,” therefore the Milwaukee County ordinance needs to be amended. “Some language that is inclusive of housing vouchers needs to be added,” said Rozga, who further pointed out that many tenants who hold housing vouchers are African American.
Rozga feels that integration must take place in Milwaukee’s primarily white suburbs along with the city of Milwaukee, itself. “Metro Milwaukee has a long way to go,” she said, and Milwaukee’s Mayor Barrett agrees. “Clearly we have more diverse housing patterns in the city, but in the metropolitan area, there are still issues,” he told the conference. According to data collected by the 2010 U.S. National Census, 40% of the city’s population is African American. Latinos and other nonwhites constitute an additional 25%. “We like the diversity in the city. We feel it’s an asset,” said the mayor.
Although progress has been made in the sense that African Americans and other minorities can now live in white neighborhoods, some community leaders feel the city has a long way to go when it comes to equal housing. Tisdale feels that African Americans in the city still face lots of struggles when it comes to equal housing. Federal support, access to credit and good schools are all determined by where one lives. Having unequal access to these things places an enormous burden on African American communities, he noted. “Housing discrimination plays a key role in keeping people where they are,” said Tisdale.
No More Redlining
“Clearly, there have been improvements from 50 years ago. Many of the blatant policies and practices that created and perpetuated racial segregation in the Milwaukee metropolitan area are off the books and have been eliminated,” said civil rights attorney James Hall of Milwaukee’s Hall, Burce & Olsen law firm. According to Hall, these erstwhile policies included the use of racially restrictive covenants (“a provision in a deed that the property could not be sold, leased or rented to anyone other than of the Caucasian race”) and a policy implemented by the real estate board dating back to 1924 that confined African Americans to living in “a certain area in town.”
Policies at the federal level also contributed to housing discrimination in Milwaukee. “I can say the way communities in Metro Milwaukee became segregated was not by accident,” Hall said.
Many federal agencies practiced “redlining”—a term derived from color-coding residential areas with a high percentage of African Americans on a map (ostensibly outlined in red). These agencies actively discouraged banks from providing mortgages to African Americans.
Although African Americans can now choose to live where they want, they, like Caucasians, tend to self-segregate, said Hamilton. “We are finding this more so in the black community. People are choosing to live in communities where they don’t feel ostracized.” Predominantly African American neighborhoods often lack resources, transportation to jobs and experience more racial profiling than they would in a more integrated neighborhood, according to Hall. “I wish I could say something much rosier, but I don’t think [doing so would be] consistent with the facts,” he said. “Notwithstanding the gains and improvements since the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Milwaukee metropolitan area remains one of the most residentially segregated in the nation. That means we still have a lot of work to do.”
Can We Do Better?
Segregation remains prevalent in Milwaukee, but steps are being taken to help increase stability in low-income neighborhoods. GMAR plans to donate $12,500 to Housing Resources, Inc. (HRI)—an organization that provides classes, one-on-one counseling and other resources for first-time homebuyers and current homeowners. “We want to encourage those who are renting to purchase homes,” said GMAR president Mike Ruzicka. He estimates that 68% of residents in Milwaukee’s inner city currently rent rather than own a home. Milwaukee was hit hard by the 2008 recession, and many homes were foreclosed on and purchased by investors. He also notes that some investors don’t live in neighborhoods where they own homes and apartment buildings. Some underestimate the time commitment necessary to be a landlord and neglect their properties, causing their tenants to suffer.
According to Ruzicka, realtors are trained extensively on the Fair Housing Act, but clients sometimes express their wishes to live in an all-white neighborhood by using coded phrases such as “in a good school district” or “with people like me.” To avoid potential Fair Housing Act violations, rather than replying to coded statements with an opinion, realtors are encouraged to provide clients with data regarding schools and neighborhood demographics from reputable sources, including the State of Wisconsin Census Bureau and the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
With the GMAR donations, HRI hopes to expand its homebuyer education program, said Kelsall. “It’s crazy that there is not more education out there,” she added. The organization is currently offering seminars in public locations such as area libraries and the Boys and Girls Club. To reach potential homeowners, HRI distributes fliers to area churches and apartment complexes. “I think it’s important people realize that homeownership helps create safer neighborhoods,” Kelsall said. Homeowners tend to take pride in their houses, and putting down roots in an area helps create a sense of community.
Kelsall feels that many people are unaware of programs that can assist with homeownership. For example, many veterans don’t know they may be eligible for mortgages that require no down payment or private mortgage insurance. Also, the Federal Housing Authority enables lenders to put down 3.5% of the home’s purchase price and is more lenient when it comes to low credit scores. She notes that owning a home isn’t necessarily an unattainable goal, despite what some people believe. “Most people think they can’t ever get there, but they can with the right education,” said Kelsall.
Tisdale and Barrett agree that integration must start at the community level. “People have to be advocates for this,” Barrett said. Tisdale feels that ensuring equal housing opportunities for all is something all Milwaukee residents must work toward in order for it to be successful. Expanding affordable housing options in the city is also necessary in order to help integrate neighborhoods.
“Housing,” Tisdale said, “is a basic right.”
