Where Shall We Live?

Where Shall We Live? Report of the Commission on Race and Housing is the landmark publication of an independent citizens’ body that, between 1955 and 1958, undertook the first nationwide, empirically grounded investigation of racial discrimination in the American housing market. Chaired by Earl B. Schwulst with Davis McEntire as Research Director, and supported financially but not substantively by the Fund for the Republic, the Commission brought together social scientists from more than a dozen universities to document patterns of inequality facing African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans. With a particular emphasis on metropolitan regions—where population pressures and market dynamics were most acute—the Commission combined field studies, census data, market analyses, and case investigations to illuminate the mechanisms of segregation. Its companion research volume, McEntire’s Residence and Race (1959), provides detailed statistical and documentary foundations.

The report concludes that racial segregation in housing is neither accidental nor merely a matter of individual preference, but systemic and entrenched. Discriminatory practices by realtors, lenders, and builders restrict minority families’ choices; myths about inevitable property-value decline following integration are shown to be overstated. Weak legal frameworks and lax enforcement further entrench these inequities, producing measurable costs for families, cities, and the national economy—from overcrowding and restricted labor access to metropolitan fiscal stress. At the same time, successful experiments in nonsegregated housing demonstrate that markets can function when fair rules are applied. On the basis of this evidence, the Commission recommends strengthening civil rights law, reforming industry practices, aligning federal and local policy with equal opportunity goals, and investing in data and education to counter misinformation. Where Shall We Live? thus offered one of the earliest comprehensive blueprints for dismantling residential segregation, insisting that equal housing opportunity is not only achievable but essential for social and economic health in modern America.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1958.