Page 12
June 13, 2018
O PINION
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Community Land Trusts Build on Affordability
Portland’s Proud
Ground shows
the way
For many millennials, the
choice between a job and an op-
portunity to own home is a stark
one. As manufacturing and farm-
ing communities have de-
clined, job opportunities
are concentrating in cities
by J arrid g reen
like San Francisco and New
At this point,
York, hubs for the knowl-
it’s no secret that
edge economy where home-
America has an
ownership is far out of reach
affordable housing
for ordinary Americans.
problem.
Home
For young people of color, the
ownership, long the staple of the
“American Dream,” is increasing-
ly a privilege enjoyed only by the
wealthier and whiter.
For many young people, the op-
portunity their parents had to build
stable wealth through home own-
ership seems like a cruel joke in
today’s economy. There’s even a
viral tweet: “Millennials. Walking
around like they rent the place.”
But the housing situation in the
U.S. is no laughing matter.
According to the Pew Research situation is even worse. Decades of
Center, America has more renters racial disparities in housing policy
than now than at any point in the and markets locked their families
last 50 years. A generational shift out of the wealth building oppor-
in lifestyle choices? Unlikely. A tunities enjoyed by the parents and
2016 survey of renters found that grandparents of many white people.
72 percent would like to own a Those impacts are still felt today.
According to the U.S. Cen-
home, but many were holding off
sus Bureau, 72 percent of whites
for financial reasons.
own their homes, compared to 57
percent for Asians, Native Hawai-
ians, and Pacific Islanders, 48 per-
cent for Hispanics, and 42 percent
for blacks.
And even when homeowner-
ship was attainable, these owners
of color built wealth slower than
their white counterparts. A re-
cent Zillow study found that 80
years after the federal government
used racial redlining to determine
“good” and “bad” neighborhoods
means rethinking how home own-
ership works, and who has access
to it.
One idea? Community-con-
trolled land and housing, like land
trusts and housing co-operatives.
The idea is to create opportunities
for people often excluded from the
ownership economy, while also
keeping a community’s long-term
interests in mind.
For instance, a community
land trust works by entrusting
Simply put, the American housing system may not
be sustainable — either morally or economically.
Fixing this system and getting the American dream
back on track means rethinking how home ownership
works, and who has access to it.
for mortgage lending, the impacts
of this discrimination are still be-
ing felt in depleted home values
for many black owners.
Simply put, the American hous-
ing system may not be sustainable
— either morally or economical-
ly. Fixing this system and getting
the American dream back on track
ownership of a piece of land to a
nonprofit dedicated to permanent
affordability. That nonprofit can
then sell homes on this land at be-
low-market prices — with the pro-
vision that the new owners are ob-
ligated to pass this affordability on
to the next buyer when they sell.
Locking in affordability like
this means that economic revital-
ization doesn’t need to be accom-
panied by the kind of skyrocketing
prices making homes so unafford-
able in cities like San Francisco or
Boston. And it means that there’s
always an affordable first rung on
the ladder of homeownership for
future generations.
Even in cities where homes ar-
en’t expensive now, this can pro-
tect affordability for the future.
These are strategies with de-
cades of on-the-ground testing
behind them, and they’re ready to
be scaled up. For example, Proud
Ground, a Portland-based non-
profit community land trust, has
served more than 300 families
since the early 1990s.
There are an estimated 225 ac-
tive community land trusts across
the country with a similar struc-
ture as Proud Ground. Many of
these are small, and some are just
getting off the ground. But with
proper support, they can spread
and grow to be a key part of the
affordable homeownership solu-
tion America needs.
Jarrid Green is a Senior Re-
search Associate at the Democra-
cy Collaborative. Distributed by
OtherWords.org.
Unlearning Racial Bias Takes Time, But It’s Worth It
How can I say so confidently
that a day of training will have no
effect? Because I teach sociology
of race at the college level. I know
what it takes to help begin
to break down racial bias.
In part, it takes time.
by J ill r iChardson
As a white person my-
Starbucks recently
self,
I reached my 30s be-
closed its stores for
fore
I
began to realize the
a one-day racial bias
depth
of my ignorance
training for all its
about
racial
issues. And in
employees. Unfortu-
my
classes,
it takes most
nately, I think there’s
of
the
semester
to
really
make an
a good chance it won’t make much
impact
on
students.
difference.
I had to learn
what I was doing
wrong
On my own journey, I learned
that I’d been doing things that
were racially offensive without
realizing it. I had to work to learn
what I was doing wrong, and how
to stop doing it. Learning about
race has been one of the most
transformative, meaningful expe-
riences of my life, but it took far
more than a day.
White people often think that a
racist is someone who uses racial
slurs, advocates segregation, and
openly believes that people of col-
or are inferior to white people. And
yes, people like that are racist.
But there’s a lot more that goes
on in our society that falls under
the larger umbrella of racism —
and good, well-meaning white
people are often unaware of it.
I’m sure most of them oppose
racism, and want to be a part of the
solution. But our society is set up in
a way that hides racism from white
people. And you can’t change what
you aren’t aware of.
Some racism falls under the
category of microaggressions.
These are small incidents or re-
marks that happen on a day-to-day
basis to people of color. The black
PhD student gets mistaken for the
janitor. The Chinese-American
woman is asked where she is “re-
ally” from four times even after
she says she was born in Tulsa.
That kind of thing.
These are little incidents that re-
mind people of color that they are
“other” or that they’re seen first as
their race — and a stereotype of
their race — before they’re seen as
an individual human being.
Some racism is implicit bias.
These are the biases we have sub-
consciously that we aren’t even
aware of. Including me. Including
most of us. Until we realize we
hold these subconscious biases,
how can we confront them and
change them?
Some racism is structural. It’s
baked into the fabric of society, in
the form of segregated neighbor-
hoods, unequal schools, and so on.
It would continue even in the ab-
sence of prejudice and hate, and it
will continue until we consciously
change our society.
My privilege as a white person
is that learning about race was, for
me, optional. I could go through life
without ever thinking about race if
I wished, and no harm would have
come to me. People of color don’t
get that choice.
Another white privilege is that
you might believe my words more
than you would if I weren’t white.
Yet a person of color actually
knows firsthand what it’s like to
face racism. They’re the experts,
and they should be listened to.
Learning racial sensitivity and
breaking down bias is possible.
But it’s not a one-day job. It takes
time. And it’s worth doing — even
if you don’t work at a chain store
that sells bad coffee.
OtherWords columnist Jill Rich-
ardson writes about food, agricul-
ture, the environment, health, toler-
ance, and well-being. Distributed
by OtherWords.org