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When, in 1996, William H. Frey and Reynolds Farley, demographers at the University of Michigan, issued a report on racial and ethnic housing segregation, they concluded that Reading, PA was the most segregated metropolitan area for Latinos in the United States and that Lancaster, PA was the second most segregated. Upon learning of the findings of the report, the City of Lancaster commissioned the Lancaster County Fair Housing Program to examine the report; validate or refute its conclusions; investigate the actual state of segregation in the City and County; and make recommendations for remediation if the findings were accurate. Under the leadership of Carolyn B. Capistrano, the Fair Housing Program conducted a nine month study of living patterns, demographics, census data, economic status and perceptions in the target area (City) as well as the surrounding communities. The study resulted in a report entitled "Separate But Equal?" which was published in 1997. The report did, in fact, concur with the Michigan University research. As the Fair Housing staff sought to find the causes for the extremely heavy concentration of Latino residents in just four city census tracts, several easy answers emerged. First of all, many social services were located in the highly segregated Southeast area of Lancaster City. Employment, health, day care, and training services were all within walking distance. This was desirable for large segments of this community because many did not own automobiles. In addition, housing was reasonably affordable and ample stock was available; furthermore, because of language and cultural similarities, the environment was often not hostile to those who lived in these segregated areas. Many outside observers would probably point to those facts and conclude that those were the reasons for the segregation in Lancaster at alarming levels. However, these are simply contributing causes. The "Separate But Equal?" report clearly exposed the fact that there are numerous barriers to families of color moving out of the inner city. Lack of affordable housing in suburbs and beyond; inconvenient public transportation; inability to get well paying jobs because of reliance on public transportation that does not run particularly when needed; the idea of being "loners" and "different" in an already established community; problems for minorities in suburban school districts; and the feeling of powerlessness to change their situation are all the significant reasons for the segregated communities in Lancaster. Following the publication of the "Separate but Equal?" report, the City and the County of Lancaster worked with a variety of organizations to create a "Joint Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice." This document, available at Lancaster City Hall or the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority, outlines eleven primary obstacles to fair housing choice:
This document has initiated the creation of the Fair Housing Action Committee by a group of people concerned about fair housing. The mission of this group is to increase public awareness about the need for fair housing choice and the benefits resulting from that choice. The reports offer several attainable solutions, but in the long run, it will take people of good will in all communities to start to affect positive change; people at all levels - government, social services, business and industry; education, and communities will have to determine that they truly integrated living patterns are economically, socially and morally right and then they will have to work to make these changes happen. As noted in Separate But Equal? "Centuries of discrimination and disenfranchisement cannot be reversed through one program or one policy. Essential to progress is a concerted, multi-faceted effort by community leaders, with the cooperation of social services, housing providers, schools and the community." If you would like to be a part of the effort to further fair housing, please call Willonda McCloud at 299-7840 to get involved with the Fair Housing Action Committee.
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