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KEY TERMS

Housing is considered affordable if it costs less than 30% of a household’s income to pay both its base cost (rent or mortgage) and utility cost

1 in 4 households in Rockford is “cost-burdened” – they pay over 30% of their income towards housing costs.

Affordable Housing

Housing Justice means ensuring everyone has affordable housing that promotes health, well-being, and upward mobility by confronting historical and ongoing harms and disparities caused by structural racism and other systems of oppression.

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Housing Justice

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SYSTEMIC BARRIERS�STRUCTURAL RACISM IN THE HOUSING SYSTEM��CAITLYN BAYLOR

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BRIEF HISTORY OF HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

1930s—Redlining starts

The government refuses to insure mortgage loans in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

1940s—White subsidies

The government begins subsidizing the development of suburban neighborhoods on the condition that homes are sold to white families with covenants in the deed that prohibit resale to Black families.

Late 1940s—G.I. Bill

After World War II, private lenders do not honor the G.I. Bill for many Black veterans and refuse them loans.

1950s—“urban renewal”

The federal government distributes billions of dollars for cities to clear “blight” and “slums.” Hundreds of thousands of Black families lose their homes and businesses.

1968—The Fair Housing Act – End of OVERT discrimination being legal

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DISPARITIES CONTINUE TO GROW POST 1968…

Black homeowners are disproportionately targeted by predatory mortgages and predatory refinancing.

Gentrification disproportionately displaces Black homeowners

Homes owned by Black people are consistently under-appraised yet overtaxed relative to market value

Black tenants face higher rates of eviction and foreclosure during COVID-19

Many Black borrowers remain shut out from the mortgage market by the enduring (and growing) racial wealth gap forged through the overt practices of the 20th century.

Even though the Fair Housing Act illegalized overt discrimination, communities start to use more covert methods to keep neighborhoods segregated. Exclusionary zoning by wealth and income prevented Black families already shut out from many systems and neighborhoods from gaining access despite the new act.

Even though the Fair Housing Act illegalized overt discrimination, communities start to use more covert methods to keep neighborhoods segregated and to keep Black families shut out from housing wealth.

Exclusionary zoning by wealth and income prevented Black families already shut out from many systems and neighborhoods from gaining access despite the new act.

Exclusionary zoning prevented Black families already shut out from many systems and neighborhoods from gaining access despite FHA.

Governments use imminent domain for “infrastructure projects” (highways, for example) that demolish Black neighborhoods.

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“Today’s residential segregation… is not the unintended consequence of individual choices but of unhidden public policy that explicitly segregated every metropolitan area in the United States. The policy was so systemic and forceful that its effects endure to the present time.”

Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law

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RACIAL WEALTH GAP

The Racial Wealth Gap remains arguably the largest barrier to housing justice today. Wealth-building patterns that started 300 years ago impact where people live and whether or not they own homes.

Income is NOT synonymous with wealth

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HOMEOWNERSHIP GAP

72% of white households own their own home compared with 42% of Black households

Since the Fair Housing Act, the homeownership gap has grown rather than shrunk

In Rockford, Black households make up roughly 20% of all households but own only 4% of the local housing value

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REDLINING IN ROCKFORD

Redlined neighborhoods — neighborhoods where the government would not insure mortgage loans —are colored in red. The “most desirable” neighborhoods are in green and blue. The categories were based primarily on the racial makeup of the neighborhood.

Neighborhoods redlined in Rockford during the mid-20th Century continue to see lower rates of owner-occupancy and less accumulated wealth today.

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COMPOUNDING INEQUITIES

Climate change – formerly redlined neighborhoods are hotter and more prone to flooding today

We see systemic divestment from communities of color

Over-policing in racially segregated neighborhoods 🡪 Mass incarceration

We saw the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on households that were overcrowded or had lower access to health care

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OUTWARD-RIPPLING IMPACT�HOW EQUITY IN HOUSING IS INTERCONNECTED WITH EQUITY IN OTHER KEY OUTCOME AREAS AND COMMUNITIES AT LARGE��RON CLEWER

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�THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH�

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WINNEBAGO COUNTY ��HEALTH OUTCOMES:�88TH OF 102 IL COUNTIES��HEALTH FACTORS�95TH OF 102 IL COUNTIES

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A familiar geographic pattern of structural barriers to civic health overlaps with signs of diminished civic participation, fewer social and economic opportunities and worse health outcomes.

Structural barriers to civic health include more heavily gerrymandered districts, laws and practices that create obstacles to voting (referred to as higher costs of voting) and disinvested civic infrastructure.
In states with more structural barriers to civic health, rates of voter turnout, census participation, and volunteering are lowest
Civic infrastructure, such as parks, libraries and school funding, is less available and under-resourced among counties in these states.
Lower life expectancy….

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R), a program of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, works to improve health outcomes for all and close health gaps between those with the most and fewest opportunities for good health. This work is rooted in a long-term vision that all people and places have what they need to thrive.

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https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/our-research/interactives/whereyouliveaffectshowlongyoulive.html

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The Home-Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) was created in the New Deal Era and trained many home appraisers in the 1930s.

A (Best): Always upper- or upper-middle-class White neighborhoods that HOLC defined as posing minimal risk for banks and other mortgage lenders, as they were “ethnically homogeneous” and had room to be further developed.

B (Still Desirable): Generally nearly or completely White, U.S. -born neighborhoods that HOLC defined as “still desirable” and sound investments for mortgage lenders.

C (Declining): Areas where the residents were often working-class and/or first or second generation immigrants from Europe. These areas often lacked utilities and were characterized by older building stock.

D (Hazardous): Areas here often received this grade because they were “infiltrated” with “undesirable populations” such as Jewish, Asian, Mexican, and Black families. These areas were more likely to be close to industrial areas and to have older housing.

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About 1,000/yr

About 100/yr

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AGING HOUSING STOCK

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HOUSING QUALITY

This trend is troubling and should serve as a warning to City leaders. It contributes to a decline in the desirability of residing in Rockford, the perceived warmth and safety of the City’s neighborhoods, and the quality of the social fabric of which the City is comprised. The City of Rockford must face this problem immediately and renew efforts to eliminate vacant and blighted housing.

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NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY INDEX

● Housing vacancy rate

● Prevalence of residential vacant lots (percentage of all residential lots in neighborhood)

● Average assessed value per square foot of residential structures

● Percentage of housing stock built before 1950

● Total number of code violations

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No Vehicles and

Food Access > ½ mile

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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

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CONTINUED �RACIAL DIVIDE��

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THE DATA

2015-2019 Consolidated Plan

2020-2024 Consolidated Plan

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HOUSING DEMAND – BY INCOME LEVEL

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HOUSING DEMAND – BY INCOME LEVEL

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Affordable Housing

Logic Models

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HOUSING JUSTICE IS ATTAINABLE�POTENTIAL POLICY SOLUTIONS��KERI ASEVEDO

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IMPORTANT ACKNOWLEDGMENT ACCESS ≠ EQUITY

We acknowledge that mere access into a system like homeownership is not an automatic fix.

There’s ongoing appraisal discrimination, the “Black property tax” where Black homeowners tend to pay more in taxes relative to the market value of their homes, and other barriers to benefits and wealth accumulation.

We need to be intentional about designing programs and services that don’t just break down racial barriers to access but actually work to eliminate racial disparities once access is achieved.

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“If segregation was created by accident or by undefined private prejudices, it is too easy to believe that it can only be reversed by accident or, in some mysterious way, by changes in people’s hearts. But if we—the public and policy makers—acknowledge that the federal, state, and local governments segregated our metropolitan areas, we may open our minds to considering how those same federal, state, and local governments might adopt equally aggressive policies to desegregate.”

�― Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law

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SOLUTION-ORIENTED STRATEGIES

Contribute to and advocate for adequate housing supply

Increasing the supply of affordable housing is vital to advancing housing justice because it will help reduce costs and alleviate the strain on households with low incomes.

Contribute to and advocate for increased access to credit

Removing barriers to credit is vital for bringing those systemically shut out into the benefits of homeownership.

Contribute to and advocate for the optimization of land use for affordable housing

Optimizing land use for affordable housing and a high variety of housing types is vital for housing justice because it works to counteract the past harms of practices like exclusionary zoning.

Contribute to and advocate for the development of communities of opportunity for economic mobility

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HABITAT’S LOCAL STRATEGY FOR INCREASING RACIAL EQUITY IN HOMEOWNERSHIP

We do not require a minimum credit score to qualify – this separates access to credit from a non-race-neutral scoring system

We instead use inclusive credit evaluation – this can include rental payment history, for example, or other informal forms of credit history

We require a $500 cash down payment from the borrower rather than 10% down – this reduces reliance on inherited wealth or generational wealth

We offer our mortgage at 0%-interest to increase buying power on a lower income and to allow owners to build equity faster

We do not require a clear background check to qualify – this divorces housing access from the non-race-neutral criminal justice system

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HABITAT’S LOCAL STRATEGY FOR INCREASING RACIAL EQUITY IN HOMEOWNERSHIP CONTINUED…

We are increasing the supply of affordable housing

We are preserving the existing supply of housing for low-income homeowners through critical home repair

We are connecting our borrowers with robust down payment assistance so their loan-to-value is similar to a conventional borrower when they close. Down payment subsidies are identified as critical tools for closing the homeownership gap.

We connect our buyers with homebuyer education to help them feel mortgage-ready even if they are the first generation to own a home (not all are)

We are working to ensure that low-income homeowners and neighborhoods have access to energy-efficient housing to close the “energy burden gap.”

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