Policy, politics and public management-A look at the impacts of ethics in public policy on real estate - Essay Example

The Impact of Interest Groups on the New Jersey Real E Market The impact of interest groups on the New Jersey real e market is a complex infrastructure of reforming ideas and practical facilitation of low income housing demands. Special interest groups have a wide array of focus that takes many different social issues into consideration. In the state of New Jersey there is a Division on Civil Rights that is a part of the State Attorney General’s Office. The Division on Civil Rights, a government endorsed, special interest group, has been instrumental in establishing equal housing opportunities for all residents of New Jersey.

The Attorney General Office’s Division on Civil Rights was responsible for the introduction, promotion, and enforcement of the State Law Against Discrimination. This law provides for equal housing opportunity regardless of “a persons race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, marital status, domestic partnership status, familial status, affectional or sexual orientation, sex, or mental and physical disability, including AIDS and HIV-related illness.” (http://www.state.nj.us/oag/dcr/housing.html) The law, while it does not prevent discrimination on the basis of age, does prevent discrimination of families with children.

The sole exception being residences that are specifically established for occupancy by the elderly. There are also groups like the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Company that put time and money into educating the residents of New Jersey about the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit, a program that assists financially needy families and individuals in locating housing and giving them a helping hand when it comes to buying property. Also active is the Council on Affordable Housing, a part of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs.

The combined efforts of these groups and others like them have aided in making the New Jersey Real Estate market accessible for every person. The government, through it’s own initiative and through the lobbying of independent special interest groups has ensured that every person, regardless of distinguishing characteristics, will have the opportunity to afford a place to live and raise a family. It wasn’t always this way, however. In order to better grasp the impact that these groups have had on the real estate market in New Jersey, and in the rest of the country as well, it would be wise to examine the state of affairs prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Prior to that piece of legislation a business owner had the right to refuse service to anyone they pleased. Because of the predominant national sentiment at the time, this right to refusal was generally exercised out of racially discriminatory motivation. The racially discriminatory nature of many business owners was largely concentrated in the states located south of the Mason-Dixon line and was fueled by prejudicial sentiments rooted in the traditions of slave ownership that ran so deep in many of the southern families.

Demographically speaking, there was a shifting in the population of America from the civil war to the civil rights movement as many African-Americans began moving north and west in an attempt to remove themselves from this discrimination and many of them settled in New Jersey. This, of course, had a profound effect on the housing market in New Jersey once the Civil Rights Act was approved and enacted. No longer was it legal to refuse service, employment, housing, or anything else to a person based on their gender or the color of their skin.

According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the minority share of the housing market nationally increase from 17% in 1980 to 26% in 2000 and is projected to increase to 34% by 2020. (www.jchs.harvard.edu) This means that more minorities are able to take advantage of the benefits of the Civil Rights Act, the State Law Against Discrimination, and other special interest programs that our government has established, providing a boost for local real estate markets across the nation and, certainly, in New Jersey.

Works Cited"Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies." 09 May 2006 . Top of FormBottom of Form"New Jersey Division of Civil Rights." New Jersey State Government. 09 May 2006 .Top of FormBottom of Form