The University of Indianapolis Sociology Department has recently opened a new interactive exhibit titled “Unwelcomed”: A Fair Housing History of Sales & Lending Discrimination. The department collaborated with the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana to create the exhibit.
The FHCCI is an organization that works to protect the rights that are provided under the Fair Housing Act which, “protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, seeking a mortgage, or engaging in other housing-related activities” (HUD.gov). According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, this act was put into place in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Associate Professor of Sociology Colleen Wynn said that despite this law being in place, there are still instances in which housing discrimination occurs. Wynn said there is a technique realtors used called racial steering, where realtors would place their clients based on their race. The law was amended in 1988, she said, to add more protected classes which has aided in the decline in the amount and types of discrimination.
“There’s still a pretty persistently high level of discrimination, much more than people would expect,” Wynn said. “One of the groups of people who are protected under the Fair Housing Act are people with disabilities, and the largest number of housing discrimination cases reported each year are about discrimination due to a disability.”
According to the National Fair Housing Alliance, there were 34,150 fair housing complaints in 2023, over 1,000 more than in 2022. In the same report, it recorded there was over a 66% increase in complaints of harassment.
Students, faculty and the general public are able to visit the exhibit, and can reflect on the impact that societal barriers have had on housing. The point of the exhibit, Wynn pointed out, is to highlight how these discriminatory practices continue to affect the housing market.
“This kind of discrimination still happens today even though there are supposed to be processes in place to keep it from happening,” Wynn said. “It [the exhibit] will talk about that, and it’ll have a little bit of information about Indiana and Indianapolis as well.”
The exhibit is on display in Krannert Memorial Library until Sept. 26 and will be available during the library’s normal operating hours, according to the news release. Director of Education and Outreach of the FHCCI Erika Fotsch led a discussion on housing discrimination on Sept. 16 to talk about what the organization does to combat these types of issues.
In addition to the exhibit which will give a general introduction to this topic, Wynn said there will be resources available. She said a lot of times students and the public may not even realize they are being discriminated against, which is why learning about this topic can help.
“I think one way we can try to make sure this type of discrimination doesn’t happen again in the future is through education and through knowing that it’s wrong for these things to happen,” Wynn said. “Through people knowing that there are these resources available.”
