The American dream is always associated with the idea of a suburban home with a white picket fence. The stereotypical home remains a dream, however, as housing policy after housing policy firmly reminds us.
San Francisco, a city racked with housing dilemmas, indicated a move in the right direction after the US Department of Housing and Urban Development announced an “anti-displacement” preference for residents applying for federally financed housing. The point of contention surrounds the construction of the Willie B. Kennedy Apartments being constructed in the Western Addition section of the city, an outlying neighbourhood in the throes of gentrification. The complex itself is partially federally funded.
The policy would allot 40% of the development for seniors from “the Western Addition, Bayview, Russian Hill, Mission and South of Marker neighbourhoods,” according to an NPR article. The majority of residents in the Western Addition are African American, bringing equal opportunity of all races into the question.
Gentrification is a curious thing. We see it every day in Boston, as our rents increase, a trendy cafe pops up on the corner and then it’s game over. Our “struggle” needs perspective. We move in on the first of September and leave sometime before July. We are not permanent residents, we have the means to pay for high rents and we’re willing to live in squalid conditions. We are students, and we are ruining the lives of Boston residents.
The diaspora of students is particularly seen around the neighbourhood of Allston, which is perceived as one of the last bastions of affordable living within city limits. Walking to class, you might pass a family putting a child on a school bus. Though you may also see this in nearby Brookline, the margin of rents between the proximal neighbourhoods is astounding. Before long, that family living in Allston because of the affordable rent will most likely be gone.
Other unique areas, like Chinatown, exist because of affordable housing. If it were to disappear, massive groups of people would be without a home and without an identity. Since the days of Ellis Island, like individuals have flocked to certain neighbourhoods. But because of the extreme lengths people will go to live around metropolitan areas, these cultural strongholds are quickly vanishing.
Much of Boston seems to be extremely racially homogenous, and the parts that do not fall under this characterisation seem to be experiencing gentrification. Though San Francisco’s policy instigates conversation, it is missing a larger point.
The issue is already deeply rooted if individuals are applying for federally funded housing; it means they have no choice. By providing federally funded housing for gentrified areas, those residents, primarily minorities, have already been displaced from their homes. A substantive solution needs to be discovered before the crisis reaches this critical point.
Yet, as is the case with many systemic societal issues, this is merely one link in the chain being pulled above the water. To see the whole, and how interconnected the links are, you must make the whole chain visible. Race, inevitably, is interwoven through things like education, employment and, of course, housing.
San Francisco’s department of housing and urban development is initiating conversation around affordable housing, and acknowledging the fact that race is a major part of it. This is good for now – but what about the next 10 years?
This is an edited version of a leading article originally published by the Daily Free Press, an independent, student-owned and student-operated newspaper at Boston University. The article represents the opinions of the Daily Free Press editorial board, and is reprinted with their kind permission.
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