Increasing Equity or Equality?
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 came as a solution to the question of how to achieve equity among all Americans. The Fair Housing Act was supposed to make housing markets more open by holding developers, owners, property managers, and lenders accountable to eliminating exclusionary practices and attitudes in their decisions. It was about giving minorities, and other identities, the ability to afford the opportunity to build their personal financial success, thru purchasing or renting a home. That act began the process of ending obvious discrimination and inequity in the housing industry, but issues continue fifty some years later. There is much discussion regarding the need for affordable housing today. Many can acknowledge that housing insecurity continues to plague minorities, elderly, and low wage families. Housing insecurity is defined as the struggle to be able to secure housing that is affordable, safe, and situated in areas that allow for access to resources.
Although we can agree that affordable housing is lacking, many of the solutions that are presently used to address the issues fall short. Part of the difficulty comes from how we as a collective think about housing itself. We have a culture that sees housing within a marketplace. Housing quality and housing costs stem directly from the supply and demand of the housing market. This perspective approaches housing as more of a want rather than a need. It suggests that lower quality of housing is inevitable because housing is a commodity that people can choose to have or not have. When we view housing within the framework of cost and consumerism – then we must understand that we are suggesting it is necessary that some people get high quality housing and others just don’t get quality housing.
In 1968, our culture was able to recognize that systemic issues were blocking equal access housing to increase economic stability and wealth for a segment of our population. It is time again for us to recognize some of the systemic issues surrounding the ‘housing market’ that are blocking equal access to economic stability and wealth of a segment of our population. Profit focused housing creates a supply of ‘large, luxury’ housing units – because those units give the greatest profit margin. Housing developments that provide starter homes or basic apartments are not being built. This causes low-income households to spend more of their income on housing. They have less income to afford other necessities – food, transportation, medicine. Gleanings Housing’s idea of funding housing development through a collective framework – everyone giving a little something ($25/month) and pooling it together allows us all to recognize that housing is a need.
If you are interested in learning more about how the lack of affordable housing is a barrier, please check out the links below.
http://www.freddiemac.com/perspectives/sam_khater/20210415_single_family_shortage.page
Gleanings Housing Pages, no. 7, September 2021