Spatial Justice as a Driver of Health in the Context of Societal Emergencies Proceedings of a Workshop (2023) / Chapter Skim
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4 How Policies and Investments Shape Spatial Injustice and Displacement
4 How Policies and Investments Shape Spatial Injustice and Displacement
Pages 31-46
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From page 31... ...
Abello introduced the panel: Michael Bader, associate professor of sociology at American University, Thomas Mitchell, 2020 MacArthur Fellow and professor of law at Texas A&M University, and Meghan Venable-Thomas, director of Cultural Resilience Initiatives at Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. Abello then drew the distinction between conventional narratives -- which guide policy making, research, and media discussion -- and "what actually happens on the ground in reality throughout history." He proceeded to share conventional narratives and asked panelists to speak about why they do not ring true.
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From page 32... ...
• Enterprise Community Partners' Green Communities Criteria, which have been incorporated into 32 plans across the country related to the distribution of federal low-income and new-income housing tax credits, places requirements on not only the number of housing units created, but also the quality and the process of creating that housing, including how a developer is engaging with residents. (Venable-Thomas)
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From page 33... ...
Mitchell said that, in addition to extralegal mechanisms like lynching, other kinds of violence, and intimidation, certain legal processes have also led to substantial property loss within the African American community. He mentioned eminent domain, foreclosure, hack sales, and adverse possession, as well as the focus of his work, which is related to an arcane property law called partition law, which is related to "heirs' property," referring to property that families acquire without the benefit of a will or other estate plan.
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From page 34... ...
She began by noting that conversations around spatial justice and injustice should focus not only on physical spaces, but also "people's experiences in navigating those spaces." She said one of the conventional narratives being combatted today around gentrification and displacement is that housing is a commodity that you get if you can afford it, as opposed to housing -- and access to thriving communities -- being a human right, and both housing stock and people's lived experiences, culture, skills, and strengths having value. Venable-Thomas noted, "the fact that I am standing here as an African American woman descendant of slaves is a demonstration of my com munity's resilience" and observed that communities most resilient in the face of disaster (climate change related or otherwise)
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From page 35... ...
Abello noted that viewing communities via this lens of acknowledging the culture and resilience that is already present changes the way one talks about community development or affordable housing. Instead of focusing only on the units of affordable housing that are built and the price of them, there are questions of where those units get built, who builds them, who owns them, who funds them, and how one gets to live in those units.
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From page 36... ...
Reliance on property taxes is especially problematic when property values decline in neighborhoods where Black people are living. Bader suggested this is where institutional resources could come in, e.g., to invest in suburbs where property values have been declining and jobs may not be as prevalent, instead of investing in "the hip new neighborhood in Chicago or DC or New York." He added that he is thinking especially of medical care institutions, given research demonstrating Black individuals travel farther for primary, specialty, and emergency care.
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From page 37... ...
The second dominant narrative, Mitchell said, is that for some of these laws, including eminent domain and partition law, the only values that are recognized are economics -- without accounting for the family heritage, historic, or cultural value of these properties, or the value of these properties in terms of securing affordable housing and what the implications of taking that away would be. The third dominant narrative Mitchell noted was the idea that there could be no law reform or policy solutions; "that at the end of the day, as sad and as unjust as these laws
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From page 38... ...
Abello summarized Mitchell's comments, noting that the model heirs' property law was designed not only to help Black property owners, but also to address a "problem that happens to disproportionately affect 2 See for example https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-02-mn-10514-story. html (accessed January 10, 2023)
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From page 39... ...
Venable-Thomas also mentioned Enterprise Community Partners' Green Communities Criteria, which were updated in 2020 and are in 32 qualified allocation plans across the country.5 Abello later explained that these plans are a key part of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which subsidizes $12 billion a year and is allocated state by state based on population. Each state then awards its portion of this money through a competitive process, and the qualified allocation plan outlines how new applications will be scored.
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From page 40... ...
She said at Enterprise Community Partners, they have been thinking about how they can eliminate some of the cumbersome stipulations and requirements to "allow a larger swath of communities and developers to really be able to start solving problems for their own community." Abello asked her to expand on this idea of diversifying the affordable housing developer world, noting that he thinks it is only 2 percent of commercial real estate professionals who are not white men. He asked, "By changing who builds housing, how does that qualitatively change affordable housing or low-income housing developments?
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From page 41... ...
were able to shut down an entire mass transit development for four years and get the state to have to renegotiate all of its contracts."7 He said that states taking some of these authorities back seemed impossible two years ago, but California, Minneapolis, and other jurisdictions are taking steps in that direction. He noted that these types of changes disproportionately affect Black people and people of color, but they are also going to help everyone by minimizing the peaks and valleys in the housing market and producing more equitable schools, communities, and commercial development, which will improve entire metropolitan areas rather than just a few neighborhoods.
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From page 42... ...
" Mitchell also commented on the role of representation within efforts to change laws. He shared that when he was selected to be the princi pal drafter for the Heirs Property Act, he was only the second African American to have ever served in that position in the 130-year history of the Uniform Law Commission, an elite organization that has produced 8 The figure in the 2020 Census was 5.7 percent, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ sanfranciscocitycalifornia (accessed January 10, 2023)
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From page 43... ...
and, even more so, within areas of law that implicate economic justice or wealth building, such as property and real estate law, tax law, and business law. He said he just found there are only five African American attorneys who practice estate planning in the entire state of Oregon, meaning those who are seeking a lawyer from their own commu nity often have none.
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From page 44... ...
Mitchell also shared his pride in catalyzing the involvement of grassroots and community-based organizations in the Uniform Law Commission's process around the Heirs Property Act model state statute.11 He spoke about how many within the Commission expected the effort to fail, given the statute dealt with racial justice, but it has turned out be one of their most successful efforts. Mitchell noted that although it was a cultural change and involving grassroots and community-based groups 9 More information on the Hastie Fellowship can be found at https://law.wisc.edu/ grad/hastie#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20Wisconsin%20established,of%20 high%2Dquality%20legal%20education (accessed January 20, 2022)
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From page 45... ...
Abello asked Mitchell to share more about the new law he is working on. Mitchell described how heirs' property is a subset of a form of common real property ownership in the United States called tenancy in common ownership.
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From page 46... ...
And their inability to get out of it is a present manifestation of Jim Crow." To conclude the session, Abello asked each panelist to share examples of solutions that are purported to address spatial injustice but miss the mark, highlighting Opportunity Zones as an example. He also noted the history of Black banks, as described in the Color of Money by Mehrsa Baradaran, as another example, describing how these banks were used as a distraction or consolation prize, taking land back from Black people and giving them a bank in its place, despite the fact that the bank was not allowed to make loans to Black people (Abello, 2018)
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