Restrictions Apply

Restrictions Apply is our 18-minute documentary about racism and the “happiest city in North America”. This resource page is intended to give viewers tools to learn more and take action.

On this page you will find:

  • Our short documentary Restrictions Apply

  • Restrictions Apply: Toolkit for Neighborhoods and Communities

  • Instructions for homeowners on how to find, remove, or repudiate racist language on property deeds

  • Historical and contextual films, books, articles on housing injustice and the racial wealth gap

  • Organizations, guides, and tools to help you stay involved and take further action

  • It is a clause in a property deed that keeps people who are not white from buying or occupying land. Racial covenants are part of the list of covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) that regulate how property is built, occupied and maintained.

    Racially restrictive covenants were common throughout 20th century America — including San Luis Obispo and the Central Coast. Though the words changed from deed to deed, the sentiment was always the same: no people of color allowed.

  • Yes, but consider the ramifications before taking action.

    Many people are divided on the issue of removing racial covenants. Some feel that this recorded history is important to preserve, however horrific. Others feel it’s more important to rid their property of a racial covenant, even if it’s no longer enforceable.

    In the case of San Luis Obispo County, even when a landowner removes a racial covenant from their parcel’s CC&Rs, those CC&Rs remain on record, in their entirety, at the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s office in perpetuity. For some people, this satisfies their desire to take action without erasing history. Ultimately, the decision is personal.

    To remove racial covenants from a San Luis Obispo County property, print out a Restricted Covenant Modification form from the clerk-recorder’s office. In California, this document complies with Government Code 12956.2, which allows property owners the right to remove restrictions that violate fair housing laws from their deeds. Complete the form using the names of those on the title, as well as the recording number, book number and page number from the preliminary title report. Attach a copy of the full, unamended CC&Rs, as well as a copy of the full CC&Rs with the racial covenant struck through. This shows the clerk-recorder’s office exactly what you’d like to change.

    In the presence of a notary, all parties on the title must sign the document. (A notary’s services cost around $15 per notarized signature.)

    Send or drop off the completed Restricted Covenant Modification form, as well as the two full copies of your CC&Rs to the clerk-recorder’s office. The fee for such recording should be waived. The clerk-recorder will send the newly recorded amended CC&Rs back to your address by mail within 3-5 weeks.

    R.A.C.E. Matters acknowledges that the act of repudiating or removing a racial covenant is largely symbolic; we see this action as a step towards reckoning with the legacy of systemic racism, nationally and at home.

One racial covenant in San Luis Obispo states:

“No persons of any race other than the Caucasian race shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner or tenant.”
— (SLO County Official Record 1521; Book 276; Page 189)

In 1948, with the passing of Shelley v. Kraemer in the U.S. Supreme Court, racially restrictive covenants became unenforceable. Twenty years later, the Fair Housing Act was signed into law, preventing discrimination on the basis of race.

But despite being illegal, racial covenants remain written into the deeds of homes all over the country, including in San Luis Obispo. More importantly, the effects of these covenants remain.

Racial covenants, along with redlining, credit discrimination, and racist real estate steering are among the discriminatory practices that not only segregated communities outside of the South, but also fueled a racial wealth gap that concentrates nearly ten times as much wealth* in white households as compared to Black households in the U.S.  Rather than shrinking in recent years, this gap has continued to widen over the past decade.

*https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/recent-trends-in-wealth-holding-by-race-and-ethnicity-evidence-from-the-survey-of-consumer-finances-20170927.htm

What the Community is Saying

“R.A.C.E. Matters’ Restrictions Apply documentary (and accompaning study guide on racial covenents here in San Luis Obispo) has been a fantastic resource. I teach Multicultural Health at Cal Poly, and in this class we discuss the ways that discriminatory housing policies have led to health disparities in black and brown communities. "Restrictions Apply" gives students an opportunity to see the unfortunate legacies of these practices close to home, as well as how the community can come together to stand against them. I highly recommend this resource to all educators!”

• Krysti Escobedo, MPH, Lecturer in Kinesiology and Public Health at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

“I am tutorial faculty for the online Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion certificate courses for working professionals at my university--University of Massachusetts Global. As part of these courses, students read and learn about housing discrimination and segregation in the U.S.; and I always refer them to the "Restrictions Apply" documentary as a supplemental resource, to reinforce their learning. There is no more poignant and succinct portrayal of the enduring power of restrictive covenants that I know of; and my students, many of them educators themselves, always appreciate the reference.”

• Dr. Lata Murti, Professor of Sociology and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tutorial Faculty, UMass Global

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