{"id":6998,"date":"2015-07-11T08:57:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T15:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=6998"},"modified":"2015-07-11T08:57:19","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T15:57:19","slug":"presidential-weekly-address-making-our-communities-stronger-through-fair-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=6998","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Weekly Address:  Making Our Communities Stronger through Fair Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230; Hi, everybody. It\u2019s our job as citizens to make sure we keep pushing this country we love toward our most cherished ideals \u2013 that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve an equal shot.  This week, my Administration took new steps to bring us closer to that goal.  Almost 50 years ago, Republicans and Democrats in Congress came together to pass the Fair Housing Act.  It\u2019s a law that says landlords can\u2019t turn away tenants solely because of their race, religion, sex, national origin, or disability.  And it made a difference in this country. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0lSLIhXrs1Y\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Still, the work of the Fair Housing Act remains unfinished.  Just a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled that policies segregating minorities in poor neighborhoods, even unintentionally, are against the law.  The Court recognized what many people know to be true from their own lives:  that too often, where people live determines what opportunities they have in life.<\/p>\n<p>In some cities, kids living just blocks apart lead incredibly different lives.  They go to different schools, play in different parks, shop in different stores, and walk down different streets.  And often, the quality of those schools and the safety of those parks and streets are far from equal \u2013 which means those kids aren\u2019t getting an equal shot in life. <\/p>\n<p>That runs against the values we hold dear as Americans.  In this country, of all countries, a person\u2019s zip code shouldn\u2019t decide their destiny.  We don\u2019t guarantee equal outcomes, but we do strive to guarantee an equal shot at opportunity \u2013 in every neighborhood, for every American.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the Fair Housing Act also says that this isn\u2019t the responsibility of a landlord alone \u2013 local governments have a role to play, too.  That\u2019s why, this week, my Administration announced that we\u2019ll make it easier for communities to implement this law.  We\u2019re using data on housing and neighborhood conditions to help cities identify the areas that need the most help.  We\u2019re doing more to help communities meet their own goals.  Plus, by opening this data to everybody, everyone in a community \u2013 not just elected officials \u2013 can weigh in.  If you want a bus stop added near your home, or more affordable housing nearby, now you\u2019ll have the data you need to make your case.<\/p>\n<p>These actions won\u2019t make every community perfect.  That\u2019s something we all have to strive for in our own lives.  But they will help make our communities stronger and more vibrant.  And they\u2019ll help keep this a country where kids from every background can grow up knowing that no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you live, you can write your own story. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the America I love.  And it\u2019s the America I\u2019ll keep fighting for.  Thanks, and have a great weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230; Hi, everybody. It\u2019s our job as citizens to make sure we keep pushing this country we love toward our most cherished ideals \u2013 that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve an equal shot. This week, my Administration took new steps to bring us closer to that goal. Almost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-national-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fullscreen-capture-7112015-85540-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}