There’s a reason April is National Fair Housing Month. Decent housing for all was a critical pillar of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s platform, and he worked in cities across the country to combat discriminatory housing practices. Days after his death on April 4, 1968, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing based on factors including race.
Fifty-four years after Dr. King’s death, access to quality, affordable housing remains inequitable. Communities of color are disproportionately targeted by predatory mortgage lending and wrongful foreclosure – just to name a couple. Nonprofit organizations like the Memphis Fair Housing Center at Memphis Area Legal Services, United Housing, and others you can discover at the LIVEGIVEmiosouth.org community information system help fight housing discrimination. They offer financial, legal, and counseling resources to people facing intentional roadblocks to quality housing. And they provide ways for concerned citizens to help support a cause for which Dr. King fought so passionately.