September 24, 2020

Recent fires have destroyed homes in low- and moderate-income communities and exacerbated the affordable housing and homelessness crises in Oregon. Displaced victims of the fires, many of whom were already paying unaffordable housing costs, are uncertain about the prospect of rebuilding efforts because of toxic residue and future exclusionary redevelopment. “If we want people to stay, we have to take action now to make sure there’s transitional housing.... We can’t put our tax base above the needs of the people who live here,” stated Phoenix City Councilor Sarah Westover.

Low- and moderate-income households are under increasing financial strain because there are still no long-term federal protections from the COVID-19 economic fallout. For many of their landlords, rents make up a considerable amount of income, so they too are struggling to stay afloat. “While landlords may be managing short-term reductions in rental payments, continued partial payment or non-payment could force some into forbearance or foreclosure,” highlighted a recent Government Accountability Office report.

Decades after the enactment of fair housing laws in the 1960s and 70s, a new study, by University of Pittsburgh sociologist Junia Howell and University of New Mexico sociologist Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, finds that racial discrimination in home appraisal practices has worsened and that the racial appraisal gap has doubled since 1980. The study used home appraisals from before the 1970s as a baseline to calculate home values and found that homes in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Black residents are appraised far lower than homes in comparable neighborhoods with high concentrations of white residents. “Congress needs to look at how we can facilitate a fairer system for all families and invest in communities that have lost out on generations of wealth building,” stated Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA).

City officials in Oakland, California, are moving forward with new rules to regulate homeless encampments. The new policy would clear encampments near schools, protected waterways, residences, businesses, playgrounds, public parks, and near homeless shelters. It’s the first effort to regulate where residents can camp and comes after a year-long effort by city officials to overhaul how Oakland handles homelessness. Though Homelessness Administrator Daryel Dunston specifies that the policy is not a way to criminalize homelessness, activist Katie Kelly-Hankin with Love and Justice in the Streets, says “the policy would leave unhoused residents with effectively zero options.”