Housing Groups Say Reality Show Went Too Far by Al Heavens
I should not judge without having seen an entire episode of the program, but from the promotional teasers I had seen, ABC-TV probably was correct in pulling its six-part "Welcome to the Neighborhood" reality series before it began airing July 10. The show's premise: Seven families from various backgrounds were to compete for a four-bedroom house in what was billed as a mostly white and conservative Austin, Texas, neighborhood. The contestants were an African-American family; a Wiccan family, a Latino family, an Asian family, a white family with a mother who is a stripper, a white conservative white family with a tattooed husband and wife, and a white gay couple with an adopted African-American baby. Three "white, conservative couples" were to decide who won the house, and, in the first two episodes, were basing their decision on race and religion, among other considerations. The network contended that the program was designed to show "the transformative process that takes place when people are forced to confront preconceived notion of what makes a good neighbor." Since the transformation occurred over six episodes and the early ones apparently showed no "transformative process," ABC concluded that a message other than it had intended might be sent. Fortunately, the network had the good sense of sending copies of the early episodes to the National Fair Housing Alliance and the National Association of Realtors, among others. "We were in the middle of getting angry about it," said Steve Cook, the NAR's vice president of public affairs. "We had been talking to people in the ABC-Disney offices here in Washington and were about to send one of our people over to view the third episode when the show was canceled." The NAR "is uncompromising on fair housing," Cook said. "There is no gray area. We make it clear to our members that discrimination in housing will not be tolerated, and, we hope, our members make it equally clear to buyers and sellers." The two episodes viewed by the NAR gave the impression that discrimination was, in effect, no big deal, Cook said. "If you watched all of the segments, you might come away with the message ABC said it was trying to deliver, but you cannot expect everyone who watches the show to watch them all," according to Cook. The National Fair Housing Alliance led the charge against the show, Cook said. Although the Realtors hadn't reached the point at which it might consider legal action when the show was pulled, Shanna L. Smith, the alliance's president and CEO, said that "if ABC releases its rights and someone else decides to air the series, we will be prepared to challenge the show in court." ABC's statement "we have decided not to air the series at this time" seemed to leave open the possibility of broadcasting it down the road. "If in the future ABC decides to air the show, we will interpret this action as malicious and purposeful, causing serious harm to the work of the National Fair Housing Alliance, its members and others," Smith said. Smith acknowledged that ABC president Alex Wallau had maintained a "regular dialogue" with the alliance during the entire process. But Wallau's explanations failed to sway Smith. "The National Fair Housing Alliance stands by its position that show violates the federal Fair Housing Act as well as state and local fair housing laws," she said. Organizations representing African Americans, Latinos, Asians and gays and lesbians shared the NAR and Fair Housing Alliance view of the show. Conservative groups also objected to the portrayal of the white neighbors and the white family with tattooed parents as stereotyping. The country is indeed becoming more diverse, and that diversity is reflected in the real estate market more than just about anywhere else. While the percentage of African American and Latino homeowners remains well below that of whites, the numbers have been growing for the least that last decade because the housing industry -- builders, Realtors and lenders -- have been making it happen. So why should anyone be concerned about the effects of a single six-episode show on a network in the summer -- a time of year when the fewest people are watching television? It is because, as Smith points out, housing discrimination remains a serious problem. The alliance reports that about 3.7 million instance of housing bias go unreported annually because "people of color think no one will help them." "Surely there are better ways to teach white America the benefits of multicultural and multiracial living," Smith said. | 
