OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Racial Equity in Housing page. Decades and generations of racial inequities in housing have resulted in significant, adverse impacts for minority communities in the United States, particularly for Black Americans. See below for some resources to better understand the history and impact of housing discrimination and solutions that address one of the most significant issues in the US housing industry.
The Basics | Redlining | Impacts of Racial Inequities | Ivory Prize Examples
The Basics
Redlining
Redlining is known as the discriminatory practice of denying loans or other financial services to residents of certain areas, usually based off of ethnicity or race. The policy of redlining is most felt in areas minority neighborhoods. The practice of redlining started in the mid 1900s, the term deriving from the federal government and lenders literally drawing red lines on a map around neighborhoods they wouldn’t invest in. It is the systemic denial of mortgages, insurance, loans, and other financial instruments.
Impacts of Racial Inequities in Housing
The racial wealth gap
The racial wealth gap refers to the difference in assets among different racial and ethnic groups, reflecting resource and opportunity disparities. In particular, the wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day. Because homeownership is one of the most common ways that Americans have built wealth across generations, and because minority communities were systematically denied equal opportunities to become and remain homeowners, addressing this gap is a key element facing innovators in housing affordability.
Other examples of adverse impacts
Ivory Prize Winners and Finalists Highlighting Racial Equity in Their Solutions
2022 Finance Winner - Blackstar stability
Blackstar Stability expands equitable ownership of affordable single-family homes by attacking predatory lending practices and restructuring distressed debt products. It works with families with land contracts and similar forms of seller financing to refinance their homes with traditional mortgages, improve their properties, and reduce costs.
2022 Public Policy and Regulatory Reform Winner - Build UP
Build UP’s value proposition redefines what affordable housing is by taking a long-game approach to rebuilding and owning from within a community. Build Up is the first group in Alabama to implement a curriculum designed by the Home Builders Institute, another Top 25 finalist. This model, at the intersection of high-quality education, workforce development, and community revitalization, results in dignified, affordable homeownership and retention of talent and wealth, both of which seed stable home and school experiences for generations to come.
2021 Public Policy and Regulatory Reform Winner - Impact Justice: The homecoming project
Thousands of Americans are not only priced out of affordable housing but are often intentionally left out of many housing options. The Homecoming Project is a program that ensures successful reentry back into communities by providing safe and stable housing and a welcoming host. Formerly incarcerated people are able to integrate more easily into the community by quick placement into stable housing right out of prison.
2019 and 2022 construction & design finalist - forterra
Forterra’s Forest to Home Initiative brings together a coalition of Tribes, communities of color, land trusts, and architects to re-engineer the affordable housing supply chain. At the center of the initiative is an all Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Modular prototype. The CLT Modular prototype replaces traditional carbon-intensive building practices and materials and lowers the cost of construction. It yields a triple bottom line solution to affordable housing bringing environmental sustainability, economic development and social equity. This is a long-term sustainable solution for future generations.
2022 construction & design finalist - eightvillage
Eightvillage is a design and development firm focused on placemaking and community building. The firm started an initiative in 2019 called “Backyard ATL” that builds, designs, and manages ADUs for homeowners in Atlanta, GA to create more affordable housing options in Atlanta’s low-income neighborhoods.
2022 policy & regulatory reform finalist - desegregatect
DesegregateCT is a pro-homes coalition of neighbors and nonprofits advocating for more equitable, affordable, and environmentally-sustainable land use policies in Connecticut, with a focus on expanding the diversity and supply of our housing stock. Formed in June 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the renewed conversation on racial justice, our work leverages original research and grassroots organizing in service of public education and policy change at both the state and local levels.