Counterpoint: Equity in Place housing effort is not the cause of segregation

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Myron Orfield’s July 30 commentary “Poverty-housing industry silences the Black civil rights community” falsely names a coalition of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)-led, tenant-organizing and housing-justice-focused organizations as somehow responsible for racial segregation in our region.

Equity in Place (EIP) is a coalition of BIPOC-led community organizations and housing advocacy organizations that push for racial justice in our housing system working directly with renters and community members around the Twin Cities region. As active participants in the fight for just and equitable communities, who have been a part of the critical discussions about Fair Housing in our region, we are baffled by the characterization of our coalition. Orfield does not seem interested in understanding who we are and does not genuinely want to engage in a conversation that works to solve the housing issues we face in Minnesota.

EIP advocates for policies and investments that support tenants and BIPOC communities in their needs. Our members are on the ground in our communities and working as a coalition to protect existing affordable housing; build new, dignified, affordable housing where it is needed, and fight for the dignity and rights of people who are most impacted by these issues.

EIP has a vision of a more just housing system in the Twin Cities that includes more safe, dignified, affordable housing options throughout the metropolitan area, paired with stronger tenant protections/rights and investments in other resources that make communities strong. For example, we successfully passed a statewide Tenant Right to Organize policy with robust anti-retaliation provisions at the Minnesota Legislature this past session.

The organizations at EIP work every day to advance affordable housing options and to support housing needs in communities across the region and state. We believe that everywhere in our region needs more affordable housing and know firsthand that those needs exist. This includes communities that have been historically disinvested due to the racist legacies of segregation, redlining and disinvestment, as well as wealthier, whiter and less racially diverse communities throughout the region, especially in many of the second- and third-ring suburbs.

For our coalition members, building communities of inclusion is not an academic exercise, but a fight that we are a part of every day. Whether it is pushing back on “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) opposition to affordable developments, or advocating for the rights that renters so desperately need to have safe, accessible and dignified housing, our work is with and for communities that see the worst harms of the housing system. The NIMBYism that affordable housing development faces is rooted in racism, classism and xenophobia. What we understand is that fighting these oppositional forces is not only essential to getting affordable housing built and preserved but also to creating safe, welcoming, equitable communities that allow people to thrive.

Orfield’s description of majority BIPOC neighborhoods as “dangerous neighborhoods, served by schools that lead to dropouts and low-income jobs” is the exact type of racial dog-whistle and overly simplistic narrative about our BIPOC communities that serves to undermine political will for affordable housing, both in majority Black and brown communities as well as whiter, wealthier communities. The policy application of his approach would deprive areas of historic disinvestment of resources, at a current moment when there is both unprecedented need and historic opportunity. The rebuilding of Lake Street, the development along the proposed Blue Line extension and the opportunities that exist to build community stability and wealth only happen if resources and policies exist to support a range of communities in many places. As organizations who believe in a need for “both/and” patterns of housing investments in urban and suburban communities, we see this language and approach leading to “neither/nor” as it stifles support for vital affordable housing investments anywhere.

Recent local opposition to proposed affordable housing in Minnetonka and Edina, cities that Orfield suggests are open and welcoming to affordable housing development, demonstrate that perhaps time would be better spent fighting side-by-side with affordable housing advocates and BIPOC community organizations, rather than attempting to pick fights with us in the media. Equity in Place will continue the work of advancing housing justice across all communities in our region.

Asad Aliweyd is executive director of the New American Development Center. Nelima Sitati-Munene is executive director of the African Career Education and Resource, Inc. Owen Duckworth is director of organizing and policy for the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability.