Presidents, Bureaucracy, and Housing Discrimination Policy: The Fair Housing Acts of 1968 and 1988

Housing segregation and discrimination remain contemporary American problems despite 40 years of policy initiatives aimed at combating them. Since strong presidential support and active bureaucratic enforcement of fair housing laws should reduce these problems, we investigate variation over time in presidential support for the Fair Housing Acts of 1968 and 1988 (Title VIII) and their enforcement. Our findings first indicate that President Nixon's interpretation of Title VIII notably weakened its scope and enforcement, but the most liberal outcomes in Title VIII policy and enforcement since the 1960s ironically surfaced during the Reagan years. Then merging two unique databases, we explore variations in Title VIII enforcement and find some fluctuation across enforcement indicators. Our study suggests that housing discrimination and segregation can be expected to continue absent strong presidential support and active bureaucratic enforcement of Title VIII that encourages a significant role for state and local civil rights agencies.