2.4 Racial Equity
How can local housing strategies help localities advance racial equity?
One important goal for a local housing strategy is to remedy the racial inequities in housing that stem from both overt discrimination and systemic bias at all levels of government and the private sector. Cities across the country are working to develop new and innovative housing policies that promote racial equity. Through the process of assessing local housing needs, localities can identify racial disparities in need of redress. And as part of the strategy development process, localities can identify specific housing policies that can help address these disparities.
There are a number of different housing policies and initiatives that localities can adopt and include in their local housing strategy to promote racial equity. Here are a few examples:
To learn more about policies that help advance racial equity, see the Local Housing Solutions briefs that review how you can use policy options in the Local Housing Solution’s Housing Policy Library to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing, Expand Affordable Housing in Resource-Rich Neighborhoods, and Reduce Housing Discrimination. Also, watch this Housing Solutions Lab panel discussion, Reckoning with the History of Housing Segregation, where panelists discuss that significant public engagement and a deep understanding of community history are prerequisites to developing equitable policies today.
The legal considerations involved in crafting policies to address racial disparities in housing can be complex, given the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause as well as the federal Fair Housing Act. Local Housing Solutions’ brief, Legal Frameworks for Addressing Racial Disparities in Housing, provides an introduction to the legal frameworks governing housing initiatives that aim to address racial disparities, with the goal of equipping local policymakers to assess the opportunities and risks of different approaches and develop locally-appropriate, legally sound strategies.