Race and Housing
Racist housing policies and practices in the past created the massive disparities between Black and white Minnesotans today. We're learning from the past to build a better future.
Why is a housing nonprofit focusing on race?
Housing and racial equity are inextricably linked.
Minnesota has some of the widest racial disparities in the nation—in education, health, economics, criminal justice, and especially housing. And all of them can be tied back to discriminatory housing practices used throughout the 20th century. As a community, we need to be as intentional in closing these disparities as we were in creating them.
At Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, racial equity and anti-racism are embedded in our mission, vision, and values. We’re proud that about 80% of our homebuyer clients are households of color.
But in 2019 we were prompted to take a closer look at that number. Of that 80%, Foundational Black Americans—Black or African American Minnesotans who are descendants of slavery in the United States—were a very small portion. Foundational Black Americans face the steepest barriers to accessing a mortgage and the widest disparities in rates of homeownership.
We recognized that we needed to make our programs work better for Foundational Black Americans, and are working to do just that through our Advancing Black Homeownership program.
As an organization, we are building forward with intentionality – centering our work around those most historically impacted by housing discrimination, redlining, racial covenants, and systemic racist housing practices. We are working to build trust with Foundational Black Americans, and to provide a path to homeownership that lowers unfair barriers. We don't see historical barriers like redlining or racial covenants now, but systemic racism, racist lending practices, and generational financial trauma have effectively taken their place.
We know that when we improve how we serve those most impacted by housing discrimination, our organization will be better for everyone who works with us.
Our Race & Housing blog series below explores the history of how racist housing policies were created, why disparities persist, what we can learn from stories of resistance, and—most importantly—what we can and should do differently to bring about change. To find out how you can create a more vibrant and equitable community with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, read about our Build Forward Together strategic plan. Find additional helpful books, videos, and other resources near the end of this page.
Race and Housing Blog Series
Take Action
Here are a few ways you can take action now:
- Read about our Build Forward Together strategic plan to learn how Twin Cities Habitat is advancing racial equity through the transformational power of homeownership.
- Advocate for better housing policies at the local, state, and federal levels. Sign up for Advocacy Action Alerts.
- Learn and share the history of this topic (blogs above and resources below), and follow our Race & Housing blog series.
- Donate to create more Habitat homeownership opportunities.
- Reach out to friends, family, and neighbors and have conversations about this history and the racism that still pervades our society, and help one another take action to build the equitable community we want to see.
Learn More
Check out these additional resources to learn more about race and housing.
Books
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- Voices of Rondo: Oral Histories of Saint Paul’s Historic Black Community as told by Kate Cavett
- The Days of Rondo by Evelyn Fairbanks
- Diesel Heart: An Autobiography by Melvin Whitfield Carter Jr.
- Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
- How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- Toxic Inequality: How America's Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, and Threatens Our Future by Thomas M. Shapiro
Videos
Watch this short video from National Public Radio called "Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History." In under seven minutes, the video breaks down how discrimination in housing policy had rippled into so many areas of life, especially in cities. Warning: there is one instance of profanity in the first few seconds.
More excellent videos you should check out:
- Jim Crow of the North by TPT
- Race - The Power of an Illusion by PBS
- Shelley v. Kramer: landmark civil rights case over the restrictions of property ownership due to race by Nine Network
- Rondo: Beyond the Pavement documentary by Saint Paul Almanac in partnership with St. Paul Neighborhood Network and High School for Recording Arts
Local Organizations
- The Mapping Prejudice Project
- Dr. Brittany Lewis: Research in Action
- Northside Residents Redevelopment Council
- Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (United Renters for Justice)
- Rondo Ave Inc. founded by Marvin Anderson and Floyd Smaller
- Minnesota Historical Society permanent exhibit on Rondo
- Black Visions Collective
- Reclaim the Block
- We Love Lake Street
- Northside Funders Group and West Broadway Business Coalition
- We Love St. Paul
- Frogtown & Rondo Community Business Recovery Fund