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Housing

A woman shops for food at the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Want to Eradicate Hunger in America? Take on Racism.

By Commentaries/Opinions

A new study found that people who experience discrimination are almost twice as likely as others to struggle with hunger. By Greg Kaufmann, The Nation — With more than 40 million people in the country struggling with hunger, anti-hunger advocates in the United States have their work cut out for them. In 2017, nearly 12 percent of all US households were food insecure—meaning they didn’t have access to enough food for all household members…

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‘Housing is central to the ‘good life’ in the United States.’

Housing market racism persists despite ‘fair housing’ laws

By Commentaries/Opinions

In the US, where homeownership speaks to class, African Americans are being denied mortgages at rates much higher than their white peers By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The Guardian — As a new year begins and the 2020 presidential election looms closer, our political focus will start to narrow around the issues thought to be most urgent and likely to mobilize voters. One issue surely to be glossed over, if not completely…

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Get Out: Toward an Honest Commitment to Racial Justice

By Commentaries/Opinions, Gentrification

By David J. Harris, Houston Institute Executive Director — Several weeks ago the Boston Globe published an opinion piece by editorial and staff writer David Scharfenberg in which he called for an “honest” commitment to racial integration. He dismissed the “gauzy 1963 version” of integration, insisted that “harping too much” on its virtues “can feel paternalistic,” and lamented the “disastrous busing experiment of the 1970s” which proved that “forced integration…simply doesn’t work.” Even so,…

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Neighborhood homes

Black Americans’ Homes Undervalued by Billions

By News & Current Affairs

By Teddy Grant, Ebony — Black Americans’ homes are routinely undervalued in the real estate market, according to a report by Brookings Institution and Gallup that was released Tuesday. In the report “The devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods: The case of residential property,” homes in neighborhoods with a Black majority that are owner-occupied are appraised for lower prices, averaging $48,000 per home, writes Curbed. Such low appraisal prices translate…

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How a ‘segregation tax’ is costing black American homeowners $156 billion

By News & Current Affairs

A new Brookings/Gallup report finds residential property in majority-black neighborhoods is consistently undervalued. By Patrick Sisson, Curbed — Black Americans, long accustomed to facing more hurdles on the road to homeownership, may consistently find their investments in residential property undervalued, according to a new joint Brookings Institution and Gallup study. According to “The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods: The case of residential property,” owner-occupied homes are undervalued by the real estate market across…

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Image courtesy of Community Movement Builders (CMB)

Gentrification: The New “Negro Removal” Program

By Gentrification, Vantage Point Articles

Displacing Black People and Culture, Gentrification: The New “Negro Removal” Program A Call for an Emergency Summit. Vantage Point by Dr. Ron Daniels — Gentrification has emerged as a major threat to Black communities that have been centers for Black business/economic development, cultural and civic life for generations. Gentrification has become the watch-word for the displacement of Black people and culture. Gentrification is the “Negro Removal Program” of the…

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Gentrification

Gentrification, ‘Negro Removal,’ and a Housing Crisis

By Gentrification, Reparations

By Thelá Thatch, Black Enterprise — Gentrification involves the transformation of under-invested, predominately poor communities from low value to high value. During this transformation, long-time residents and businesses are displaced; unable to afford higher rents, mortgages, and property taxes. For some, gentrification is a process of renovating deteriorated urban neighborhoods through the influx of more affluent residents. To others, gentrification magnifies the racial divide as it shifts a neighborhood’s racial…

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Alice Huffman’s consulting firm is on track to make $800,000 from its work but she denies there is a conflict of interest.

NAACP leader opposes rent control bid while taking real estate money

By News & Current Affairs

California president under fire for opposing pro-tenant measure yet working as a paid consultant for real-estate backed campaign. By Sam Levin, The Guardian — The California leader of a major US civil rights group is facing backlash for fighting a rent control measure while working as a paid consultant for an opposition campaign funded by real estate companies. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in California is opposing…

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Black Space, White Blindness

By Commentaries/Opinions

Why white Americans have such a hard time picturing a middle-class black neighborhood. By Henry Grabar, Slate — In John Sayles’ 1984 movie The Brother From Another Planet, a card shark is riding a northbound A train that is about to make the 66-block jump from Midtown to Harlem. “I have another magic trick for you,” he says. “Wanna see me make all the white people disappear?” The conductor announces the train…

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