Few rights are as basic as acquiring a home of one's choice. The home and neighborhood are the environment in which families live and rear their children. For minorities, the home usually means housing vacated by whites, who, because of their race as well as ability to pay, are able to acquire a more desirable dwelling elsewhere. Congress, in 1968, incorporated fair housing legislation into the Nation's body of civil rights law. Yet between 1960 and 1970 residential segregation actually increased. That the housing laws have not had an impact on reversing the patterns of segregated housing underscores the complexity of the denial of equal housing opportunity to minority groups. Like other social problems that have deep roots in history, fair housing cannot be understood without housing and residential segregation involve a variety of issues. Many of these are legal in nature, involving the scope of protection against housing discrimination afforded by our laws and Constitution. Others involve fundamental questions of the relationship between Government and the people and how to strike the proper balance between protection of the rights of home seekers and those of property owners. Still others involve practical questions such as the effect of racial integration on property values and the relative importance of economics and discrimination as factors that determine where people live. (Author/JM)