Ending housing discrimination in the AAPI Community in the rental and home buying process.

The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) released its 2021 state of Asia America report, and found that while Asia Americans in the U.S. have a household income of $93,759-35% higher than the national average-only 60.6% of Asian Americans are homeowners. “The 2021 State of Asia America report showcases how the AAPI community has continued its movement across the country. But even with factual evidence of greater income than the general population, our homeownership rate remains surprisingly low, “AREAA president Amy Kong, co-founder of Trust Real Estate in San Francisco said. According to the AREAA report, the Asian American population was hit hard by COVID, particularly through job loss. Another difficulty is bias in housing which is something that must be remedied not only through fair housing regulation, but also in how we conduct business and how systemic racism is addressed. The AREAA report shows that in the first quarter of 2021, the U.S. Department of housing and Urban Development saw a 30% increase in complaints of housing discrimination, with approximately 10% of those complaints involving some aspect of connecting COVID-19 to the person’s ethnicity.

“We also are working hard on overcoming language barriers, especially when it comes to the paperwork involved in real estate transactions. But now we have to overcome even more,” added Kong. “it will be interesting to see how the added stressors impact on the AAPI homeownership rate which had seen a steady rise from 53.7% in the second quarter of 2016 to 61.4% four years later only to fall to 59.6% through the first quarter of 2021.”

Also in the studies documented by the Urban Institute’s national studies of housing discrimination have shown differential treatment of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), compared with white Americans, in rental and sales markets. In the studies, the two testers-one AAPI and one white-posed as equally qualified home seekers and responded to advertisements for available properties to rent or purchase testers attempted to secure an in-person appointment and then meet with a housing provider to learn about and see available units.

The studies showed that AAPIs were treated less favorably compared to the white people when searching for housing. In the most recent study, AAPI tester were told about 9.8 percent fewer available rental properties than comparably qualified white counterparts and were shown 6.6 percent fewer units. The difference in treatment was especially notable in the sales market, where testing found that AAPI tester were told about 15.5 percent

fewer available properties for sale than their white counterparts and were shown 18.8 percent fewer properties. The difference in treatment were found across the country.

The discrimination in housing markets has been worsen by the myth that Asian Americans are not discriminated against. Because of this assumption it has also influence how policymakers shape a range of housing related policies.

Marcia Fudge, US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) stated that her priorities include working to end housing discrimination. This commitment would bring much needed support and attention to equal access to housing.

According to the report released by the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development and the council for Native Hawaiian Advancement titled Asian American & Pacific Islander Anti-Displacement Strategies provides 24 local strategies to prevent displacement of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) families resulting from rising housing costs and gentrification.

The report recommends a number of national policy solutions, including greater public resources for affordable housing through a cross-agency hot makers program designed to address displacement of low income renters and small businesses, steps to ensure greater equity in transit-oriented development, meaningful community planning engagement, and mitigation of climate change displacement. The report calls for a national section 8 stabilization program that increases vouchers in hot market cities and protect tenants’ rights to remain, guidance defining hot market neighborhoods under the Affirmatively Fathering Fair Housing rule, and increased revenue sources for the national Housing Trust Fund for additional affordable housing development in hot markets.

We’re Starting Over, Inc.

- a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting and uplifting people experiencing the effects of mass incarceration, systemic racism, housing insecurity, substance addiction, and mental health issues. We believe that people impacted by these issues are the ones closest to the solutions, which is why we are a Black-led and criminal justice-impacted organization engaged in this work. From experience, we’ve learned that housing is critical, but alone, it is not enough to support those exiting prisons or the streets. We not only provide transitional housing, but also include holistic services such as peer support, case management, employment, wellness, and reentry services. We also work to address the root causes of our houseguests’ difficult situations, leading grassroots organizing and policy initiatives in the Inland Empire region and statewide. Established in 2009, we’ve served over 1,400 men, women, and families in Riverside and Los Angeles Counties through the reentry and transition process.

We believe that the past does not define our future. We’re invested in creating safe and equitable opportunities for all members of our community, and especially those with past convictions. Housing opportunities are crucial for our community members and directly affect their ability to thrive.

Starting Over, Inc. is committed to reducing and eliminating the many barriers to life after incarceration. We have a deep commitment to identifying and implementing evidence-based approaches to strong communities and families. We seek to creating program/project solutions where the need exists in our community. We do lots of things at Starting Over, Inc. - but our primary goal is to address the immediate effects and root causes of incarceration, be it through housing, employment, legislation, or community organizing.

To get involved with our initiatives, access our services, or support our work through donations, you can reach us at (951) 898-0862 or office@startingoverinc.org.

We currently operate eight homes in LA and Riverside Counties open to men, women, and children, with options for sober living or harm-reduction housing. All of our services are available to our houseguests, many of whom have been unable to obtain housing after being released due to their conviction histories.

Our Case Management specialists provide support to our guests with obtaining necessary documents/identification and accessing insurance, education, healthcare, clothing, food, & more.

Our houseguests are not alone - our support specialists, having experienced incarceration, addiction, and homelessness themselves - understand our guests' needs and the barriers they face. We’re here to meet our guests wherever they are in their journeys and to support them moving forward through empowerment, support with recovery, referrals, and mentorship.

Mass incarceration affects not just individuals, but families - many of our community members and guests experience family separation at the hands of the child welfare system. The FREE Project is system-impacted led and organizes parents and family members in a non-judgemental space, advising on best practices and dependency court procedures. We recently sponsored and passed a statewide bill that eliminates major barriers to child placement and allows family members with criminal convictions unrelated to caring for children to be considered as placement options allowing for suitable family members with criminal convictions to step up in times of crisis.

Through our Path to SEED program, we connect guests and community members with employment opportunities and provide training & support regarding obtaining and retaining employment, often a major hurdle for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Our free clinics provide relief for expungements, wills/trusts, immigration, and more with the support of local legal organizations.

In the past year, we’ve co-sponsored and/or supported nearly a dozen statewide bills to reduce the scale of mass incarceration and its collateral consequences. We’ve also worked locally to influence Riverside County to reduce criminal history look-back periods from 7 years to 3 years in 2017 and to enable youth coming out of probation to be able to stay with their family members in subsidized housing.

Our Participatory Defense organizing model (based on Silicon Valley De-Bug) empowers family and community members in the courtroom to positively impact their loved one’s outcome and to bring them home. As fiscal sponsor and start-up organization of Riverside All of Us or None (a chapter of a national initiative of formerly incarcerated people, family members, and allies advocating for the rights of the currently and formerly incarcerated people) we ensure that system impacted leadership remains at the center of the fight to keep our community together and address the social problems that incarceration purports to solve. Our community outreach team also disseminates voter registration and public health information regarding COVID-19, and we organize food and clothing relief for community members in need.