A discussion about ensuring fair and equitable access to housing and addressing the impact of past discriminatory housing practices.
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He specializes in state and local housing policy and advocacy.
So welcome, Samar and over to you.
Samar Jha:Thank you so much, Rodney, for the kind introduction.
To start off, I have the privilege to introduce two great panelists for this session.
First up is Nikitra Bailey, who is an Executive Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance.
She develops and spearheads and regional policy strategy to advance housing justice and creative equity law opportunities for everyone.
Next up is Bryan Greene, who is the Vice President of Policy Advocacy at National Association of Realtors.
He has raised the association’s profile nationwide on all fair housing related policy matters.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
And policies to alleviate the impact of past housing destination practices.
Before we start the discussion, we will have a Slido question.
We will wait for the responses to come in.
Well unfortunately, certain things are not surprising.
We’re seeing NIMBY is in the forefront.
We’ll wait for another five seconds before… We can start with Nikitra if you want.
Nikitra Bailey:Thank you, Samar, it’s a pleasure to be here.
These responses are not at all shocking.
Samar Jha:Thank you so much.
And the responses are still coming in.
We also saw zoning come in-between, I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere in the responses.
All right, let’s get on with the questions, I think.
Let’s start with the questions.
So Nikitra, you are first up.
The National Fair Housing Alliance is the only national organization dedicated solely to ending discrimination in housing.
This fuels poverty, housing instability, and inequitable living standards.
Nikitra Bailey:Great, thank you so much for that wonderful question.
Focusing on affordable housing solutions solely has really exacerbated existing inequality and entrenched racial wealth and homeownership disparities.
So much sacrifice was offered in the creation of open housing policies.
Our nation has a robust fair housing infrastructure.
These laws must be fully enforced to help root out inequalities and create equitable opportunities for everyone.
Fair housing principles should be embedded in all plans to address the current housing crisis.
They actually stop opportunity and stop every community from being a place of opportunity.
So it’s time that we attack them.
We also know that housing accounts for nearly 20 percent of our nation’s GDP.
Different parts of affordable housing need to be looked into.
So Bryan, you are back in, and I don’t know whether you saw the Slido responses.
Bryan Greene:I did.
That’s the last thing I saw.
So I would be happy to talk about that or answer other questions.
Bryan Greene:Yeah, so you mentioned the affordable housing crisis.
And also income people in many communities simply don’t have the income even where there is sufficient housing.
But zoning and NIMBYism prevents the siting of more housing and having more housing would make it more affordable.
We have to do all of the other things.
So thank you so much for these two questions that I had asked.
Mike Watson:Fantastic.
So Nikitra and Bryan, this first question is kind of a broad question around affordable housing.
Nikitra, let’s start with you, and then go to you, Bryan.
Nikitra Bailey:Sure.
Thank you so much.
Those accusations are grounded in false belief.
There is no connection with those realities.
And it’s an unfounded risk that’s not rooted in any science or real fact.
And until we address those challenges, we’re not going to see a healthy economy.
Right now, we know that our economy is facing a major impact of inflation.
Inflation in housing is one of the core drivers of our overall inflationary measures in this country right now.
We know that housing inflation is accounting for about a 40 percent increase in inflation overall.
Mike Watson:Thank you so much, Nikitra.
I think that point around inflation is really important.
Bryan, is there anything you’d like to add to that fantastic response from Nikitra?
We don’t really have truly racially integrated or economically integrated communities.
So people don’t have really a whole lot of data to make those claims.
Mike Watson:Thank you, Bryan.
Nikitra, is there anything you’d like to add to that?
Nikitra Bailey:Yeah, just more figured, like we’re leaving money on the table.
Are there any great examples that you’ve seen from across the country that folks should be aware of?
Nikitra, let’s start with you, and then go to Bryan.
Nikitra Bailey:Sure.
Many localities engage in work around Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing act.
Most people don’t realize that the Fair Housing Act has two critical portions.
So the AFFH provisions actually allow for robust community engagements amongst municipalities with their local residents.
Mike Watson:Fantastic, thank you, Nikitra.
Bryan, what would you like to add to that?
So there are historical examples in different places of communities that have tried to lead the way.
Mike Watson:Thank you very much for that, Bryan.
What’s the one or two things that you would suggest that they go and do?
Bryan, let’s start with you and then go to you, Nikitra.
And it creates a justification for some of the more conscious efforts that communities need to undertake.
But you need, I think, that underpinning so that start.
Nikitra, what would you like to add to that?
Nikitra Bailey:Two things.
We really need to have restorative practices.
Bryan is absolutely right, that our history is very important.
So one thing initially I would recommend is the utilization of special purpose credit programs.
So that’s something that we could do.
We could also create first generation down payment assistance programs.
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