![]() ![]() Hudspeth said she is compiling a database of such neighborhoods and has not yet completed her research. ![]() It is unclear how many Houston-area deed restrictions include those racist provisions, which were commonplace during the first half of the 20 th century. The same is true in Garden Oaks, according to Garden Oaks Civic Club president Tonya Knauth. Whitmire said the Caucasian-only provision also is in the deed restrictions for his neighborhood, Old Braeswood, and said residents there might try to duplicate what happened in Oak Forest. So implementing SB30 on a property-by-property basis, which is how the law is written, would not be applicable in this case, he said. When asked to explain why Lowe's filing was applicable throughout his part of the neighborhood, she said in a statement, "There would be no reason for another homeowner who resides in the same section of the subdivision to submit the same documents that have already been reviewed by the court and had the discriminatory provisions already redacted from them."ĭanny Newman, an Oregon-based attorney and former Houston resident who has provided pro bono legal advice for Oak Forest homeowners, said Harris County property records are organized in such a way that there is only one deed restriction document that applies to multiple property owners in a given geographic area, such as Section 1 of Oak Forest. Hudspeth, however, might have found a way to reach that desired end with the existing law. But Johnson said the law was not exactly what he wanted because it wasn't written to allow one property owner to have discriminatory provisions removed on behalf of an entire neighborhood or neighborhood section. The Texas Legislature gave such property owners an easier alternative with Senate Bill 30, which specifies they cannot be charged fees for completing the legal process outlined in the legislation. Lowe joined a group of Oak Forest residents who have tried to remove the racial clause by petitioning their neighbors to amend the deed restrictions, but they have found the process to be difficult and exhaustive, having been unable to reach the required threshold for support even in Oak Forest's smallest section. Residents in Houston subdivisions such as Oak Forest and neighboring Garden Oaks, particularly after the murder of Houston native George Floyd in the summer of 2020 and the social awakening that ensued, have looked to distance themselves from remnants of a racist past while ensuring their communities are welcoming and inclusive moving forward. "While it may be wrong, it was right," Johnson said. Both said they also were surprised to learn that Lowe's legal action applied to his neighbors as well, and both legislators praised Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth for implementing the law in that manner. ![]() John Whitmire (D-Houston), who represent Oak Forest residents, co-sponsored the bill and voted for it. Jarvis Johnson (D-Houston) and State Sen. ![]() He had been under the impression that the new law, Senate Bill 30, permitted only individual homeowners to remove such provisions from their deed restrictions and not also on behalf of others. Lowe said he was pleasantly surprised to learn the redaction – in the form of a black box covering a paragraph in the deed restrictions – applied to every fellow property owner in Section 1 of Oak Forest. "It was important to us as family," said Lowe, a father of two whose wife is Chinese. Earlier this year he contacted the Harris County Clerk's Office, which Lowe said assisted him with finding the applicable documents and filing a motion for judicial review in civil court, and within about three weeks he received word that the offensive language had been redacted. So when Texas lawmakers passed a bill last year that outlined a process for removing such discriminatory provisions from real property records – federal law has rendered them unenforceable since the 1960s – Lowe was eager for the opportunity. Those privileges, as stated in Oak Forest's decades-old deed restrictions, do not apply to "any person other than of the Caucasian Race." Jonathan Lowe said he and his racially mixed family were startled to learn that, at one point in Oak Forest's history, they would not have been allowed to own a home in the Northwest Houston suburb or even live in the neighborhood. Jonathan Lowe A long-unenforceable provision in the deed restrictions for Houston’s Oak Forest neighborhood states that “any person other than of the Caucasian Race” is not permitted to live or own property in the subdivision. ![]()
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