1. HOUSING DISCRIMINATION IN THE PIONEER
VALLEY
A Close Evaluation of Housing Discrimination Against Families In
The Pioneer Valley
By Samaya Abdus-Salaam

2. WHEN YOU THINK OF HOUSING DISCRIMINATION, WHAT COMES
TO MIND?
Race
Ability
Class
Religion
Gender
Work Status
Families
What about the EXISTENCE OF
lead paint?
Credit

3. FAIR HOUSING ACT OF 1968:
Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) prohibits the
refusal to rent or sell housing based on race, color, national origin,
religion, sex, familial status or creed.
“ “
FEDERAL AND MASSACHUSETTS LAW STATES THAT IT IS
ILLEGAL
TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CHILDREN ON
THE BASIS OF EXISTENCE OF LEAD PAINT
Housing Discrimination Against Persons with Children prohibits discrimina-
tion in leasing or renting of accommodations to any person because the per-
son has a child or children who shall occupy the premises with such person.

4. Exposure to LEAD PAINT can lead to:
 Damage to the brain, kidneys and nervous system
 Problems with growth and development
 Learning problems
 Speech and hearing problems
 Behavior problems
Massachusetts Law requires that any housing built before 1978
needs to be deleaded.
Lead paint can deteriorate due to old age and poor building mainte-
nance and housing repairs.
 Lead is most dangerous to children under the age of six because
their brains and bodies are still developing.
Springfield and Holyoke are at the HIGHEST
risk of lead poisoning

5. In 1966, Springfield and Holyoke held highest
amount of dilapidated and deteriorating housing
90% of “nonwhite” housing
was in Springfield.
25.1% of that housing was
deteriorating/dilapidated
(includes inadequate plumbing)

6. More than half of the non-white population
lived in deteriorating/dilapidated housing.

7. But what about now?
“Decreased public funding for abatement and the escalating cost of abatement and
disposal continue to hinder efforts at lead paint hazard reduction through rehabili-
tation. The issue of lead paint abatement remains a financial stumbling block in
renovation projects.
In Hampden County and Springfield specifically, 55,747 housing units were
built before 1940.88% of owner occupied housing and 88% of rental hous-
ing units were built before 1979.

8. The city’s highest concentration of renter occupied
housing is in its older urban neighborhoods are: Metro
Center, Brightwood, Memorial Square, Six Corners and
the South End.
The older urban neighborhoods with higher concentrations of renter occupied housing are
also the neighborhoods that are majority Hispanic and African American. In these neighbor-
hoods, there is a higher percentage of housing units that were built before 1950s and there
is a higher risk of lead exposure.

9. Hampden County, which includes Springfield and Holyoke,
has the second highest percentage of children who have
lead poisoning.
Between July 2007 and June 2012, 53cases
of lead poisoning were reported in the city,
giving Springfield the 3rd highest incidence
rate in the state for childhood lead poisoning.
Although small percentages of those tested were confirmed to have lead poisoning, there ap-
pears to be a strong relationship between children in poverty and instances of lead exposure

10. Lead Exposure
Families With Young Children
Old Buildings
Poverty Marginalized Communities
Costs of Deleading
Limited Housing
Fair Housing Act
While the issue of lead exposure is directly related to the Fair Housing Act, the con-
tributing factors of why lead exposure are grounds to discriminate against families
are not mutually exclusive. It is important to understand the intersectionality of
housing discrimination and all of its forms. Lead exposure appears in the everyday.
There are families who don’t have access to housing because of lead exposure and
there are families living in units with lead, but relocating isn’t easy because of housing
availability. The lack of housing, especially lead-free and safe housing, directly corre-
lates to where those units are and how affordable they are. Older buildings and hous-
ing units, most of which are poorly maintained, are in marginalized communities.
In short, marginalized communities are at a higher risk of being exposed to
lead.

11. Know Your Rights!
It is illegal to be refused
housing whether to rent or
to own based on the pres-
ence of children
All renters and owners
must be notified of the
existence of lead in hous-
ing units.
Landlords, home-owners and
home providers are required to
remove or cover hazardous lead
paint when a children under the
age of 6 lives there.
Deleading or covering
of lead paint must be
done within 90 days of
moving in.
FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING HOUSING
DISCRIMINATION IN THE PIONEER VALLEY:
Contact the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center:
57 Suffolk Street Holyoke, MA 01040
Email: info[at]massfairhousing.org Phone: 413-539-9796