America’s housing system was founded and grounded in white supremacy. To change it requires changing our relationship to land and reimagining how we live together.
As our country attempts to claw our way to a “new normal” after the past two years, the housing market is back to business as usual, rooted in extraction and exploitation, harming Black and brown people in disproportionate numbers. Rent and home prices are soaring, eviction moratoriums are expiring, and many have been thrown back into a state of housing insecurity. The housing market has always exacerbated inequality, and now policymakers and their inaction are allowing the market to do exactly what it was designed to do — maintain and reproduce injustice.
With all of this unfolding, my mind has been focused on how we can finally address our national housing crisis. I keep coming back to one clear path forward: We need a new vision when thinking about housing, one that centers Black people and their needs.