Ford, NAACP & Dearborn Realtist Board to Issue Report on State of Housing in Black America

CHICAGO, IL –With the rate of African American homeownership plummeting and unemployment percentages in the double digits, State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, the Dearborn Realtist Board, and other local Black Illinois real estate professionals will hold a town hall and press conference at Malcolm X College on Tuesday, February 28 to address the State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA). The press conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the town hall to immediately follow.

“Poor housing and infrastructure is one of the root causes for the spike of violent crimes in our communities,” said Ford. “When there is an abundance of vacant property in a neighborhood, property values drop and residents bear a burden that usually leads to a lack of commercial development and food options.”

Ford and the Dearborn Realtist Board, Inc., a group formed in Chicago in 1941 by African American real estate professionals, will convene to address the problems of increased crime and violence in minority communities due to a lack of quality housing and infrastructure. The town hall will share the comprehensive SHIBA report from the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. The SHIBA Report illustrates the disproportionate and unfair lending practices that block fair access to communities of color. This report is designed to shed light on many of the issues centered on foreclosure mitigation, neighborhood blight, and disaster recovery for Blacks. The town hall members will discuss current and future legislative changes to how the City of Chicago, State of Illinois and the country as a whole treat housing and development in African American communities.

“Universal Housing Solutions CDC, a 501c3 organization, supports the SHIBA report and the efforts of State Representative La Shawn K. Ford, NAREB and the Dearborn Realtist Board in highlighting the discrimination and the inequities of affordable housing within communities of color.” Phyllis Logan, Executive Director. # # #

“The Dearborn Realtist Board is pleased and honored that Rep. Ford understands the housing crisis facing people of color,” said Tracey Taylor, President of the Dearborn Realtist Board. “We agree that a press conference and town hall meeting will shed a light on the housing inequities for people of color in Chicago. Rep. Ford has embraced the NAREB SHIBA report because of the true illustration and documentation of the systemic housing practices that has robbed black and brown people of home equity and access to credit.”

Ford represents the 8th Representative District, which contains parts of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and portions of Berwyn, Brookfield, Forest Park, La Grange, North Riverside and Oak Park. For more information, please contact Rep. Ford’s District Office at 773-378-5902, 708- 445-3673 or visit www.LaShawnFord.com.