Connecting Affordable Housing to Opportunity: The Fair Housing Challenge for the 21st Century

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Connecting Affordable Housing to OpportunityThe
Fair Housing Challenge for the 21st Century

• Fair Housing Center of Southwest Michigan
• Third Annual Fair Housing Conference
• April 11th 2006
• john a. powell
• Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties,
  Moritz College of Law
• Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the
  Study of Race and Ethnicity
• The Ohio State University
• http//www.kirwaninstitute.org/

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Introduction and Overview

• Understanding the challenge
• The impact of fair housing
• Fair housing benefits everyone and potentially
  the entire region
• Expanding our definition of fair housing
• Housing through a structural lens
• How can we move forward?
• The Opportunity Based Housing framework

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Understanding the Challenge

• The Impact of Fair Housing

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Fair Housing is Important

• Why is fair housing so critical?
• The tremendous disparities in housing need for
  people of color
• The impact of housing (location, quality, cost)
  on a persons well-being and potential for
  advancement
• The well documented web of housing challenges
  that disproportionately impact people of color
• A housing market that does not produce units that
  are affordable to most people of color
• Racial discrimination and steering
• Policies that concentrate affordable housing in
  low opportunity areas
• Discriminatory and predatory lending practices
• Fair housing benefits everyone

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Web of Housing Challenges for Communities of Color
Housing Challenges
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Housing Need in the City of Benton Harbor, City
of Kalamazoo and the State of MI

• Housing problems are much more prevalent in
  Benton Harbor and Kalamazoo than the State of
  Michigan as a whole
• Almost all of these housing problems are
  associated with cost

Source HUD, CHAS Database
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Racial Disparities in Housing Need in the Cities
of Benton Harbor and Kalamazoo

• Communities of color are much more likely to be
  struggling with housing problems than Whites in
  Benton Harbor and Kalamazoo
• Almost all of these housing problems are
  associated with cost

Source HUD, CHAS Database
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Who Does the Housing Market Serve?

• Must address both racial and economic segregation
  in the housing market, two different issues, that
  are usually compounded for people of color
• Housing prices have a disproportionate impact on
  people of color, due to income and asset
  differences between people of color and Whites
• The housing market primarily serves middle and
  upper income households, excluding low income
  people of color (and low income Whites)
• Concentrated subsidized housing also exacerbates
  the limited housing choice experienced by people
  of color
• In addition, racial discrimination in the housing
  market compound the segregative impact of cost
  these impediments for people of color (even for
  middle income people of color)

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The Web of Opportunity

• Opportunities in our society are geographically
  distributed and often clustered throughout
  metropolitan areas
• This creates winner and loser communities or
  high and low opportunity communities
• Opportunities exist in a complex web and are
  often reinforcing
• Thus, magnifying conditions in low and high
  opportunity areas
• Your location within this web of opportunity
  plays a decisive role in your life potential and
  outcomes

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Housing and Opportunity

• Housing is Critical in Determining Access to
  Opportunity

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Affordable Housing in LowOpportunity Areas

• Both subsidized housing and affordable housing is
  often geographically concentrated in inner city
  communities of color
• The impact of concentrated subsidized/affordable
  housing
• This concentration results in racial segregation
• Research suggests that this concentration further
  depresses the life outcomes for low income
  subsidized housing residents (who are primarily
  people of color)
• At a neighborhood level, the over concentration
  of subsidized housing destabilizes these
  predominately minority inner city neighborhoods

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Segregation in SW Michigan

• Southwest Michigan experiences a high degree of
  residential segregation and in the case of Benton
  Harbor, one of the highest rates of residential
  segregation in the nation
• Based on the dissimilarity index for 2000
• 53 of African Americans or Whites would need to
  relocate to integrate the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek
  MSA
• 74 of African Americans or Whites would need to
  relocate to integrate the Benton Harbor MSA
• In 2000, Benton Harbor had the 14th highest
  dissimilarity rate among the nations 331
  metropolitan areas

Source Mumford Institute
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Racial Segregation is Opportunity Segregation

• Racial segregation represents a separation from
  opportunity for people of color in the US
• Producing a racial isolation in neighborhoods
  that are lacking the essential opportunities to
  advance in our society
• Fueling racial disparities

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The Cumulative Impacts ofRacial/Opportunity
Segregation
This segregation impacts a number of
life-opportunities
School Segregation
Impacts on Educational Achievement
Exposure to crime arrest
Transportation limitations and other inequitable
public services
Neighborhood Segregation
Job segregation
Racial stigma
Impacts on community power and assets
Adapted from figure by Barbara Reskin at
http//faculty.washington.edu/reskin/
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Opportunity Segregation in SW Michigan

• In the Benton Harbor region, compared to the
  average White person, the average African
  American lives in a neighborhood with a poverty
  rate that is more than 300 higher

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Opportunity Segregation in SW Michigan Schools

• Racially and economically segregated school
  districts produce impediments to academic
  achievement for students of color
• In the Benton Harbor MSA, the average African
  American student attends a school with an 82
  poverty rate this figure is 65 for the
  Kalamazoo MSA
• Nearly 90 of students in the Benton Harbor
  School District are economically disadvantaged
  and only 53 of students graduate on time
• Almost 2/3s of students in the Kalamazoo School
  District are economically disadvantaged and only
  31 of students graduate on time

Source Mumford Center, School Matters NCLB
Database by Standard and Poors
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Fair Housing BenefitsEveryone

• While African American and Latino city residents
  are most often burdened, these groups are not the
  only ones negatively impacted by our housing
  market
• Low income Whites and Whites living in the city
  and inner suburbs are harmed as well
• Low income Whites also have their housing
  mobility limited by fair housing impediments
  (such as exclusionary zoning)
• This opportunity segregation also impacts their
  outcomes in life
• Conversely, providing true fair housing would
  benefit low income Whites as well
• High concentrations of poverty and segregated
  neighborhoods can also have deleterious effects
  on the well-being and health of the entire
  metropolitan region

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Fair Housing ImpactsWhites as Well

• Low income Whites are impacted by many of the
  same cost impediments as people of color
• In absolute numbers, more low income Whites have
  housing problems due to cost in SW Michigan, than
  African Americans
• In 2000, nearly 7,500 low income White households
  in Berrien, Calhoun and Kalamazoo Counties had
  housing problems
• Racial and economic segregation coexist, low
  income Whites are often concentrated in poorly
  performing schools as well
• Approximately 8,000 White students are in Berrien
  Countys high poverty school districts (were more
  than 40 of students are economically
  disadvantaged)
• More affluent Whites pay the segregation tax
  (excessive cost for housing) to keep communities
  exclusionary

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Fair Housing ImpactsWhites as Well

• Low income Whites (especially those living in
  cities) are impacted by opportunity segregation
  as well
• In the cities of Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, the
  average low income White lives in a neighborhood
  with a poverty rate that is nearly double the
  rate for the average White person in the region
• Low income Whites also outnumber low income
  African Americans in these two cities by a 3 to 1
  margin

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Linked Fate Why Should Others Care About Fair
Housing

• Why should those living in suburbs and exurbs
  care about fair housing challenges?
• A region and all its residents share a linked
  fate
• This issue is particularly important today
• To thrive, regions must be competitive in the
  global economy
• Housing inequities produce broader racial
  disparities throughout the region
• These disparities make the region less competitive

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Broader Impact of Inequities

• Segregation drives education disparities,
  depressing the educational ability of a large
  portion of the region
• Segregation keeps much of the African American
  labor force isolated from economic opportunity,
  creating workforce shortages for employers
• Fragmentation and sprawl create redundancy in
  government services and creates inter-regional
  economic competition, when the region should be
  competing globally

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Is SW Michigan Able to Compete in Todays
Economy?

• SW Michigan is showing indication of economic
  distress
• The Niles-Benton Harbor MSA lost 9,700 jobs
  between 2000 and 2006 (a 13 loss)
• The Kalamazoo MSA lost 6,700 jobs between 2000
  and 2006 (a 5 loss)
• These losses were worse than some nearby state
  trends and conflicted with national job trends
  during this time
• State of Michigan 6.5 job loss from 2000 to
  2006
• State of Indiana1.5 job loss from 2000 to 2006
• United States 2.4 job growth from 2000 to 2006
• This distress cannot be effectively remedied
  without addressing broader inequities driven by
  fair housing problems

Source Michigan Bureau of Labor Market
Information and Strategic Initiatives
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An Undercapitalized Region in a Struggling State

• The Lewis Mumford Center Regional Prosperity
  Index assessed regional health based on poverty
  and income dynamics for all 331 metropolitan
  regions
• The ranking system indicates that the Benton
  Harbor region is the 2nd least economically
  healthy region in MI (just beating out Flint)
• Source Lewis Mumford Center, University of
  Albany, SUNY

• Lewis Mumford Center Regional Prosperity Index
  MI regions
• Ranked out of 331 metropolitan areas (1best
  331worst)
• Ann Arbor (12th)
• Detroit (72nd)
• Lansing (78th)
• Grand Rapids-Muskegon (87th)
• Jackson (155th)
• Kalamazoo-Battle Creek (173rd)
• Bay City-Saginaw-Midland (174th)
• Benton Harbor (213th)
• Flint (218th)

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Expanding Our Definition of Fair Housing

• Housing Through a Structural Lens

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Policy Matters

• Housing challenges and disparities are not
  natural or neutral, nor are the only the result
  of personal discrimination they result from
  government policies/actions, such as
• Zoning laws which prevent affordable housing in
  many suburbs (exclusionary zoning)
• Housing policies that concentrate subsidized
  housing
• Weak enforcement of predatory lenders predatory
  lending laws that are not strong enough
• Spatial racism
• Housing depreciation in communities of color due
  to sprawl and regional inequities in services,
  and public/private investment for inner city
  areas

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Expanding the Definition of Fair Housing

• Personal discrimination is still prominent in the
  housing market
• But, to further fair housing we must look beyond
  the impact of individual actors
• To remedy policies and institutions that create
  impediments to fair housing
• Look for key leverage points for addressing
  policies that will have a far-reaching impact

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How Can We Change Policy?

• Fair housing advocacy must look outside of just
  litigation to produce change
• Need for a policy response as well
• Look for the lowest hanging fruit
• What agencies or government entities would be
  open to or have the capability to address policy
  reform?
• Are there potential coalitions that could force
  reform?
• Faith community, business community, grass roots
  organizations, community development
  organizationsothers
• What leverage points exist for producing change?

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Examples of Policy Reform

• Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) advocacy
  initiatives
• The LIHTC program produces the majority of
  subsidized housing in the US
• Research finds that LIHTC developments are being
  concentrated in high poverty areas that are
  predominately communities of color
• Advocates have been working with housing finance
  agencies to reform the methods for awarding
  projects in order to avoid the segregation of
  LIHTC housing opportunities into racially
  concentrated high poverty areas

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How Can We Move Forward?

• The Opportunity Based
• Housing Framework

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Meeting the Housing Challenge

• Two simultaneous goals must be met to address the
  fair housing challenges facing SW Michigan
• Expand the number of affordable housing options
  in SW Michigan
• The market does not meet the needs of low income
  people (both African American and White)
• Connect people (and affordable housing) to
  opportunity in the region
• Connect people to communities of opportunity (via
  affordable housing)
• Bring opportunities to distressed communities and
  neighborhoods (e.g. Benton Harbor)

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Linking Housing to Opportunity

• Need to move beyond thinking of affordable
  housing/subsidized housing in terms of fair
  share or suburban/urban dichotomy
• Need to think in terms of opportunity
• Opportunity structures are the resources and
  services that contribute to stability and
  advancement
• Fair access to opportunity structures is limited
  by segregation, concentration of poverty,
  fragmentation, and sprawl in our regions for
  low income households and families of color

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Principles of Opportunity Based Housing

• Affordable housing must be deliberately and
  intelligently connected to high performing
  schools, sustaining employment, necessary
  transportation infrastructure, childcare, and
  institutions that facilitate civic and political
  activity
• Housing is a component of a larger set of
  interrelated structures that are both affected by
  housing and have impacts for the attainment of
  safe, stable housing

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Principles of Opportunity Based Housing

• When analyzing and prioritizing subsidized
  housing investments the following questions must
  be addressed
• Is housing available? Is it affordable?
• Does the creation of housing support wealth? Does
  is allow for the savings that could lead to home
  purchase?
• Is the housing located near sustainable
  employment opportunities?
• Is it near safe, affordable public transportation
  and childcare options?
• Does the housing support school residence and
  school attendance? Is the housing located near
  schools that produce positive student outcomes?
• Does housing support the health of occupants? Is
  it safe and is it located in a safe neighborhood,
  free of health hazards and near recreational
  space?
• This requires an assessment of the distribution
  of opportunities throughout the region.

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Assuring that Housing is Connected to Opportunity

• How can we remedy the disparities in access to
  opportunity (good schools, sustainable
  employment, safe neighborhoods etc.) in our
  metropolitan areas?
• Assure access to communities of opportunity for
  all people, especially people of color and low
  income families/households
• Provide affordable housing opportunities in high
  opportunity communities
• Bring opportunity to low opportunity communities
• Build opportunities in low opportunity areas

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A Regional Model of Opportunity Based Housing

• Utilizing opportunity based housing principles to
  guide housing policy, coordinate affordable
  housing initiatives and target neighborhood
  revitalization
• Target affordable housing development in areas of
  opportunity
• Inclusionary zoning, Low Income Housing Tax
  Credit, Voucher Mobility Programs, Work Force
  Housing Initiatives
• Target revitalization initiatives in areas of low
  opportunity
• Understand trends in opportunity
• Where are jobs growing? Who is losing tax base?
• Utilize this analysis to help support communities
  whose opportunity structures are being
  destabilized
• Opportunity mapping

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What about Gentrification?

• Will the Opportunity Based Housing framework
  produce gentrification?
• The Opportunity Based Housing framework could be
  utilized to both improve housing access for low
  income communities, while revitalizing distressed
  communities
• The Opportunity Based Housing model would assure
  that revitalizing communities would remain
  accessible and inclusionary by preserving
  affordable housing opportunities in areas of
  reinvestment

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More on Gentrification

• Gentrification is often mistakenly intermixed
  with urban revitalization or is used to describe
  any physical investment within a neighborhood
• Gentrification is not simply reinvestment into
  the neighborhood
• Gentrification is not occurring
• If higher income residents move into a
  neighborhood at a scale that is too small to
  displace existing residents,
• Or redevelopment is targeted toward abandoned or
  vacant structures or lots
• Also, the existence of economic development
  activity (revitalization) does not automatically
  provide for gentrification

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A Revitalization Model of Neighborhood
Development

• We need an alternative to gentrification, need a
  revitalization model of redevelopment
• Components of a revitalization model of
  development
• The distressed community transitions into a mixed
  income, mixed wealth and diverse community
• The social networks and services utilized by
  traditional residents are maintained and improved
• Existing neighborhood businesses are supported
  while additional viable businesses are created in
  the community
• Neighborhood improvement not only focuses on
  improving the physical environment but focuses on
  creating wealth and opening opportunities (such
  as employment) to existing residents

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How does the OpportunityFramework Apply to
Benton Harbor?

• Need to bring opportunities (education, economic,
  housing) to Benton Harbor while also providing
  access to surrounding high opportunity
  communities to Benton Harbor residents
• Revitalization is critical for Benton Harbor and
  can occur without gentrification
• Requires diligent monitoring of redevelopment to
  assure the community remains inclusive

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Envisioning a New Future

• What would adopting this framework look like in
  Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo-BC, and SW Michigan?
• Connecting more low income children to high
  performing schools where they are more likely to
  succeed
• Reduction of concentrated poverty neighborhoods
  in Benton Harbor
• More low income residents connecting to areas of
  population and job growth (investment and
  economic opportunity) in the region

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Example of Action Need to Produce More
Subsidized and Affordable Housing in Areas of
Growth in SW Michigan
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Example of Action Need to Connect African
Americans to Areas of Job Growth in
Kalamazoo-Battle Creek
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Envisioning a New Future

• What about Benton Harbor and other distressed
  neighborhoods?
• More targeted investment into distressed areas,
  target investment to produce opportunity
• Reduce the number of vacant properties
• Increase the tax base
• Increase property values for homeowners
• Improve the quality of existing affordable
  housing
• Expand local economic opportunities, assure that
  local residents can access these new
  opportunities
• Increase economic integration (while maintaining
  accessibility for low income residents)
• Reduce the number of high poverty schools, which
  will improve the learning environment for all
  students

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How does the OpportunityFramework Apply to
Benton Harbor?

• These efforts must also be sensitive to the local
  issues that may impact fair housing efforts
• Example Civil Disturbances in Benton Harbor
• What sensitivities or opportunities exist in the
  region because of the disturbances?
• Could the opportunity framework be utilized to
  bring key opportunities to Benton Harbor?
• Address issues that created the tension which
  sparked the disturbances (lack of employment
  opportunities, housing challenges, poor
  educational opportunities, police and crime)

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The Opportunity Based HousingFramework Must be
Regional in Scope

• To apply this framework we must think and act
  regionally (as well as locally)
• The region is the primary geography in which
  educational, economic, neighborhood opportunities
  are distributed
• No single community can address these issues
  alone
• For example, Benton Harbor can not solve its
  public housing issues alone, if public housing is
  torn down, former residents must be given an
  opportunity to access other communities for
  housing options
• Need to think about strategies for breaching
  traditional barriers to regional cooperation
• What are organizations and entities that cross
  racial and geographic boundaries?
• The faith community, the business community,
  regional community organizations

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Growth in Opportunity Based Housing Chicago

• Identifying communities of opportunity in the
  Chicago region
• A study has identified the distribution of
  opportunity throughout the 6 county region
• Utilizing opportunity based housing principles to
  inform affordable housing policy in the region
• The Opportunity maps are being used to counsel
  Section 8 families seeking access to high
  opportunity suburban communities

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Growth in Opportunity Based Housing Baltimore

• A Communities of Opportunity strategy is being
  proposed in the Fair Housing suit Thompson v. HUD
• Thompson v. HUD is one of the largest fair
  housing lawsuits in recent years
• Plaintiffs propose providing desegregative
  housing opportunities in the regions high
  opportunity areas to remedy HUDs fair housing
  violations

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Concluding Thoughts

• Housing efforts MUST meet two goals
  simultaneously to reduce racial disparities
• Expand the amount of affordable housing
• Consciously connect affordable housing to areas
  of opportunity (and bring opportunity to
  distressed communities such as Benton Harbor)
• Meeting housing need is more than just providing
  shelter
• Where you live impacts your life more than what
  you live in

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Concluding Thoughts

• We need integration with opportunity to have a
  truly just society
• A society where all people would have access to
  the means essential to living a life they have
  reason to value
• A society where a demographic identifier would
  not predict an individuals life chances
• Linked fate

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A New Paradigm

• Through collective imagination, we need to define
  what the future should look like
• A New Paradigm!
• What is our alternative vision?
• A model where we all grow together
• A model where we embrace collective solutions
• Where race is experienced and addressed in a
  different way
• No longer using race to divide and distract from
  class struggle, using race to transform our
  society in a way that lifts up all people

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