LETTER: Reasons for the housing crisis

There is a reason homes are so expensive. The city of Whitefish is trying to figure out the reason private sector people working in Whitefish cannot afford to live in Whitefish. They must live in Kalispell or Columbia Falls. The problem was created by Congress back in 1974 — trying to end sex discrimination.

In 1974, Congress pushed a bill called the Fair Housing Act, also known as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The bill outlawed sex discrimination by lending institutions for almost all mortgage transactions. Banks would have to consider “without prejudice” the combined income of the husband and wife seeking a mortgage loan.”

Before 1974, banks normally only took the salary of the head of household to figure how much money that family could afford. There was thus pressure on families to have both the husband and wife working in order to afford a house. Because of that law, the price of housing quadrupled between 1974 and 1980. —Fred Hammel, Kalispell