Anti-Jewish housing discrimination is being practiced in this state and, especially, in a section of Johnson County, according to various witnesses who testified here in favor of a state fair housing law at a hearing conducted by the state’s Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs.
Under the chairmanship of Mrs. Nathan Shechter, of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League, Jewish leaders, including several rabbis, testified about housing discrimination affecting Jews. Property owners in Johnson County, said the witnesses, refuse to sell to prospective purchasers who are Jewish, some mortgage companies will not hold mortgages on homes owned by Jews, and, in some neighborhoods, the property owner and his neighbors must agree before a house is sold to a Jews.
Mrs. Shechter, who is also a member of the Kansas Advisory Commission on Human Rights, pleaded with the committee to approve a Fair Housing bill. She was supported by realtors from several Kansas cities. The measure is opposed by Johnson County Board of Realtors.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
