{"id":27119,"date":"2017-10-24T14:45:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T19:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=27119"},"modified":"2017-10-24T20:17:17","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T01:17:17","slug":"open-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2017\/10\/open-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Area Project\u2019s debut poll asked respondents, \u201cDo you think that people in your community have the opportunity to rent or purchase a home they can afford regardless of their race, or is there significant racial discrimination in housing?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Displays<\/a><\/p>\n

This question echoes a longer history in the Milwaukee area over access to housing. The winter of 2017-2018 marks the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the \u201cMarch on Milwaukee.\u201d For two hundred consecutive nights, starting in September 1967, civil rights activists in Milwaukee marched to demand that people be allowed to buy and rent homes that they could afford without being subject to discrimination on the basis of race. At the time, it was legal for property owners to reject prospective renters or buyers because they were black.<\/p>\n

Starting in May 1962, Alderman Vel Phillips (elected as Milwaukee\u2019s first African American and first female city council member in 1956) proposed an ordinance that would have barred city property owners from discriminating against African Americans. Proponents of this kind of law in the United States said that it would ensure \u201cfair housing\u201d or \u201copen housing\u201d\u2014in pointed contrast to housing that was unfair or closed. Opponents of the law, borrowing the rhetoric of \u201cforced busing\u201d from the contemporaneous debate about desegregation of public schools, decried what they called \u201cforced housing.\u201d Phillips\u2019s ordinance was repeatedly offered and defeated by a vote of 18-1 in the years leading up to start of the marches.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee\u2019s open housing marches continued every night into mid-March 1968. In April, a week after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the US enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This law, also known as the Fair Housing Act, outlawed racial discrimination in housing and other practices that hobbled African Americans\u2019 search for decent homes. By the end of April, the Milwaukee Common Council followed suit with its own fair housing ordinance. The passage of fair housing laws, however, did not in itself end racial discrimination. In 1977, a new organization, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, was created in order to help people who faced illegal discrimination.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in learning more about the history of open housing in Milwaukee, the sources below may be helpful.<\/p>\n

Digital Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Entries posted in the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee<\/em> illuminate local struggles over access to housing, including:<\/p>\n