Meet the Panelists | Housing Segregation Is Not an Accident: A Black History Month Event

February 16, 2022 | 2:00-4:00 PM ET

Join the National Fair Housing Training Academy (NFHTA) and the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) for a conversation on how housing segregation has historically disadvantaged marginalized communities and deepened racial gaps in wealth and homeownership.

Meet the Speakers

Is it possible to reverse the effects of housing segregation? Learn more from experts on the history and impact of housing segregation in America.

FHEO Remarks

Demetria McCain

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary

Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), HUD

Demetria McCain joins HUD’s team as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. Prior to serving in this capacity, she spent fifteen years, most recently as president, at the Inclusive Communities Project (ICP) in Dallas, TX. Before joining ICP, PDAS McCain worked as Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney at the National Housing Law Project in Oakland, CA where she worked on preemption issues as they related to the USDA Section 515 rural housing program. She currently serves as an adjunct instructor at Coppin State University where she teaches a Fair Housing and Homelessness course to upper-level undergraduate students. 

Live Roundtable

Richard Rothstein 

Distinguished Fellow

Economic Policy Institute

Panelist

Richard Rothstein is a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and has deep insight into how governmental policies at all levels have forced cities into segregated landscapes. As he does in The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard will detail to participants the complex ways in which segregation is rooted in discriminatory housing policies that have widened racial gaps. 

Lisa Rice

President and CEO

National Fair Housing Alliance

Panelist

Lisa Rice is the President and Chief Executive Officer at the National Fair Housing Alliance. She is deeply knowledgeable about the short-term and long-term impacts on housing opportunities on marginalized communities. Lisa will draw from her knowledge to explain how current policies and practices perpetuate discrimination. 

Beverly Watts

Executive Director

Tennessee Human Rights Commission

Panelist

Beverly Watts is the esteemed executive director of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. She will pull from her 30-year career in civil rights enforcement and education to explain how segregation not only affects social interactions, but also climate and environmental outcomes. She will use her past research in topics such as fair housing and lending, school desegregation, and affirmative action to inform participants.  

Ken Scott

Managing Director of Consumer Fairness

Citi

Panelist

Ken Scott is the managing director of Consumer Fairness at Citi. He is an experienced attorney and compliance professional who will discuss solutions to reverse the legacy and costs of housing discrimination and the role of government in affirmatively furthering fair housing. 

Cashauna Hill

Executive Director

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

Moderator

Cashauna Hill has served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center since 2015. Cashauna’s background includes successful resolution of fair housing and lending claims through administrative and court processes.

About the Forums

Forums are online conversations designed to allow multi-directional interactions between HUD and its FHIP and FHAP partners around emerging fair housing issues regarding processing complaints, conducting investigations, and managing agencies. Topics will evolve based on partner needs and interests.