Transcript: by Andrew Martinez
Hi everybody my name is Andrew Martinez. I am currently a junior at The Ohio State University. I am a business student majoring in Operations Management. I have decided to talk about Systemic injustices that many minorities face in society, an example would be the housing market. Before I attended Ohio State I was a transfer student from Texas. I have volunteered throughout my city and have seen first-hand the problems my city is facing in the housing market for minorities. Certain districts in my city have serious levels of poverty. When COVID-19 occurred many communities in my city have experienced serious problems in maintaining their home and health. My grandmother and sister both worked for the city of San Antonio and have seen the problems may minorities face in Texas. My grandmother working for the tax office in San Antonio and my sister working in the neighborhood and housing development center.
The housing market is divided in our country and its been worse for minorities. For example, Atticus LeBlanc from Forbes described how systemic racism exists in the housing market and gives an example in housing data that he obtained in his research. He states, “according to an Economic Policy Institute study, the median white household has 12 times more wealthy than the median Black household, and more than 1 in 4 Black households have zero or negative net worth; that’s compared to less than 1 in 10 for white families.” (LeBlanc, 2020). I wonder if this division is due to having not the same educational opportunities when compared to whites due to the neighborhoods? If so, who is responsible for this division since it continues to persist in today’s society?
When my sister worked for the neighborhood and housing development center for the city of San Antonio, she saw many gaps in the system for minorities. The people my sister interacted with during the reconstruction of the resident’s homes were majority poor residents on a fix income. Many of the families she interacted with were Latino and African Americans. Also, these family’s household income was less than 40,000 a year. Many of the homes my sister worked on had to be renovated to meet the health and safety code to deem the condition of the home safe. The applications that my sister received from minorities were in some cases not completed due to the complex terminology used in the format for the application which was one of the reasons why the process took over a month to complete. These individuals did not have a high school education or GD instead some just had only a middle school education. So, the applicants in most cases didn’t know what they were signing. So, do to these residents not having an understands on filling out applications properly and understanding what they are signing, have been fooled into taking out high interest loans payments on their homes for a mortgage. The interest rate for the mortgage can range close to 30%. When the applicants took out the high interest loans sadly they were no longer eligible to be assisted since legally they no longer had official rights over the property. These individuals that greatly needed the assistance were minorities who sadly didn’t know how to properly manage their money right. The biggest struggle my sister saw was the lack of knowledge many minorities faced when buying a home and maintaining it financially.
An issue that arises in this housing market problem for minorities is gentrification. In an article by Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell and Abril Castro from Center for American Progress describes the gentrification happening for African Americans in Washington D.C. She states, “Nowhere are the effects of gentrification more noticeable than the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. between 1970 and 2015, black residents declined from 71 percent of the city’s population to just 48 percent. The city’s white population increased by 25 percent during the same period. From 2000 to 2013, the city endured the nation’s highest rate of gentrification, resulting in more than 20,000 African American resident’s displacement. Today, almost 1 in 4 Black Washington residents- 23 percent line in poverty.” (n.d, 2019) Isn’t this sad that the law makers and legislatures that live in Washington DC are unable to make a difference in the state that they are residing in for the residents? What’s the point of them solving issues when they can’t even solve the poverty issue that’s right in front of them that’s visible to see to the public?
People of color continue to experience racial bias in the housing market. Many neighborhoods that have predominately minority households have been undervalued by the market. Minorities experience racial biases when renting or buying a house. The only way to fix this division is to make the issue apparent and bring awareness to law makers to fix this housing issue for minorities. Across our country many families of minorities face exclusion and displacement from obtaining homeownership. New polices need to be available to promote more access for minorities to have additional resources and knowledge to have greater opportunities which have been excluded from them.
I do know in my City of San Antonio; we already see the effects of gentrification when they fixed the Pearl Brewery an old area of San Antonio and made it into a high-end condominium and shopping center. The city did this to revitalize the area, but unaware they were kicking out the people who were living in this area before the construction and due to the increase in property taxes the people are no longer able to live in there homes no more. So now they are moving around trying to find an area that can assist their fixed income that they have for there household. The people who were affected were the elderly and the minorities. Change is good, but is it good at the cost of affecting the people you were trying to assist in the first place? We need to remember why we do a project in the first place in order to not be sway by people who want to profit from the project or exclude a specific class/race.
With this division of housing for minorities the country is also facing hardships through COVID-19. Because of the pandemic this has not been easy for many minorities. Not everyone has been able to receive funding. People of color and low income families are facing hardships through housing cost burdens. Many are facing instability in their communities. Discrimination and structural racism is still very constant in housing for minorities. Many COVID-19 disparities have been shown throughout this pandemic. Huge hits of stay at home orders in different states and many other public health measures for people in communities. Many jobs for minorities lost and many can’t be worked remotely causing problems with housing cost problems.
In an article by Solomon Greene and Alanna McCargo from the Urban Institute, discuss racial disparities in housing. They state, “In April, Latino unemployment reached a record high of 18.9 percent, and Black unemployment reached 16.7 percent. Layoffs related to COVID-19 for black and Latino workers are also more likely to lead to housing instability, as they already reported higher rates of financial insecurity and lower savings to draw from to weather economic shocks before the crisis began.” (n.d, 2020) Issues like these bring up big questions about how are many minorities able to afford paying their rent monthly. New policies need to be responded towards this crisis during the pandemic. Policies need to focus and help lower income individuals need assistance. More opportunities for those minorities being affected by the pandemic. If we don’t see any help or assistance, we could see problems in the future like the housing market to crash. Many foreclosures and division within the housing market will begin to rise if we don’t solve this issue.
In an article by Laura Romero from NowCastSa, describes the gentrification happening for many Latino families getting pushed out by rising rent prices. She states, “The East Side is experiencing a wave of gentrification as new construction takes over San Antonio, Texas. A new apartment complex on the East Side is shown on September 5, 2019 next to a demolished neighborhood clinic. San Antonio’s East Side, and most recently, the West Side, are rapidly becoming inaccessible to Latinos and pushing them out (Romero, 2019). She goes on discussing how the Latino community’s local identity is gone from those neighborhoods. This one prime example that shows my city in Texas is changing and giving less opportunities for minorities communities is apparent. They are pushing many minorities out of the inner cities that they have been residing in their entire lives in order for the wealthy and influential residents to move in the area. The housing issue is one that needs to be fixed and soon or we may no longer have local residents living in the San Antonio community, but non-local renters looking for potential secondary residency. We will soon lose our communities individualism if this continues.
My thoughts on the housing issue is this we need to bring awareness on this issue. We need to help our minorities in this country. We shouldn’t have division in the housing market. We all want to provide for our families and provide for our country, but pushing out people especially minorities is saddening and needs to change. There needs to be more opportunities for minorities in our local communities. An example would be having a new set of policies for minorities and laying the new foundations in our country to grow our minority communities to include better access to educational opportunities as well as job opportunities too. As a minority Hispanic, myself we need to make changes in order to obtain improved opportunities for minorities in this country. We the people are the future for change no matter your gender or race we need to work together toward a brighter tomorrow.
Citations:
LeBlanc, A. (2020, July 08). Council post: How systemic racism exists In U.S. housing policies. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2020/07/09/how-systemic-racism-exists-in-us-housing-policies/?sh=681b505a6959
Danyelle Solomon, C. (n.d.). Systemic inequality: Displacement, exclusion, and segregation. Retrieved April 02, 2021, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/472617/systemic-inequality-displacement-exclusion-segregation/
Submitted by Laura Romero on September 11. (n.d.). Gentrification, rising rent prices PUSH Latinos out of neighborhoods. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://nowcastsa.com/Gentrification-rising-rent-push-Latinos-out
Greene, S., & McCargo, A. (2020, June 02). New data Suggest covid-19 is WIDENING HOUSING disparities by race and income. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/new-data-suggest-covid-19-widening-housing-disparities-race-and-income
Art, S. (n.d.). Sheldon Museum of Art main content. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://sheldonartmuseum.org/barriers-and-disparities
The housing market is changing, but Don’t panic! (2018, October 13). Retrieved April 04, 2021, from http://www.myfolsom.com/2018/10/housing-market-is-changing-but-dont-panic/