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[citiesandslums]

Universal Basic Income: It’s Just Free Money Right?

by Taleah Johnson

Universal basic income had a moment during the 2020 election cycle. Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang captured headlines with his proposed Freedom Dividend policy that promised each American over the age of 18 a monthly $1,000 check adding up to $12,000 a year. It was the first time most Americans had been introduced to the concept of Universal Basic Income, especially on a wide nationaal scale. But Yang and UBI becoming household names left everyone questioning, can it really be that easy?

The International Monetary Fund defines universal basic income as “a[n] income support mechanism typically intended to reach all (or a very large portion of the population) with no (or minimal) conditions.” If it feels like this definition seems slightly contradictory, it’s because of how drastically different models can be. When discussing UBI it must be noted that while UBI is a universal basic income, it’s implementation is nothing short of universal.

The differences within UBI models are dependent on two different decisions: population and distribution. Population is the decision of who gets money and if people are left out, why? This plays into the minimal conditions part and what deficit the UBI model is trying to address. For example, in the Bolsa Familias UBI pilot launched in Brazil the deficit being met was generational poverty.

The Bosla Familia model was launched in 2003 Brazil with former President Lula de Silva. The population for this model was lower income families who made less than 70BRL (or roughly 12 USD) a month. The distribution or the basic income amount given essentially matches the 70BRL made by the family but what makes this model interesting is the additional money given per child. As long as the child is in school and fully vaccinated (including prenatal care), the family is guaranteed either an additional 32BRL (5.63 USD) or 38BRL (6.69 USD) depending on the age of the child. Within the Bolsa Familia model, a lower income family could be given a maximum of 242BRL (42.59 USD).

As previously mentioned the population for this universal basic income model are lower income families attempting to overcome generational poverty. Instead of children dropping out of school to support their family via the workforce, they now have the ability and an incentive to stay in school in the hopes of having a better career and thus quality of life in the future. There’s also the opportunity for expecting mothers to make up the lost wages from missing work to go to their prenatal check ups resulting in healthier babies. Ultimately, this model demonstrates how UBI works to address an inherent need. If this model was applied to (and monetarily calibrated for) the American poor, this could also do wonders for breaking generational poverty and possibly even preventing homelessness.

When we talk about UBI, there’s this huge panic over who will pay for it. Taxpayers? The government? The rich? But the UBI models in Alaska and Iran separately address this question in a truly creative way. According to Vox, the Iranian government implemented a UBI program to shift away from subsidies on goods like “bread, water, electricity, heating, and fuel.” Instead of providing industry subsidies, Iran gave its citizen cash transfers that reflected 29% of the average Iranian family’s median income. To this day, Iran still runs this UBI program and reportedly the additional cash flow does nothing to stop people from working or pursuing academic endeavors.

Similarly, the state of Alaska also has a universal basic income model that is funded by the interest earned from mining royalties. According to Business Insider, the Permanent Fund Dividend can guarantee anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 yearly depending on how much profit was made from mining royalties and revenue. Regardless of age, as long as an Alaskian resident can prove that they spend the majority of their year in Alaska they are entitled to the money. The only people who cannot opt into this yearly payment are people who spent more unauthorized time outside of Alaska than time living within Alaska or people who recently committed a felony.

For both Alaska and Iran, the universal basic income awarded is generally unconditional and requires very little effort on the behalf of the citizens. Additionally, there could be something said about the way these models allow citizens to have a different relationship with their economies that isn’t directly tied to being a consumer.

Ultimately, Andrew Yang was unable to implement his idea of a national American universal basic income. However, there is a lot to be learned from different countries who were able to implement (or at the very least study) UBI. In America, it’s so easy to fall into homelessness. We are all only an emergency or two from falling behind and then falling off. UBI creates a safety net to not only soften economic loss but also allow lower income people the freedom of social mobility. As we consider all financial crises, including homelessness, we cannot discredit the potential that surrounds universal basic income.

Source List

Bosla Familia in Brazil | Center for Public Impact Bolsa Família in Brazil | Centre For Public Impact (CPI)

Universal Basic Income in Iran | Universal Basic Income in Iran - The Borgen Project

Everywhere basic income has been tried in one map | Everywhere basic income has been tried, in one map: Kenya; Iran; Alaska; Stockton, California; and more - Vox

How Alaskiana Use the Permanent Fund Dividend | How Alaskans Use the Permanent Fund Dividend (businessinsider.com)

Permanent Fund Dividend FAQ | Permanent Fund Dividend - FAQ (alaska.gov)

What is Universal Basic Income? | What Is Universal Basic Income? – IMF Finance & Development Magazine | December 2018

[citiesandslums]

What role do non-profit organizations have in helping solve the homelessness crisis?

What we can learn from the non-profit Housing Industry Foundation.

By Neo Marcos

Housing Industry Foundation, also known as HIF, is a non-profit organization founded in 1989. Their office is located in Palo Alto, CA. It started off as a simple conversation at a backyard barbeque by industry leaders who saw a need for housing stability in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. HIF’s mission is simple: “to help individuals and families remain in or return to stable housing through our Homeless Prevention Programs including emergency assistance grants, shelter renovations and affordable housing initiatives.”

HIF does this by making connections. Through relationships with service agencies, non-profits, and other community based organizations, HIF evaluates and qualifies recipients for emergency housing grants, identifies priority renovation needs for shelters, and helps teachers, non-profit and other public sector workers find affordable housing options. Essentially, the non-profit does whatever it can to prevent homelessness. HIF’s partner agencies include 38 organizations such as HIP Housing (HIP Housing is the social services organization that HIF works with to provide the actual housing), Samaritan House, and YMCA Community Resource Center.

The organization is run by a small staff of professionals, guided by its Board of Directors with support from the Board of Advisors. My mother, Arlene Marcos, is a part of this small staff of professionals as the Operations Manager, and I had the privilege to ask her a few questions about the organization and what they do. The Board of Directors includes a total of thirty-two people, with eight officers. Each of these people are from a private company or organization, such as Tod Spieker, president of Windy Hill Property Ventures, and Elizabeth Meadows from The Sobrato Organization. Fun fact: HIF works closely with The Sobrato Organization, as their new office is located at the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits. Keep in mind that the War Memorial Gym is located at the Sobrato Center here on campus at USF. According to Arlene, much of the donations for the housing programs and renovations come from these private organizations.

See Clip #1

As said by Arlene, HIF is trying to get more of the tech companies involved, which would be a huge help in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area as a whole. It is important to note that most of the big donations come from private organizations, not the government.

This matters because just in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties alone, the housing crisis is prevalent.

San Mateo county:

Between 2010 and 2019, nearly 11 times more jobs were created than housing units

In order to afford an average two-bedroom housing unit in San Mateo County, renters need to earn about $51 per hour, which is more than three times the county's minimum wage, which is $15.62 per hour

Has the highest income inequality in the state

The top 5% of households make $810,000 or more per year, while the lowest 20% make $20,000 or less

Santa Clara county:

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) annual report shows that the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara region is the second most expensive in the country (Not surprisingly, San Francisco ranks first)

More than 7,000 people are living outside on any given night in neighborhoods throughout Santa Clara County

So, what does HIF do specifically? Their operations are divided into three categories:

Emergency Housing Fund

This program is focused on offering relief after unforeseen and temporary financial setbacks. These unexpected circumstances can include medical bills, job loss, or a death in the family.

Applications are accepted from community members. HIF also works with partner agencies to provide these funds. These agencies provide initial screening and supportive services for those that demonstrate a need and ability to utilize the emergency housing grants. These funds, up to $2,500, are often granted within two weeks of request, and can be used for rent, security deposit, or utilities. HIF granted over $900,000 to help prevent more than 500 families from being homeless in 2020.

Processing these applications is one of the crucial parts of my mother’s job.

See Clip #2

Affordable Housing Initiative

This program is centered on the need to support working families that educate our children and provide services to the community. This program is for those “in between”: people who earn too much to qualify for assistance, but still are not stably housed.

Within HIF’s extensive network of landlords and property management companies, they match qualified applicants from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to affordable housing at up to 50% below market rates for up to three years. These are people in the education, non-profit and other community-based sectors who fall in the 50-80% of Average Median Income (AMI).

See Video #1

Renovation Program

HIF assists non-profit agencies in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties that provide permanent, transitional and temporary housing and safe environments for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness. At no cost to grantees, HIF carries out small and large-scale renovations so that these grantees can focus more on their clients and communities that they serve. This significantly impacts these agencies’ bottom line, so that they can focus on what matters more.

Among those supported by the Renovation Program include facilities serving homeless veterans, men and women in recovery, victims of domestic violence, seniors, foster youth, and families.

See Video #2

Impact

“We all have suffered the impact of the pandemic. Our lives changed drastically.

When HIF covered our rent for the month of November, it was our Christmas gift. My parents are elderly, and my father had a heart attack two years ago. He recovered but he suffers from glaucoma, osteoporosis and cancer on the bones. They are both retired but their income is not enough. Thanks to the extraordinary help from HIF we were able to buy groceries for the entire family. Also our late bills. I have no words to express the gratitude to HIF for covering our rent of the month of November.

You have no idea how much HIF helped us through these difficult times. HIF helped my daughter and family with the rent for the month of January.

I feel like crying when I think of the awesome help from HIF The way they impacted our lives for the best. There are no words to express my gratitude. Thank you, thank you HIF. You have my gratitude forever.”

Maitri’s Anjali Transitional House

Caminar: Outdoor Garden

Conclusion

After analyzing Housing Industry Foundation, it is clear that non-profit organizations like them have a huge role in helping solve the homelessness crisis. They take on the problem from three different angles, and clearly make an impact on people in the community. They try to focus on the people and the stories, not just the statistics.

It is significant how a lot of the donations and support comes from property owners who are trying to do their part. Even though they can look like the bad guys who charge rent, they are trying to offer rent discounts and discounted units.

A few more pointers from the interview with Arlene:

Section 8 vouchers from the government act like a coupon for discounted rent and housing. But, it’s really hard for people to get this because people are on waitlists.

“I find fulfillment in working for a non-profit and just having purpose. Even though I’m stressed, when I send out that check, I feel like it’s helping. It’s helping a family with a rent check.”

Overall, non-profit organizations like HIF have their strengths and weaknesses. As a strength, they really fight for solutions to problems. For example, results can be seen in how 500 families received emergency grants in 2020. However, the weakness is that this is only the start. Because HIF is such a small non-profit (2-10 employees), they are only able to reach a small percentage of people, at their best. In fact, out of the 2,466,019 households in the Bay Area, 500 is a mere .02%.

I have witnessed how hard my mother and her organization work. So, imagine a world where there are many more organizations like HIF, receiving more help not just from private organizations, but from the government as well.

HIF hopes to spread and increase their impact in the Bay Area and beyond.

Works Cited

Special thanks to Arlene Marcos for the interview!

“The Challenge.” The Challenge - The Housing Ready Community's Toolkit - County of Santa

Clara, https://housingtoolkit.sccgov.org/challenge.

“Housing Industry Foundation: Give Back. Give Forward.” Housing Industry Foundation,

https://www.hifinfo.org/.

Nagel, Terry. “Why Does San Mateo County Have a Housing Shortage?”

Burlingame-Hillsborough, CA Patch, Patch, 8 Nov. 2021, https://patch.com/california/burlingame-hillsborough/why-does-san-mateo-county-have-housing-shortage.

Pérez, Omar. “San Jose Is 2nd Most Expensive Area to Rent in U.S., New Report Reveals.”

KRON4, KRON4, 17 July 2021, https://www.kron4.com/news/real-estate/san-jose-is-2nd-most-expensive-area-to-rent-in-u-s-new-report-reveals/.

“Tackling the Bay Area Housing Crisis, Now Compounded by Covid-19.” Tackling the Bay Area

Housing Crisis, Now Compounded by COVID-19 | The Heller School at Brandeis University, https://heller.brandeis.edu/mpp/careers/tracy-choi-profile.html.

[citiesandslums]

Why Making Housing a Human Right Could Solve Homelessness in the United States

by Marcus Bradlee

In 2017, United Nations Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha came to the Bay Area to investigate potential human rights violations related to the homelessness crisis. After witnessing the homeless encampments in San Francisco and Oakland, she created a final report to present to the UN. Her final report stated that the conditions of the unhoused citizens were “cruel and inhuman.” Farha observed several human rights violations, including denial of access to water, sanitation and health services, and other basic necessities. She also believes that the fact that they are unhoused is a human rights violation in itself; Farha sees housing as a human right rather than a commodity. In the past, she has called out the Bay Area for not providing enough affordable housing. This visit from Farha should have been a huge wake up call for the Bay Area and the United States. This country has clearly been neglecting this homelessness crisis and not dealing with it at a national level. The United States certainly has the resources to significantly diminish the homeless population, and at the very least uphold basic human rights for its citizens. In fact, if this issue continues to get worse, the problem of managing homelessness will cost a ton of money, money which could be used to help eradicate the issue. If the United States were to officially make adequate housing a human right, it would put the country on the right track towards eliminating homelessness.

Isn’t housing already considered a human right?

In 1948, the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was the first international agreement on the basic principles of human rights, and would become part of the International Bill of Human Rights. It would serve as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations, and it was created to universally protect human rights. Article 25 of the UDHR states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” The UN also has documentation which specifies in depth what adequate housing means, including protection against forced evictions, the right to choose one’s residence, and equal and non-discriminatory access.

Even though adequate standards of living and the stipulations of the right to housing are explicitly included in the UDHR, the fact remains that it is only a declaration, and at most they serve as guidelines or suggestions for countries to uphold in order to protect human rights. The International Bill of Human Rights is in no way legally binding to any of the members of the United Nations, therefore in the case of a human’s right to housing, no country is legally obligated to build or provide adequate housing to those who wish to claim it. This is why in the United States, there is no right to shelter, with the exception of emergency housing in California, Massachusetts, and New York. Even in these states, it is more likely for families to receive this emergency housing rather than long-term homeless people.

How would making housing a human right affect the current homelessness crisis?

Since 2008, Finland’s homelessness policy has been based on its Housing First approach. Finland’s constitution includes a right to accommodation if life or health is in danger without arranged accommodation. Unlike other countries, Finland believes in providing each homeless person with permanent housing, accompanied by individually tailored health and support services. Before 2008, Finland, like many other countries, followed the “staircase” approach, in which unhoused people have to achieve several rehabilitation milestones before they are qualified to be given permanent housing.

Starting in 2008, Finland devised an action plan which sought to eradicate homelessness entirely once complete. For the 7 years, Finland would focus their efforts on eradicating long term homelessness, meaning they would be targeting people who have been unhoused for more than one year and unhouse people dealing with physical or mental disabilities. Beginning in 2016, Finland would then turn its focus on preventative measures, ensuring that the rate of homelessness would no longer be increasing. Finally in 2020, Finland could begin working towards eradicating homelessness entirely, and they plan to do so by 2025. Because of their robust plan of action and complete dedication to the homelessness issue, Finland is the only country in the European Union with a declining rate of homelessness.

What would it look like in the US?

To put it simply, the United States would need to amend its constitution to include the right to housing. On paper, this does not seem like it would be a complicated thing to do. The framework already exists as part of the UDHR, and can be used to inspire amendments and ratifications which make this human right official; human rights should be human rights. Not only is the right to adequate a human right, but access to social services and health services are directly related to the issue of housing. As it was discovered in Finland, a huge part of dissolving the long term homeless population involved providing individually tailored health and support services to those in need. This was a huge part of the Housing First approach, where Housing First also included health care and other support.

In terms of providing the actual permanent residences for citizens, new construction is almost necessary. In Finland, old hostels were converted into permanent housing for previously unhoused people, but construction is still necessary to accommodate everyone. Converting old buildings into permanent housing is a great way to save money, and could be especially effective considering the number of vacant lots appearing after the pandemic. Because the UDHR or the International Bill of Human Rights does not obligate a country to provide housing, once it is amended into the constitution, it will become a responsibility for the government to uphold the constitutional amendment.

This process will obviously come at a cost, however managing homelessness will come at a much greater cost in the long run as opposed to dedicating resources and not having to worry about homelessness continuing to escalate. If homelessness is on the rise, so will the cost to manage it.

Conclusion: should the United States officially adopt housing as a human right?

Adopting housing as a human right by amending the constitution will force the United States government to maintain their responsibility to protect human rights within the country. The main issue with this is the need for housing and cooperation within the government. A change like this would take a lot of work, especially considering that the United States has yet to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the Equality Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their gender or sexuality. It is also extremely hard to build affordable housing. Aside from the extremely specific zoning laws and the miles of bureaucratic red tape, the political divide alone, like NIMBY vs YIMBY, makes affordable housing a tough sell. And of course as we saw with Finland, there would also need to be robust social support services and health services available. I do believe that a constitutional amendment could turn things around, but right now it might not be the most realistic solution.

Works Cited

Beckhardt, Molly, et al. “Housing Is a Human Right. It Should Not Be Predicated on the Money in One's Pocket.” The Appeal, https://theappeal.org/housing-is-a-human-right/.

Bendix, Aria. “UN Report: San Francisco's 'Cruel and Inhuman' Homelessness Crisis Is a Human Rights Violation.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Oct. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-homelessness-cruel-un-human-rights-report-2018-10.

“Eradicating Homelessness in Finland: The Housing First Programme.” Centre For Public Impact (CPI), https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/eradicating-homelessness-finland-housing-first-programme.

Iotkovska, Svilena. “Helsinki Seeks to Eradicate Homelessness by 2025.” TheMayor, TheMayor, 14 Oct. 2021, https://www.themayor.eu/en/a/view/helsinki-seeks-to-eradicate-homelessness-by-2025-9115.

Kumar, Raksha. “If Housing Is a Human Right, Why Can't Everyone Claim It?” The Correspondent, 11 Sept. 2020, https://thecorrespondent.com/681/if-housing-is-a-human-right-why-cant-everyone-claim-it/90090721248-39f7f226.

Maclean, Chelsea. “California's 2021 Housing Laws: What You Need to Know: Insights.” Holland & Knight, https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2020/09/californias-2021-housing-laws-what-you-need-to-know.

The Right to Adequate Housing - OHCHR. United Nations, https://ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FS21_rev_1_Housing_en.pdf.

Rosalsky, Greg. “How California Homelessness Became a Crisis.” NPR, NPR, 8 June 2021, https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/06/08/1003982733/squalor-behind-the-golden-gate-confronting-californias-homelessness-crisis.

“U.S. Finally Ratifies Human Rights Covenant.” The Carter Center, https://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc1369.html.

“Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” United Nations, United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.

[citiesandslums]

Reparations: Shaping the Future of the Housing Crisis

Just last month, The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, released a report on the cultured streets of San Francisco. 

The United Nations advisor witnessed an inhuman housing crisis, writing in his report that discrimination, “continues to be one of the most pervasive and persistent barriers to the fulfillment of the right of adequate housing.” In the Bay Area, Mr. Rajagopal found that racial and ethnic groups and minorities are especially impacted by discrimination in the housing market.

In spite of recent movements towards racial justice, discrimination has been ingrained in American society for generations. The Orange County Register reported that Black homeownership in San Francisco was 34.9% compared to 60.1% in white homeownership, a direct result of the city’s history of excluding minorities from policymaking. 

EXPLORE: Redlining & Eviction maps of San Francisco

Bishop Henry Williams of Oakland’s Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church has been a major component in the Bay Area’s fight for racial justice. Williams believes reparations would not only recognize the damage done through means of slavery, redlining, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration, but they would be the first step in repairing the various injuries sustained by the African American community.

A new bill, H.R. 40, was brought to the attention of the 116th Congress of the United States of America in 2019, and sought to “identify the lingering negative effects of slavery” on modern BIPOC populations. 

Many activists expressed their opinions on the bill at the hearing, including Ta-Nehisi Coates, an influential author who has written award-winning novels on the black struggle in America.

Coates delivered an emotive and striking speech directed at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, exclaiming that, “The matter of reparations is one of making amends and direct redress, but it is also a question of citizenship.”

WATCH: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ opening statement at the House Hearing of H.R. 40

This question of integrity was a direct jab at America’s history of enslavement, leaving it up to the government to right their wrongs. If America does not “reckon with our compounding moral debt”, our nation will remain divided.

The commission’s findings were nothing short of concerning, with the 117th Congress reporting in 2021 that, “(5) following the abolition of slavery the United States Government, at the Federal, State, and local level, continued to perpetuate, condone, and often profit from practices that continued to brutalize and disadvantage African Americans …” This report highlights the shortcomings of America’s duty to all American people.

Despite undeniable evidence of the adverse effects of discrimination on the African American population, there are still some that believe reparations will not help the fight for equal housing.

“I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years -- for whom none of us currently living are responsible -- is a good idea,” Mitch McConnell proclaimed just one day before the House hearing of H.R. 40.

Majority leader McConnell is not alone in his opposition, with politicians such as Bernie Sanders, a major candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination back in 2016, weighing in on the issue. When asked whether he was in favor of redress for slavery, Sanders explained, “No, I don’t think so. First of all, its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil. Second of all, I think it would be very divisive.”

By divisive, Sanders is referring to the selection process of who will receive these funds, as well as the price for restitution, a price that carries the weight of generations of human bondage.

Enough opinions, let’s look at the facts:

After the H.R. 40 report was published, Evanston, Illinois, was the first city to offer reparations to Black residents, “... whose families have felt the effects of decades of discriminatory housing practices.” The funds, redeemable in the form of home loans, come from a 3% tax on legalized marijuana. The city pledged $10 million dollars over the course of a decade, money that will directly aid a solution to their housing crisis.

This approach examined reparations at a local level, opening the door for other cities to experiment.

Asheville, North Carolina, a city constructed on the exploitation of slavery, has since made a commitment to reparations for those impacted by urban displacement. The main exhibit of racial discrimination being the city’s public housing complexes, buildings in which, “Nearly 60% of the residents in public housing are Black, though Black people represent just 12% of the city’s population.”

Asheville may see reparations in the form of land, a plan that Paul R. Mullins, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University, claims could be “transformational”.

“Money is fabulous, nevertheless having property is the basis for community -- it’s the basis for social networks, for business networks,” Mullins explained.

Reparations from the city would give Asheville’s African American community a much-needed boost in their struggle against gentrification. For now, the plan is still under review after an outburst from White residents.

California has passed some of the most progressive policies and programs in recent years. Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor, enacted the nation’s first reparation task force. The committee, comprised of the descendants of those enslaved in America, is responsible for a two-year study that will address the “harms of slavery and systemic racism” on the African American community.

Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, noted that the task force has the chance to “right a historic wrong that continues today”; a wrong highlighted in the fact that Black residents make up only 6% of California’s population, but account for 30% of the nearly 250,000 documented individuals experiencing homelessness.

The task force is working on calculating compensation for slave descendants, compensation that may come in the form of cash payments. State Senator and one of nine members on the team, Steven Bradford, said his idea of reparations, modeled after the GI bill, may have amenities such as “free college and assistance with home-buying”.

If given cash, those that receive funds could utilize them for whatever they deem necessary, including rent and utilities. The compensation is not meant to act as a full repair of damages, but it may be enough to lower evictions and uplift the state’s African American population.

Newsom’s task force intends on setting an example for restitution on a state-level basis, a much-needed step in tackling the national housing crisis.

But what about reparations on a national level? How would a reparations bill be funded?

The Tax Policy Center (TPC) believes taxpayers would pay the ultimate price.

One of the main goals of reparations is to close the racial wealth gap, so it would make sense to tax the wealthy. “Wealth can be taxed in various ways, including increasing capital gains or estate tax rates, taxing unrealized capital gains, or imposing a wealth tax,” the policy center described, with over 97 percent of the wealth tax coming from those with at least $36.2 million in net worth.

The TPC further details, “... a $66,000 one-time reparations payment would increase the net wealth of Black Americans by 160 percent.” This payment would be especially helpful to families with under $20,000 in assets, increasing their financial security by upwards of 4x.

The calculations carried out by the TPC examine the bare minimum, with many economists believing compensation to be much higher.

ABC News says it depends on the economic expert.

Putting a number on national reparations calls for complex algorithms and comprehensive social science, which is exactly what William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen included in their novel “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans”.

Using a number cited in the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances on the gap in mean household wealth (by race), and multiplying that number by the census count of 10 million Black households, Darity and Mullen concluded that the reparations bill would need to be $7.95 trillion dollars, if not more.

That’s $795,000 per affected household!

Numbers like these, when paired with education and financial counseling, could help diminish the 28.1 percentage point difference in Black-white homeownership by 12 percentage points. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, closing this gap could help “as many as 1.0 million Black renters ... buy homes.” Harvard’s study also illustrates that nearly 30% of black renters are behind on housing payments, a statistic that could be diminished by a national reparations program.

For some, reparations may be the difference between a violent eviction or never worrying about housing again. For all, they would serve as an acknowledgment of the nation’s obscene foundation on centuries of discrimination and segregation, healing the wounds of the past and preventing injury in the future.

Regardless, the fight for racial justice is buried in red tape, tape that seems to be covering the eyes of politicians from America’s ignorance.

Works Cited:

A/73/310/Rev.1 - E - A/73/310/Rev.1 -Desktop, www.undocs.org/A/73/310/rev.1.

ABC News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-majority-leader-mitch-mcconnell-slavery-reparations-good/story?id=63792117.

ABC News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/Business/america-owes-reparations-pay/story?id=72863094.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf_2016.htm.

“CFI Segregation.” OHCHR, www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/CFI_Segregation.aspx.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 May 2021, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “Why Is Bernie Sanders Against Reparations?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 27 Jan. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/bernie-sanders-reparations/424602/.

Glover, Julian. “Bay Area Activist Reflects on Decades-Long Fight as CA, SF Explore Reparations for Slavery.” ABC7 San Francisco, KGO-TV, 17 June 2021, abc7news.com/ca-reparations-task-force-california-san-francisco-slavery/10798640/.

Har, Janie. “California Task Force Launches Study of Slave Reparations.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 2 June 2021, apnews.com/article/california-race-and-ethnicity-government-and-politics-19c5c68059a6dd821296ac5fcc24043a.

“How Could the United States Pay for Reparations?” Tax Policy Center, 3 Feb. 2021, www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/how-could-united-states-pay-reparations.

Lansner, Jonathan. “Black Homeownership: Low in California, Even Lower Nationally.” Orange County Register, Orange County Register, 31 May 2021, www.ocregister.com/2021/05/28/homeownership-out-of-reach-for-many-black-americans/.

“Mapping Inequality.” Digital Scholarship Lab, dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=12/37.758/-122.524&city=san-francisco-ca.

Mitchell, Skylar, and Suzanne Malveaux. “Evanston, Illinois, Approves the Country's First Reparations Program for Black Residents.” CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Mar. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/us/reparations-evanston-hr-40-legislation-whats-next/index.html.

Phillip, Abby. “North Carolina City Turns to Reparations to Heal 'a Community Breakdown'.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 July 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/07/24/politics/asheville-reparations-community-breakdown/index.html.

[citiesandslums]

Possible Interventions for Mentally Ill Homeless People

By Paige Avianna Vasquez

Homelessness and Mental Illness have an intertwined relationship. According to a report done by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2015, an estimated 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the U.S., with 25% of this population suffering from a severe mental illness and 45% of this population struggling with mental health and illness less severe. In addition, people who struggle with any type of mental illness are more likely to have poor physical health, more interactions with police, and susceptibility to substance abuse.

No homeless person is the same, and the same goes for mental illness. Someone who has schizophrenia will not have the same needs as someone with bipolar disorder, which is why implementing specialized, long-term mental health services, like Trauma Informed Care or Social Anxiety Centers, etc., is crucial for combating the homelessness and mental health crisis. Long-term interventions with services that include “cognitive and social skill training,” could help provide stability for someone who is homeless with a mental health disorder. This sense of stability seems to be very important in the results of research that has been done about mental illness and homelessness, but it isn't guaranteed due to mental illness not being a constant. Also, there has been difficulty defining what qualifies as mental illness, so determining who can benefit off this program would be another battle, along with actually bringing in mentally ill people into the establishment.

To add onto this, deinstitutionalization plays a major role in the Mental Health/Homelessness conversation. Deinstitutionalization is the act of discharging a (long-term) person from an institution such as mental health facilities or prisons. Deinstitutionalization as a policy was meant to drive people out of mental hospitals into a community, due to beliefs that mental hospitals were inhumane, however, there were no other socio-political institutional changes when it came to mental health or successfully integrating mentally ill people into society, and many communities who faced this new change were underfunded and/or ill-equipped to provide for said people. Additionally, due to several court cases and decisions that define legal limitations on institutionalization, much of the population that suffers from a mental illness were in unstable and ill-fitting environments that led or contributed to their homeless, or has kept them homeless.

People with mental illness also tend to be more at risk to three major factors contributing to homlessness: low income, possible need for specialized housing in an already scarce Affordable Housing market, and “lack” of skills and social aid to help manage their limited resources. While there has been attempts to provide this kind of support, like Community Mental Health Centers and Community Support Programs, the funding for these programs, provided by the federal government of the U.S., was too insufficient to provide any type of long-lasting effects. There are numerous local organizations, NGO’s, and nonprofits that make attempts to help this affected population, but without legal changes and larger amounts of federal and state funding, it is difficult to provide that crucial stability and permanence.

A possibly successful solution to this problem is already out there and with more funding and priority of specialized services, it could provide positive outcomes for mentally ill homeless people either struggling to assimilate back into society after deinstitutionalization or long-term homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has supporting housing programs that are dedicated to promoting supportive housing and assistance to homeless people. Programs like the Moderate Rehabilitation SRO Program, that are geared towards low-income individuals, including those with mental disorders and illnesses, but also have been helpful when it comes to providing stability for homeless people with mental illness as well. Also, enacting more laws that shift focus on prioritizing treatment over complete individual autonomy may also be something consider when addressing plausible solutions. With more funding in the program and more implementation of specialized programs for supporting those with mental illness, this group of people may have a more promising and secure future that decreases their chances of becoming or staying homeless.

When looking at this issue on a global scale, statistics on how many people suffer from a mental illness across the world are differering, but according to the World Health Organization in a 2001 study, approximately 1 and 4 people worldwide have some sort of mental disorder, and in 2017 an estimated 792 million people live with a mental health disorder , which is about 1 in 10 people worldwide. However, this is just estimated data and does not directly reflect diagnosis. The number of homeless people across the globe, as estimated by the UN, is around 100 million and as many as 1.6 billion people globally have insufficient housing. The proper statistics that pertain to how many homeless people across the world are also living with mental illness or disorders have not been published, but when looking at the numbers of what has been published (estimated numbers of homeless people across the globe and those who suffer from mental disorders), is too great to not start taking action immediately. Mental health services, whether it be to those who are housed or to those who are not, should not be a last resort, but should be seen as preventative measures and long-term solutions.

Works Cited

Admin. “Global Homelessness Statistics.” Homeless World Cup, Homeless World Cup, 3 Nov. 2020, https://homelessworldcup.org/homelessness-statistics/.

“Apa Dictionary of Psychology.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, https://dictionary.apa.org/deinstitutionalization.

Dattani, Saloni, et al. “Mental Health.” Our World in Data, 20 Aug. 2021, https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Depression Resulted in a Return ... https://www.bbrfoundation.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/bb_magazine-september2018.pdf.

“Homeless Mentally Ill Facts and Figures.” Mental Illness Policy Org, 23 Jan. 2019, https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html.

“Mental Illness.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.

“Mental Health.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health#tab=tab_1.

Richard. “How Release of Mental Patients Began.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Oct. 1984, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/30/science/how-release-of-mental-patients-began.html.

Searching for Home: Mentally Ill Homeless People in America. https://www.huduser.gov/Periodicals/CITYSCPE/SPISSUE/ch10.pdf.

“Supportive Housing Program: Hud.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).” Supportive Housing Program | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), https://www.hud.gov/hudprograms/supportive-housing.

“Trauma Informed Care.” National Coalition for the Homeless, 7 May 2021, https://nationalhomeless.org/issues/trauma-informed-care/.

[citiesandslums]

How Community Land Trusts are Mounting Resistance to Unaffordable Housing.

Worldwide, community land trusts are developing a revolutionary alternative to lackluster state assistance for those who cannot afford market rate housing. In short, a community land trust is a non-profit entity that can create affordable housing by acquiring land and selling the homes on the trust below market rates. The revolutionary aspect of this model is that it isolates vital housing for low income communities from real estate speculation permanently. The housing market’s tendency to leave marginalized communities behind is one of our nation's most obvious failures and it is more noticeable than ever due to the current housing crisis. In order to combat this, community land trusts could be used to maintain a supply of community-serving affordable homes that can offer residents stability and reduce financial burdens.

What is a Community Land Trust?

A land trust is a legal entity that assumes the management of land at the request of the land owner. In the case of community land trusts however, a community based non-profit organization is both the owner and the management. This means that the land is owned and operated by a community organization for the direct benefit of the community they represent. A CLT is created by an organization by purchasing land with donated funds and leasing it to people who buy a home on the property. The lease for new residents allows full ownership of the house but the land underneath is not included in the sale, this allows the housing price to be dropped by up to 70-75%. The land is occupied under a long term land lease that requires residents to pay a small recurring fee to the organization and imposes a limit on how much the value of the home can appreciate before sale. This ensures that all homes on the land are isolated from the market and remain affordable for low-income buyers. By creating a chain of ownership that does not rely on the appreciation of real estate, a CLT can remove market factors from the housing they provide. 

CLTs Explained

What Can This Do For The Housing Crisis?

This model has much to offer marginalized communities, specifically those who are currently being displaced or have been historically unable to afford the cost of living. In these communities, the possibility of owning a home or even remaining in one for a long period of time has been jeopardized by housing speculation. The CLT model can remove land from this market and turn it into stable housing at a regulated price which is meant to be affordable for a specific community. This means that homes in a CLT are immune to speculation and are far below market rate standards for pricing. This system creates an option for low income residents to not only stay in place but also improve their living standards and financial comfortability. By handing the responsibility of providing housing to a community organization, community leaders can directly ensure current residents have an opportunity to own a home, begin to accrue wealth, and achieve stability without substantial financial burden. 

How Have They Done So Far?

As of 2020, there are 277 CLTs in the United States, over 500 in the United Kingdom, as well as many others that are beginning to sprout throughout Europe, South America, and Africa. The model is definitely gaining popularity, but are the results worth the attention? In my opinion, they absolutely are. Looking at some data gathered from American CLTs proves the potential of the practice.

Firstly, community land trusts have been true to their intention of providing housing for those who have not been able to afford it. 82% of the residents in CLTs are earning less than half of the area’s median income and 79% of residents are first time homeowners. The model has also shown promise in protecting against gentrification-caused displacement; a 2017 Texas A&M study showed a relationship between the presence of CLTs and a reduction in displacement, class turnover, and increasing price. In addition, providing financial stability is a strong suit of CLTs. According to Community Wealth, CLT residents are 10 times less likely to foreclose when compared to traditional housing and in 2010, 82% of homeowners in CLTs that were seriously behind on mortgage payments for the previous year were still able to successfully sell their home or remain in place with the assistance of the financial programs. Overall, it can be seen that the model is effective in its purpose of providing stable housing options to marginalized communities.

Despite its success, there are some challenges to this model’s operation. Funding is the biggest challenge for CLTs, most are funded through government grants or philanthropic donations. In this article on the St. Francis Center, the grant based funding model is revealed as a possible hurdle due to the rapidly changing expenses of running a land trust. However, there is an alternative to traditional funding: the Sogorea Te’ land trust is crowdfunded through a voluntary annual “tax” or donation for occupying native land. This allows for money to be given to the organization in steady increments from many sources which scales up with outreach and visibility. The long term success of this is not yet known, but Sogorea Te’ is still operating at full capacity and could be an example of a sustainable model.

Final Statement.

I believe that community land trusts are an invaluable asset in the fight against housing insecurity for marginalized communities. The results of current CLTs make it clear that creating housing seperate from the market has a clear positive impact on the integrity of community and the stability of low income residents. Displacement, financial burden, and housing insecurity are effectively combated in community land trusts. This model’s influence will continue to provide resistance to predatory housing markets and hopefully more and more success stories will spread its influence to underserved communities nationwide.

-Zachary Sexton

Works Cited

Choi, Myungshik et al. “Can Community Land Trusts Slow Gentrification?” Taylor & Francis, 27 Sept. 2017, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07352166.2017.1362318.

“Community Land Trusts (CLTS).” Community, 26 Oct. 2020, https://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/clts/index.html.

Grounded Solutions. “Community Land Trusts Explained.” Youtube, 19 Feb. 2019, https://youtu.be/iWzmZjym8d4.

Kuka, Andrew. “Community Land Trusts: A Help or Hindrance to Community Development in the United States.” Illinois State Library, 11 Dec. 2015, https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=scced.

Sam. “What Is a Community Land Trust?” Community Land Trust Network, 14 June 2021, https://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/about-clts/what-is-a-community-land-trust-clt/.

Sault, Laurence Du. “One Bay Area Woman's Fight to Keep Families Housed.” The Mercury News, The Mercury News, 23 Feb. 2021, https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/23/one-bay-area-womans-fight-to-keep-families-housed/.

“Sogorea Te' Land Trust.” The Sogorea Te Land Trust, 4 Aug. 2020, https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/.

Thaden, Emily. “Stable Home Ownership in a Turbulent Economy.” LILP, 1 July 2011, https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/working-papers/stable-home-ownership-turbulent-economy. 

Works Referenced

https://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/about-clts/what-is-a-community-land-trust-clt/

https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=scced

https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/working-papers/stable-home-ownership-turbulent-economy

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07352166.2017.1362318?needAccess=true&

https://equityindicators.org/blog/2018/02/26/the-impact-of-community-land-trusts-on-neighborhoods/

https://housingmatters.urban.org/articles/how-community-land-trusts-can-advance-racial-and-economic-justice

https://www.lincolninst.edu/es/news/press-releases/survey-finds-low-foreclosure-rates-community-land-trusts

https://www.lincolninst.edu/sites/default/files/pubfiles/the-community-land-trust-reader-chp.pdf

https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/community-land-trusts 

https://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/clts/index.html

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/23/one-bay-area-womans-fight-to-keep-families-housed/

https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/

[citiesandslums]

How Thinking of Housing as a Human Right Could Solve the Housing Crisis

The United States, the richest country in the world has a massive problem, America has increasingly been unable to house or ensure housing to its citizens. Cities all across the country, and especially on the West Coast, are struggling to solve issues of homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. The problem has been long in the making and will almost certainly continue to get worse as housing prices continue to rise. A solution is needed drastically, and making housing a right, an idea that gained popularity recently, could help in addressing problems with housing and homelessness. Making housing a right would reshape how the United States treats housing, and would be an important component of any solution to the twin crises of unaffordable housing and homelessness.

What Does Making Housing a Right Entail?

When considering how making housing a universal right in America would affect the housing crisis, it is important to know that this concept doesn’t demand that the government “build free housing for the entire population... [instead] it devotes resources and protective measures to prevent homelessness, discrimination and promote permanent stable housing”(Solomon). It forces the U.S. government to focus on funding projects like public housing, voucher programs, incentivizing affordable housing development, rent control programs and many other potential programs(Tars, p.14). Instead of the fragmented, varying approaches being implemented by cities and states, universal housing rights would ensure that the American Legal System and Federal Government would be tasked with ensuring housing for everyone in America. The finances and resources needed to fix the problems of the housing crisis exist right now, the United States has the money, but it is used in other parts of the federal government. A prime example being the U.S. military, and “In 2020 US military expenditure reached an estimated $778 billion, representing an increase of 4.4 per cent over 2019”(Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). It’s about priorities, and if the American population is serious enough to call for the Right to Housing, and actually bring it into law, then the government will listen and reallocate resources from other areas to housing.

History of Housing Rights

The idea of making housing a right might’ve been thought of as radical in some circles even recently, but there is plenty of historical precedent that the United States could use as a sort of blueprint for how the country would realize the concept of universal housing. Take South Africa for example, where “The guarantee of the right to access to adequate housing is found in section 26 of the Constitution, in terms of which  the State is obliged to take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of this right”(South African Human Rights Commission). Other countries have a history of ensuring that all their citizens have access to adequate housing, because it’s a value that widely held across the world, not just in America. However, America does have a history of fighting for housing rights and adequate housing. In fact, decades ago the U.S. government passed the “Housing Act of 1949… which stipulates the ‘realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family’”(Freeman). Obviously the act was passed a long time ago, but many policies for adequate housing have been passed more recently than 1949. This just shows how decent housing remains an ideal that Americans hold, and ensuring housing as a right would help realize that ideal.

Pros and Cons

Supporters of the free market may argue that the problem of the housing crisis is because of there not being enough supply, and that restricting the market more won’t solve the problem of the housing shortage(Shumacher). Giving everyone the right to housing would restrict the market as it gives more power to individuals, in the form of new rights, and the government, which would be enforcing those rights. There is some truth there, the market is restricted already to some degree with programs like rent control, affordable housing, commissioners hesitant to build, and other obstacles. Opening up the market would likely have a positive impact on the number of homes being built, as previous restrictions would be removed. With that being said, the free market has a long history of failing to deliver on the standards that Americans have in regards to decent housing and living conditions. In the mid-1800s, the first tenements were built in New York City to house incoming immigrants, but living conditions were horrible, with little room, sanitation, privacy, ventilation, and many other problems (Encyclopedia.com). It wasn’t until certain laws and regulations were passed, like the 1867 New York State Tenement House Law  or the Housing Act of 1949, that conditions improved for working class people. Making housing a human right is a continuation of all of the progress that has been made in America regarding housing, but there is still so much that needs to be done. The “American polity still views a decent home as a minimal right in America. This is evidenced by the numerous state and local policies that mandate a minimal level of housing” (Freeman). This view has not been shared by the free market ever in the long history that the market had free reign over housing in America.

If Americans still value housing and ensuring housing for everyone, then new policies are needed to realize that goal in a country with enough money to make it happen. Making housing a right would ensure that this American value is represented in the Federal government because they have the most resources to find a solution to the problems of unaffordable housing and homelessness.

Works Cited

“Access to Adequate Housing.” South African Human Rights Commission, https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/focus-areas/access-to-justice-adequate-housing/access-to-adequate-housing#:~:text=The%20right%20of%20access%20to%20adequate%20housing%20is%20provided%20under,may%20be%20evicted%20from%20their.

Freeman, Lance. “America's affordable housing crisis: a contract unfulfilled.” American journal of public health vol. 92,5 (2002): 709-12. doi:10.2105/ajph.92.5.709

Schumacher, Patrick. “Only Capitalism Can Solve the Housing Crisis.” Adam Smith Institute, 25 Apr. 2018, https://www.adamsmith.org/capitalismcansolvethehousingcrisis.

Solomon, Molly. “What Would 'Housing as a Human Right' Look like in California?” KQED, 12 Feb. 2020, https://www.kqed.org/news/11801176/what-would-housing-as-a-human-right-look-like-in-california.

Tars, Eric. National Low Income Housing Coalition, 29 Nov. 2021, https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/AG-2018/Ch01-S06_Housing-Human-Right_2018.pdf.

“Tenements.” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 23 May 2018, https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/art-and-architecture/architecture/tenements.

“World Military Spending Rises to Almost $2 Trillion in 2020.” SIPRI, 26 Apr. 2021, https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2021/world-military-spending-rises-almost-2-trillion-2020. 

[citiesandslums]

Housing Vouchers: Addressing the Affordable Housing Crisis

Housing vouchers are one of many innovative ways in which we can address and tackle our affordable housing crisis, and have a great potential to place more low-income individuals and families in housing.  Though the current housing voucher programs have many shortcomings, these can be remedied through legislative change.

How Section 8 Works

Housing vouchers in America are addressed under Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937.  It authorizes rental payment assistance to landlords to help cover the gap from low-income tenants.  This rental assistance is in the form of a housing voucher, which works like this.  The fair market rent is assessed, and the tenant contributes 30% of their income to paying rent- much lower than the 70% of income that one in Milwaukee four families pay, according to Matthew Desmond’s book, Evicted.  In order to ensure that the landlord makes the amount of money that they charged, the housing voucher covers the remaining money as a subsidy from the government.

The HUD and HCV

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) runs housing voucher distribution, and has the Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) program.  The Housing Choice Voucher program is federally funded and run by a network of more than 2,200 state and local housing agencies.  It helps nearly 2.2 million low-income households pay for modestly priced, decent-quality homes in the private market.  In fact, half of families with vouchers through this program have minor kids! 

Economics of Housing Vouchers

The ultimate goal of housing vouchers is to enable the greatest number of people to get housing, thus increasing the economic demand for affordable housing.  The laws of supply and demand demonstrate that when demand is high, the supply of available housing is lower.  Due to these shortages, the free market adjusts itself and prices for units rise compared to how they were pre-voucher. 

Increased prices aren’t optimal, however, the outcome is not adverse!  Housing will still be more affordable despite the price increase because tenants paying 30% of a higher rent is still better than paying 100% of the lower price.  Many tenants cannot reasonably pay all of their rent, so they end up being homeless or evicted, like so many people in Matthew Desmond’s book, Evicted. 

This market failure is a positive externality because the benefits of tenants being housed outweigh the cost of rising prices.  Staying in a place creates more life opportunities for individual tenants. Children in stable housing are able to go to school without being disrupted, and as we are aware, going to school will increase incomes and life outcomes for these children, and break the cycle of poverty.  As for working adults, consistent housing enables job and economic stability.  That way, even if something goes wrong, adults can have job security and a place to stay, and not have their whole lives be uprooted.  

However, these benefits do not just apply to individuals, but society.  When low-income and high-risk tenants have greater stability in their lives due to consistent housing and the aforementioned resulting security, neighborhoods are improved.  The need to engage in petty crime to survive is no longer an issue, so crime rates reduce and living spaces become safer.  And just like Dorreen from Evicted was the stable cornerstone of her old neighborhood prior to eviction, tenants who receive housing vouchers will become anchors for their communities. 

The specific economics of housing vouchers are outlined in the YouTube video below.  It is from the channel of Edspira- a program that seeks to make business education freely accessible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_pXN3oiirc 

Statistical Benefits of Housing Vouchers

According to Will Fischer of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, housing vouchers "Reduced the number of times that families moved over a five-year period, on average, by close to 40 percent."  Naturally, preventing unnecessary moves creates stability for families, which consequently has the benefits listed previously.  

The Chetty study, conducted by Harvard students, demonstrated that "The intervention increased the fraction of families who moved to high-upward-mobility areas from 14% in the control group to 54% in the treatment group."  Moving to neighborhoods with greater opportunities sets parents and children alike for greater success at breaking the poverty trap. The same study showed that young boys and girls in families that used a voucher to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods were 32 percent more likely to attend college, closed half of the achievement gap, and earned 31 percent more upon graduation.  Housing vouchers clearly provide more than just a home- they can change the course of a child’s life.

Areas of Improvement

A limited supply of affordable rental units in low-poverty, non-racially concentrated neighborhoods is a significant constraint in some cities and counties, and makes it hard to find housing- even for those who have vouchers. The availability is further limited by some landlords not renting to tenants with rental assistance. Additionally, only one in four families eligible for housing vouchers receives them- not nearly enough.

Even Desmond concedes on page 402 of Evicted, “A universal voucher program would not solve all our problems.  Especially in tight markets, vouchers cannot fully shield tenants from rent inflation.” For tenants without vouchers, rent inflation would be incredibly problematic.

Solutions

In order to address these shortcomings, the government should encourage the creation of affordable housing in higher-opportunity areas.  We would need to create extensive legislation protecting those receiving assistance from discrimination by landlords. More effective enforcement of the fair housing rules by HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) would be necessary. We would also need to expand the housing voucher program so more eligible tenants have access to assistance.

No one program could address the affordable housing crisis in all of its entirety. Housing vouchers would be best coupled with other solutions in order to compensate for bureaucratic inefficiencies, market failures, and social costs. A societal change in perception regarding affordable housing would be necessary for maximum potential to be reached.

Works Cited

Desmond, Matthew. 2016. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. New York: Crown.

“Economics of Housing Vouchers.” YouTube, uploaded by Edspira. 29 Jan 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_pXN3oiirc 

Fischer, Will. “Research Shows Housing Vouchers Reduce Hardship and Provide Platform for Long-Term Gains Among Children,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 7 October 2015. https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/research-shows-housing-vouchers-reduce-hardship-and-provide-platform-for-long-term 

Sard, Barbara and Douglas Rice. “Realizing the Housing Voucher Program’s Potential to Enable Families to Move to Better Neighborhoods,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 12 January 2016. https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/realizing-the-housing-voucher-programs-potential-to-enable-families-to-move-to 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet.” HUD.gov / US Department." https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv/about/fact_sheet. 

[citiesandslums]

Why Utilizing Supportive Housing in the Fight Against Homelessness Just Makes Sense

Kyla Rollins

We all know that there is just not one type of person affected by homelessness and eviction. People of color, LGBTQ+ youth, elders, those who suffer with physical disabilities, those who suffer with mental illness, military veterans, and trauma victims are disproportionately affected by the homelessness and eviction crisis. This includes all forms of homelessness as well; according to artfromthestreets.org, episodic homelessness is defined as homelessness that has occurred on three separate occasions within a year, chronic homelessness is defined as homelessness that has lasted for more than a year, transitional homelessness is defined as homelessness that affects a person going through a major change or event in their lives, and hidden homelessness is defined as homelessness that another individual would otherwise not notice (such as couch surfing, sleeping in cars, and/or staying with friends and family).

Specific groups are in need of additional support

For those who suffer specifically with physical disabilities, mental illness, traumatic experiences, and various other vulnerabilities, a stable support system is needed. When these groups are affected by homelessness, however, all forms of stability and support go out the window, often with no sight of when—or if—they will ever return. This is where supportive housing comes in; for these individuals, both affordable housing and adequate support services are needed to maintain stability.

Homelessness can cause distress, which can worsen mental illnesses in those who suffer from it. It can also cause disease to spread faster due to possible undernourishment and a lack of access to hygienic products, which can worsen chronic health conditions in those who have them. It can also be dangerous, which can put large amounts of mental strain on those who are already struggling with traumatic experiences. In all of these groups, the lack of stability can cause such a feeling of helplessness that drug abuse may begin, or be increasingly difficult to end. 

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), support services can mean a plethora of things, such as therapy, medication, service providers, caretakers, and disability life coaches. These services can help those with disabilities keep track of their payments and budgeting as well as their medication schedules, provide integral therapy services, and assign a caretaker to individuals who cannot take care of themselves.

There are several models for supportive housing currently in the works

According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), “there is no single model for supportive housing’s design. Supportive housing may involve the renovation or construction of new housing, set-asides of apartments within privately-owned buildings, or leasing of individual apartments dispersed throughout an area.” There are three main models currently being discussed by the USICH. 

The first of these three is purpose-built or single-site housing, which are apartment buildings designed to house tenants who require support services. To provide immediate and essential services, these support services would be either within or very close to the apartment buildings. The second model is scattered-site housing, which are apartments available for lease to those who are no longer directly affected homelessness, but still require support from staff both at home as well as in various other settings within their community. The third model is unit set-asides, which are apartments that affordable housing landlords lease to tenants who are no longer directly affected homeless but still require support services. These affordable housing landlords are also partnered with special support service providers to offer assistance to any and all tenants that may require it.

Though primarily beneficial to those who require supportive housing, the affordability of supportive housing could possibly result in disadvantages as well

While it is obvious that supportive housing decreases overall homelessness by increasing stability for those who suffer from disabilities and require support services, there are a few more benefits of supportive housing. 

Firstly, because supportive housing falls under the umbrella term of affordable housing, landlords renting to disabled tenants are expected to follow a form of rent control that is put into place to stop the cycle of eviction and homelessness in its tracks. According to homelessstrategy.com, landlords will be unable to charge tenants more than 30% of their total income for housing costs.

As claimed by the USICH, “improves health and lowers public costs by reducing the use of publicly-funded crisis services, including shelters, hospitals, psychiatric centers, jails, and prisons.” This means that supportive services will become even more available, even to those who are not directly housed by supportive housing. This allows for these crisis services to provide care to a larger number of people in need of it.

However, the cap on rent means that all of the known issues of rent control may occur within these apartments. Landlords may be less incentivized to keep the apartments up-to-date due to a lack of adequate maintenance. With current rent control laws mostly applying to housing units built before 1985, this means that the previously mentioned models of supportive housing may end up being old units that undergo conversion to units suitable for those in need of support. This may mean a lack of maintenance when it comes to the general infrastructure, or possible health hazards being present within hidden spaces of the apartments.

Supportive housing helps everyone, not just the homeless

There are benefits for those who are not homeless. As previously mentioned, the use of publicly-funded crisis centers decreases, which lowers the amount of taxpayer money that goes into them. The less people in need of them, the less crisis centers in use, and the less money spent on maintaining them. In addition, supportive housing lowers the rate of violence against disabled homeless individuals, which lowers public violence overall and creates safer neighborhoods and cities. Though less fact based, supportive housing also helps create happier communities. Constant exposure to the suffering of homeless populations has been linked to depression and anxiety in housed populations. Therefore, the housing of homeless populations, especially for those who suffer from mental illnesses, creates a happier community altogether.

Works Cited

Colletti, Joe. “To End Chronic Homelessness in California We Need to Distinguish Permanent Supportive Housing from Affordable Housing.” Homeless and Housing Strategies for California, Urban Initiatives, 16 Jan. 2018, https://homelessstrategy.com/end-chronic-homelessness-california-need-distinguish-permanent-supportive-housing-affordable-housing/.

Dohler, Ehren, et al. “Supportive Housing Helps Vulnerable People Live and Thrive in the Community.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 31 May 2016, https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/supportive-housing-helps-vulnerable-people-live-and-thrive-in-the-community.

Unite, Beth. “The Types of Homelessness.” Art from the Streets, Art from the Streets, 28 Nov. 2019, https://artfromthestreets.org/blogs/news/the-types-of-homelessness.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. “Supportive Housing.” Supportive Housing, USICH, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.usich.gov/solutions/housing/supportive-housing/.

[citiesandslums]

Slums in Cape Town: Covid-19 Edition

By: Shiva Hashtpari

The Slum of Khayelitsha:

Khayelitsha, a well known slum in Cape Town Africa, is one of the top five largest slums in the world, with a population of nearly 400,000. Eugenie Birch defines a slum as a heavily populated place that lacks public services and adequate housing, without the security of tenure. In addition, as we have learned throughout this semester, slums in today’s world are thought of as “ghetto” looking, where poor people live, places with no running water and lack of access to food, and housing with families of multiple children crammed into one room. Around 70% of citizens in Khayelitsha live in shacks and almost 90% of households are severely lacking in food. Just to be able to wash their hands, slum dwellers have to walk to a communal tap and fill up buckets with water to take back to their shacks. With these unfit conditions, the impact of Covid-19 has tremendously affected life for citizens of Khayelitsha.

Effects of Covid-19 on Khayelitsha:

Due to lack of urban planning within the slum, sanitation is not a top priority. According to the head of the Khayelitsha development forum, the sewer system was originally made for a maximum of 250,000 in 1983, and the population has exceeded over 400,000 since 2011. After the first month of Covid-19 hitting Khayelitsha in April, there were more than 1,350 cases and 5 deaths. Once a citizen were to get Covid, there is no place to quarantine since the slum is severely undeveloped and some people don’t even have access to water.

Now, 7 months later in November, Covid cases in Khayelitsha have risen from 78 to 150 in only 7 days. The spread of this virus is extremely hard to be stopped within this slum due to under developed infrastructures and lack of basic resources. In addition, the city of Capetown relies heavily on tourism which also increases the spread of the virus. Tourism is one of the largest money making aspect of Capetown, so without it the city would struggle immensely financially. Trying to stop the spread of a virus during a global pandemic but also maintain economic stability has been one of the largest struggles for Capetown in 2020.

Why is this important within the study of politics?

As we study the quality of life within slums and evaluate how developed or underdeveloped they are, it is extremely important to factor in how a global pandemic will come into effect. The slum of Khayelitsha is just one example of how a single slum within a major city can still be spiking in cases almost a year into this pandemic. With my knowledge of slums after taking this course, I argue that the study of slums within our world lacks knowledge on quality of life in terms of resources, accessibility to these resources, and how those within slums are able to survive day to day, especially within a global pandemic.

Video Footage of Khayelitsha during Covid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYwNFbxxYI4

Research:

“Covid-19 Concern over Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha.” IOL, 30 Nov. 2020, https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/covid-19-concern-over-mitchells-plain-khayelitsha-72e40a57-c9bb-456c-8dd4-6976173cf4e4

Unhabitatglobal. “Eugenie L Birch -Slums and Cities: Past, Present, and Future.” Youtube, Youtube, 22 Apr. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFD7hPJ37Iw&feature=emb_title

“With No Space or Water, Cape Town Slum Has little to Face Coronavirus.” Yahoo! News, Yahoo!, https://news.yahoo.com/no-space-water-cape-town-slum-little-face-152054693.html

Virtual Field trip:

https://youtu.be/SqnIm_OfG1c

Comparing Cities Conversations 1&2:

https://youtu.be/3TCC04-yYWY

[citiesandslums]

How to keep belonging: Success in Barrio Yungay (Santiago, Chile)

Izzie Hallock

Eleonora Pasotti set the stage in her book Resisting Redevelopment: Protest in Aspiring Global Cities when she wrote that government-led redevelopment across the globe is an up-and-coming phenomenon. In fact, over a span of two decades, local governments’ roles in the redevelopment process shift from that of facilitators to initiators. Government-initiated redevelopment fits under the umbrella of urban housing policy, and around the world, appears more and more like “state-led gentrification.” As Pasotti explains, urban redevelopment has “been consequential not only to development and prosperity but also to displacement and social injustice.” Common cases of gentrification and displacement yields a solution to address how communities fight back (Pasotti, pg. 5). With the current climate situated, I will now turn to a neighborhood in Santiago, Chile that has successfully taken on gentrification and displacement and sustained their right to belong within the culture and history they call home. I will look to answer two questions: How did the residents of Barrio Yungay in Santiago, Chile combat gentrification and displacement? To what extent do their strategies exhibit a guide for the rest of the country and beyond?

A Day in the Life of Yungay

Barrio Yungay, in the heart of Santiago, is an example of a neighborhood coming together to resist urban redevelopment. The neighborhood was one of the first residential areas built during the construction of Santiago in the 19th Century, and residents generally range from middle to working class. Yungay, to locals, is the cultural and historical hub of the City and representation of Chilean national pride. After all, the name is from the country’s declared victory in the Battle of Yungay against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation in 1839 (Pasotti, pg. 101-102).

Locals felt this sense of pride– every part of their neighborhood mattered. So, when a project was revealed at a public neighborhood meeting in 2006 that details the municipality’s plans to increase the height requirement of buildings to 20 floors and disqualify certain buildings from the heritage protection list, a local neighborhood group, Vecinos por la Defensa del Barrio Yungay (Residents in Defense of Yungay Neighborhood), knew they needed to act quickly. The City did not even think to include the residents of Yungay in their plan to essentially restructure and reorganize their way of life. The neighborhood’s very identity was under attack, and this is exactly how the group responded. Residents in Defense of Yungay Neighborhood became the representation of “belonging, participating, and a shared barrio” (Pasotti, pg. 105-106).

Effective Strategy

Yungay was battling a war against gentrification and displacement of natives that had lived in the neighborhood for decades. What the group did was use the strategy of Heritage Preservation to kill two birds with one stone. Not only was the neighborhood’s historic and cultural architecture protected, but the tenants that dwelled and flourished within the walls of Chilean history were protected as well. The neighborhood group opened its doors to any and all participants ranging from unskilled workers to restaurant owners to artists. They made sure that every voice was heard and represented in their goals of protecting the history and culture of their streets (Pasotti, pg. 106).

What made the group successful was their reliance on the four categories of experiential tools: events, archives, tours, and performances. These tools were the glue that binded diverse members of the Yungay community that would not have necessarily connected otherwise. The festivals, dances, concerts, meetings among others are few examples of experiential tools at work. The tools provided a space of shared experience and an opportunity to participate with one another in unity (Pasotti, pg. 106-108).

In addition to creative use of experiential tools, the neighborhood association also relied and pushed for an extensive, strong networking system.  The Yungay group engaged in dense networking and worked with cultural institutions throughout the neighborhood– museums, foundations, artists, and other movements. The association then looked to expand regionally to different neighborhoods forming hermaniamentos, or brotherhood with other neighborhood groups throughout Santiago (Bellavista, Matt Sur, Colina etc). After neighborhood and regional networking, the association linked with international connections. They were recognized by surrounding countries– Argentina, Uruguay, Columbia (Pasotti, pg. 108-109). The association looked to win over and lobby support from local and regional politicians, as well as national politicians. A main networking target that the group was able to obtain were members within the Ministry of Culture. Supportive politicians would then make appearances at festivals and other events only boosting the association’s presence in the media (Pasotti, pg. 110).

Results?

Ultimately, from the priority of togetherness in the fight against displacement and historical, cultural demolition emerged a grassroots organization dedicated to eradicating eachother’s struggles as if it is their own. The results of the campaign reveal how pursuing the route of heritage preservation through experiential tools and networking prevents the uprooting and destruction of a neighborhood in a city that continues to increase its impact on the global stage. The neighborhood association’s efforts won the Barrio of Yungay protection in 2009 for 113 hectares with declared Zona Tipica, or heritage area, status. Fast forward to 20018, the neighborhood won an additional 117 hectares of land with their current total at 230 hectares. Specific buildings were also granted status as a national monument for extra protection (Pasotti, pg. 111). In 2009, the Chilean Association of Neighbors and Barrio Organizations and Heritage Areas was founded for the sole purpose of nationalizing the fight that Yungay’s neighborhood association succeeded in. Heritage Preservation is now a national issue and one in which regions are fighting side-by-side together (Pasotti, pg. 109). Heritage Preservation got the job done in Yungay, and will continue to be the driving force across Santiago in the future.

Heritage Preservation: A strategy to protect a community’s right to the city and to belong

By using Heritage Preservation, the Yungay community was able to claim their right to the city and their right to belong simultaneously. David Harvey explains this right in Right to the City as being something more than just the right to the resources that the City has to offer. It is the right to “change ourselves by changing the city.” The right to city is more like a common in that it relies on “collective power to reshape the processes of urbanization.” This is what the neighbors of Yungay were fighting for– a seat at the table. Their lives matter. Their culture and heritage matter. Their history matters. An independent force should not be able to come in and dictate what can and can not happen within the future development of their neighborhood, and that is why they stood up in solidarity, in power. The Yungay community demanded that their neighborhoods reflect their identities, and by initiating a campaign fighting for the soul of their backyards, they accomplished just that. These individuals reclaimed their right to the city,– their voice to stand up and successfully protest and protect what is rightfully theirs’. The people of Yungay acquired power and control to preserve their neighborhood, or as Harvey would describe it “democratizing the urbanization process” (Harvey). Building off of Harvey’s definition of the right to city is Margaret Kohn in The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth. The City, in the eyes of Kohn, should be a commonwealth, or a concentration of value created by past generations and current residents. In addition to having the right to advocate and change the City to fit the people’s needs, residents should also have the right to “enjoyment and co-determination of the commonwealth of the city.” Residents should have the right to enjoy the City and derive value from its amenities, culture, history, and overall quality of life. Through the battle of Heritage Preservation, residents of Barrio Yungay secured a community that embraces its culture and history, because the residents wanted it. They demanded it. The goals of the neighborhood association was to bring the community together via a common goal, and this reflects Kohn’s vision of a City as a commonwealth that encourages solidarity and togetherness in achieving a shared vision (Kohn).

Why Does This All Matter?

The case of Yungay exhibits an example of how a neighborhood can successfully resist urban redevelopment in the age of increasing gentrification and displacement. Through experiential tools and networking a local neighborhood association was able to divert the threat proposed to restructure and redevelop their history, culture, and way of life. Residents in Defense of Yungay Neighborhood illustrate the importance of grassroots organizing in action and how a bottom-up approach to development is possible. It is the way to secure and reclaim land, as well as culture, identity, and history, while at the same time, protecting the very individuals that enrich such pillars of value. What the neighborhood association was able to accomplish in Yungay is a tactic that can and should be applied to different barrios across Santiago. The City has a rich history and embedded culture within the very fabric of society. With this strategy in mind, residents across Santiago can secure land and their right to stay in their homes. It does not have to stop with Santiago only. Heritage Preservation is one strategy that answers the question other communities and cities across the globe are struggling to answer– how do we keep belonging in society?

Resources

Resisting Redevelopment: Protest in Aspiring Global Cities Ch. 1 & 5 (Eleonora Pasotti)

The Right to the City (David Harvey)

The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth (Margaret Kohn)

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/chile/articles/spotlight-barrio-yungay-santiagos-vibrant-neighborhood-on-the-rise/

https://participedia.net/organization/4884

Link to Adobe Spark version (with videos): https://spark.adobe.com/page/7HGr161SLoz7A/

[citiesandslums]

Is rapid urbanization in Istanbul the main cause of migration and displacement?

Francis Ruano 

Istanbul is a city going through significant urban transformation. Through worldwide venture and legislative mediation, the city is building new mass lodging ventures, focal business locales, mega-infrastructure, and memorable renewal  zones. Somewhere in the range from 1950 and 2000, the city has populated by an average of 4.5% yearly. The city has been the favored objective not just by enormous quantities of low skilled rural migrants who look for work in different casual areas, yet additionally by capital proprietors searching for a large scale cheap labor source and a broad local market (Geymen 24). Plus, Istanbul gives a generally settled fundamental framework (for example transportation and administrations) compared to the remainder of Turkey. Given the size of the development, neither nearby nor the focal governments have demonstrated ability of controlling the flood of migration,  most of which settled illegally on public land creating low quality, low cost housing, and industrial environments. The greater part of these settlements do not have the essential sewerage services, and a critical bit of which are on the significant water resource basins.  Today, the Municipality of Istanbul not only has to cope with the infrastructure problems, yet additionally needs to discover methods of taking care of the issue of illicit occupations of public terrains and water asset bowls (29). The main reason for the high rate of migration to this region is the location of Istanbul - Turkey's greatest public and worldwide business and creation focus - in this district. Regardless of the appeal of this area, there is a high pace of out-movement (16.96%) additionally which is normal in huge urban areas. The Housing Development Administration (TOKI), an administration office initially shaped to explain the lodging deficiency of an agricultural country, presently cooperates with worldwide financial specialists and private engineers on various ventures all through Istanbul and Turkey. Streamlining the projects, TOKI goes about as the organizer, controller, proprietor—and sometimes—contractor. When a region is scheduled for redevelopment the nearby occupants have minimal legitimate response. The land is procured through seizure, and the occupants are removed under an ongoing law ordering the surrender of proprietorship and residency. Urban advancement has caused the dispossession, relocation and marginalization of the occupants of Istanbul's downtown and previous shantytowns. New lodging alternatives are being offered to the dislodged inhabitants, yet those new ventures are found in excess of 20 km from the city. They are small and unreasonably expensive. As the circumstance advances, the social results of TOKI's change of Istanbul and Turkey stays hazy. For instance in Slums Pavellas and Urban Cities reading, the author mentions that the government's approach is always to “Demolish, resettle and integrate but they only target the poor. This policy targeted three kinds of districts for redevelopment: old industrial areas, old residential neighborhoods, and urban villages. It explicitly encouraged private develop-ers to participate in urban village redevelopment. Developers could take charge of demolition, com-pensation, and resettlement; in return, they would be given the right to develop the sites of cleared urban villages”(Ren 2020).  Essentially what the APK does (current party in office).  In addition in Living In Politics in South Africa's Urban Shackland, the author states that “they are similar in having residents basically sign away their rights in language that is deceiving to the owner due to lack of (usual) education and or literate ect… they also explained that those who were displaced used their belongings to form livable spaces with their personal items that were essentially evicted when they were stripe from their home. “Providing stable homes” were tents labelled section 1” (Chance 2017). Which inevitably is what some displaced families or individuals have to do, build informal living environments due to the mass amount of migration and displacement within the city of Istanbul. As referenced in my virtual field trip with a large portion of the development having occurred since the 1980s , when just 4,000,000 individuals lived in the city. Istanbul has been a significant movement center point, both for inner transients generally from southern and eastern Turkey and the Black Sea locale, just as customary and unpredictable travelers and displaced people from Iran and Iraq, the Balkans, and progressively likewise from sub-Saharan and Western Africa. Istanbul likewise fills in as a significant travel city, where numerous transients stop to bring in cash to proceed with their excursion. Numerous foreigners and locals, additionally talk about the dynamism of Istanbul's variety, especially comparable to monetary chances. Businesses such as call centers, second hand furniture stores, laundry services, real estate offices, international shipping companies, ethnic restaurants and hairdressers are all proliferating, not only due to the diversity but also the density of the population and high turnover rate. Numerous thus are infor-mal strategic approaches, which offers openings for work for undocumented transients (Küçükcan 148). The City of Istanbul comprises 39 regions run by privately chosen committee and locale chairmen. Inside the city there is an assortment of blended areas, going from privileged  locations to more metropolitan territories that have as of late been created in regions of lower class individuals which is the reason they are so near each other. For instance when I looked at two different neighborhoods in my virtual field trip, one upscale neighborhood and the different was viewed as “slum” zones. Beginning with the Moda Neighborhood, one of the upper scale territories in Istanbul. Moda is without a doubt one of the most current, agreeable, serene and acculturated areas of Istanbul. Because of its focal area, various helpful public transportation connections and interesting climate it is the most loved spot for neighborhood financial specialists for both high rental yield and appreciation in worth. Moda's exceptional characteristics place it on top of the Istanbul land market. The most important reason is the unending interest from the neighborhood market and expats because of the way of life it offers. Contrasted with the Gazi Neighborhood, which is viewed as a "ghetto" to the inhabitants in istanbul. Neighborhoods like Gazi, alluded to by radicals as "freed zones," have since quite a while ago worked as semi-self-ruling regions.  Now, they appear to be dominated by gangs. Indeed, this is one of the components of urban transformation. Whenever they have become "marginal neighborhoods," the territories are coercively incorporated into standard society. Urban transformation efforts have devastated a portion of Istanbul's areas. Through the research, knowledge and resources I achieved all through the semester, I was able  to reach the conclusion that urbanization is the primary driver of displacement and migration inside and around the city of Istanbul.

Sources:

Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu & Abdurrahman Geymen. “The Spatial Impacts of     Rapid Urbanization on the Limited Surface Water Resources in Istanbul, by Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu; Abdurrahman Geymen.” ERSA Conference Papers, European Regional Science Association, 2 Feb. 2006, ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa06p740.html.

Pulitzercenter. “Istanbul: Housing for the Displaced.” Pulitzer Center, 11 Jan. 2017, pulitzercenter.org/projects/turkey-istanbul-housing-displaced-urban-development-TOKI.

Küçükcan,Insightturkey.com. “Elections and Turkish Democracy.” Insight Turkey, Insightturkey.com, 25 Apr. 2014, www.insightturkey.com/issues/2014/16/2.

Chance, Kerry Ryan. “‎Living Politics in South Africa's Urban Shacklands.” Apple Books, University of Chicago Press, 5 June 2018, books.apple.com/us/book/living-politics-in-south-africas-urban-shacklands/id1390683596.

Virtual Field-trip 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1g-utMvZl5x9sFSSuAcQ5VaVT90jKmd2y7oNtSslAFkQ/edit?usp=sharing

Comparing Cities Conversations 1 & 2

https://youtu.be/Fa0o3XYcO8Y

https://youtu.be/gD-Df0B6AOg

[citiesandslums]

Why is the privilege of maintaining ethnoburbs and ethnic heritage only a privilege of few populations in Tel Aviv?

Kallie Barrie

Tel Aviv is an interesting place through the scope of urban development. Originally started as a colony for those of Jewish faith fleeing religious persecution in their homeland, the location of the birthplace of humanity and religion became the religious safe place of the ethnically Jewish identified person. This is now rooted in turmoil over ethnic divisions of identity, zionism, and unlawful occupation of land. When Tel Aviv was first founded in 1920 as a place for European Jewish populations mainly of the middle class fleeing from Germany, different ethnic identities laid claim to different neighborhoods, creating the different ethnoburbs of Tel Aviv. This resulted in different areas having vastly different cultures primarily falling under the umbrella of Judaism. Overall I will be focusing on 9 different ethnoburbs, as depicted in the map below (all except HaYarkon which is primarily suburban), in attempts to provide answers to why different ethnoburbs are able to further develop and maintain ethnic identity while some are forced to sacrifice ethnic identity in order to develop in current Tel Aviv.

As said by Izhak Schnell & Yoav Benjamini in regards to the different ethnoburbs in Tel Aviv, “ These groups are divided along national, ethnic, religious and ideological cleavages; which derive from ethnic roots, wide-ranging cultural differences or fierce ideological public debate”. Meaning that different neighborhoods were originally divided by Jewish ideology. This is briefly described as follows: The Sarona neighborhood originated as and still remains a German Templar colony; The White City is based in Weimar Germany and maintains cultural identity through bauhaus architecture; Kerem Hateimanim is one of Tel Aviv’s oldest cities and was founded as a Yemenite quarter; Neve Shaanan was founded as a ‘cultural melting pot’ for Jewish immigrants who didn’t fit in the sub cultures of already defined neighborhoods; Neve Tsedek was one of the first exclusively Jewish neighborhoods in Tel Aviv proper prior to mass immigration, and now is gentrified for wealthier occupation of land no longer acting as a cultural hub; Florentin originally acted as an immigration hub for those from North Africa, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Bukhara but these communities have now been displaced; Hatikva which is the marketplace neighborhood originally full of diverse culture and foods, but now Yemeni, Iraqi, and Moraccan populations are slowly beginning to be pushed out; and finally the Old Jaffa neighborhood, which is primarily Arab populated and one of the few neighborhoods significantly not populated by those of Jewish lineage. In attempts of urban renewal Old Jaffa is trying to be reclaimed under the guise of faith restoration and protection resulting in an attempt to push out and evict Arab populations.

More information on different neighborhoods can be found here: https://youtu.be/Fa7FL4fwkfY

According to research, this battle of who has the right to preservation of ethnoburbs and heritage depends on three differing Zionist values. As seen with the Neo-Zionist alliance, a “particularistic Jewish communal solidarity that includes all Jewish groups regardless of their ethnic origin and firmly excludes non-Jews,” is promototed and, “they seek to extend the territorial frontiers into the Biblical territories that define national identity,” this explains why neighborhoods such as Old Jaffa are included in urban development plans under the guise of urban renewal in attempt to evict and relocate Arab populations to maintain preservation of Jewish faith (Schnell, 2002; Newman, 2001). The Neo-Zionist alliance places all Jewish identities over non-Jewish identities and can be used to explain the occupation of Palestein for holy land and the preservation of ethnoburbs and degradation of ethnoburbs suchs as Old Jaffa, Florentin, Neve Tsedek, and Hatikva that are not created based in Jewish faith. The second is the late and post Zionist alliance which, “upholds the supremacy of a civil consumerist society favouring neoliberal values. This society seeks to be part of a globalizing world, and at home is willing to recognize marginal groups separate identities under its hegemony, including non-Jews” (Schnell, 2001; 2003; Newman, 2001). This view of Zionism explains why neighborhoods such as City Center and Neve Sha'anan are allowed to continue existing as cultural melting pots and allow space for non-Jewish immigration into this other culturally homogenous city. The conflicts between these two groups in views of city improvement is what results in housing plans that could be inclusive to everyone in regards to access but exclude lower income communities which are primarily those not of Jewish faith and not a Jewish ethnoburb. This conflict is also what creates the degradation of certain ethnoburbs like Florentin, that existed for lower income Jewish immigrants, but no longer serves that purpose due to its gentrification. The final value is consitituted of different resiting groups creating a Zionist Resistance, those who were, “formerly marginalized ethnic groups who were forced out of the melting pot during the sixties and the seventies. Their resistance to the socio-economic consequences of globalization further fuels their tendency to fragment Israeli society into ethnic sectors'' (Peled, 1992; Ram, 1999). This final value explains why Israeli society is so separated, and why these ethnoburbs hold such significance and power. Those who were in a position of privilege to maintain their ethnoburb in the 60’s and 70’s when integration and immigration were priorities of the Israeli government, continue to hold power in housing plans and the process of urban development and allow maintenance and upkeep of their ethnic heritage and the persistence and further creation of certain ethnoburbs.

The strong divisions in Tel Aviv surrounding who is allowed preservation of ethnoburbs and distribution of city funds to preserve, degrade, or create ethnoburbs is a complex problem. It can essentially be boiled down to the existence of three differing Zionist values; one being that of Neo-Zionism, one of Post-Zionism, and a third of formerly marginalized ethnic groups creating a Zionist resistance. With this considered, up to 60% of Tel Aviv residents represent a nationalist attitude which excludes none-Jews from the national collective, the vast majority of them (54 percent of the total sample) marginalizing at least some of the Jewish groups either through ethnicity or religion (Izhak Schnell & Yoav Benjamin, 2004). Israel as a whole is a deeply divided society with many conflicts regarding who has the right to faith, ethnic heritage of land, and who has right to the land in general in regards to the occupation of Palestine. With 60% of those surveyed excluding non-Jews from the right to access land in Tel Aviv in the 2004 study by Izhak Schnell & Yoav Benjamini, it is no wonder why the privilege of maintaining ethnoburbs and ethnic heritage is only a privilege of few.

Comparing Cities Conversations 1&2

https://youtu.be/Fa0o3XYcO8Y

https://youtu.be/FjisU43WaX8

Virtual City Tour 

https://youtu.be/Fa7FL4fwkfY

Sources: 

Newman, D., 2001: From National To Post-National Territorial Identities In Israel-Pales- tine. Geojournal, 7-23

Peled, Y., 1992: Ethnic Democracy And The Legal Construction Of Citizenship: Arab Citizens Of The Jewish State. American Political Science Review, 86,2, 432-443.

Ram, U., 1999: Between arms and Economy: Israel in the Glocal Era. Israeli Sociology, 2,2. 99-145.

Schnell, I., & Benjamini, Y. (2004). Ethnic Segregation in Tel Aviv Jaffa. Retrieved 2020, from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/186958178.pdf

Image:

Neighborhoods. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2020, from https://visit.tel-aviv.gov.il/info/Areas

[citiesandslums]

DUBAI’S GOALS OF BECOMING A SUSTAINABLE CITY: FANTASY OR REALITY?

By: Emma Hunter

INTRODUCTION

Dubai, historically one of the worst cities in terms of sustainability, now hopes to become one of the best. This explainer examines whether this goal is possible, focussing on pros and cons of the new construction and life in the Sustainable City, a green neighborhood. It also analyzes whether Dubai is trustworthy in these initiatives.

DUBAI’S HISTORY WITH ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Dubai has historically not been an environmentally conscious city. Only 10 years ago, Dubai had one of the largest ecological footprints on Earth (National Geographic), with a reputation of the having the world’s second highest per capita rates of greenhouse gas emissions and the title of “worst ecological footprint per person” (“Dubai’s Sustainable City”). Their rapid urbanization was undoubtably one of the leading causes of their environmental problems, as well as the construction of their huge man-made islands.

(“CO2 Emissions (Metric Tons per Capita).” Data, data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC.)

The creation of Palm Islands received a lot of attention and concern from scientists, as it altered marine life, and water levels and quality. With the island project, an artificial diving park was created, replacing natural formations with man-made ones. Scientists are concerned that all of this meddling could result in lack of food and shelter for many marine species, loss of protection of coastal regions from storms, and coastal erosion. During the construction, the reefs were completely suffocated with dirt and silt (Butler), possibly forever changing the marine environment.

After being noted as having the worst ecological footprint, Dubai started changing it’s goals. “In September, the UAE pledged that by 2030 all new buildings will produce no more emissions than they can absorb, and all existing buildings will meet that goal by 2050” (“Living Laboratory”), hoping to have the world’s smallest ecological footprint by then. But, is this goal feasible? With the creation of a completely sustainable neighborhood and many other adjustments, it just might be. This explainer examines the pros and cons of The Sustainable City and whether all of Dubai could be this way. Over the years, environmental issues have become political issues. Without considering the environment, we aren’t considering our future. To become a powerful global city of the future, it is necessary to be a sustainable city, and Dubai knows this.

THE SUSTAINABLE CITY

The environment has become a problem that the entire world faces. Cities, countries, and leaders worldwide are trying to come up with innovative solutions to this global issue. Dubai, already a leading city in many areas, wants to be a leader in sustainability. Recently, it has created a completely sustainable community and changed policies to lessen carbon emissions, water consumption, and waste.

PROS: The man-made sustainable and smart neighborhood, “The Sustainable City”, aims to be net-zero, producing on-site all energy needed to operate. Every building comes equipped with solar panels. Each resident receives a electric golf cart upon entry and there are many green spaces and parks. The neighborhood opened to residents in 2016, but is still not at full capacity. The neighborhood has been created in two phases; the first phase was the construction of 500 villas, nine apartment buildings, 11 greenhouses, urban farms, and office and retail spaces. The second phase included construction of a school, religious spaces, and a mall. Currently, around 1800 people live in the Sustainable City, contributing to the environmental causes. Since its opening, the neighborhood has done very well in terms of meeting its goals. The neighborhood is a car free area, encouraging walkability and a small-town community feeling. Creating experimental neighborhoods like The Sustainable City creates interest from international investors wanting to implement similar designs in other locations. It also boosts the identity of Dubai. Being sustainable is becoming desirable; demonstrating a forward-thinking city that cares about the future of the city and its residents. CONS: Although the neighborhood is making progress in terms of sustainability, there are many cons to the construction of this project. Understanding the history of Dubai and how it has completely changed in regard to its views on environmental issues, it is hard to trust the origins and completion of these new goals. With the construction of this entirely top-down neighborhood, affordable housing was not considered. The Sustainable City cost $354 million and was created for the luxury housing market (“Dubai’s Sustainable City”) The homes in the neighborhood all cost around $1 million. Researching Dubai reveals that its top housing problems revolve around un-affordability, especially for migrant workers who largely work in the construction industry, making these projects. It is hard to see how constructing more luxury real estate and investing so much money into it is more important than constructing affordable housing. Another thing to consider, which was reviewed in class, is the impact and consequences of entirely top-down communities. An example of a failed community of this form is Brasilia. From the birds-eye view, Brasilia is beautiful, but from the perspective of the residents, it is a completely different experience. The buildings were too spaced out in a completely un-walkable sprawl, and there is inequality and traffic congestion. Without considering the perspective and needs of the residents or would-be-residents, the communities are set up to fail. All of the residential areas look completely identical, causing monotony and lessened personhood for residents. Another interesting fact is that most of the people living in The Sustainable City in Dubai are not inherently environmentally conscious. Many didn’t even recycle before moving in. This leaves the concern that the people, although living in a sustainable community, may not conform to a sustainable lifestyle.

[citiesandslums]

DUBAI’S GOALS OF BECOMING A SUSTAINABLE CITY: FANTASY OR REALITY?

By: Emma Hunter

CONCLUSION

Dubai is a forward-thinking city in terms of transportation (electric), sustainability, cutting-edge technology, and experimental neighborhoods. However, the people benefiting from the new, advanced neighborhoods in Dubai are not the people who truly need housing. Without much more consideration and studies regarding the actual needs of the people who help build the city and make it was it is today, its advances do not outweigh its setbacks.

With the construction of The Sustainable City and new implementation of sustainability into its policies, Dubai is making strides toward lessening its ecological footprint. Although it has a past consisting of no environmental policies, concerns with the construction of large man-made islands, and mass construction of skyscrapers (rapid industrialization), there is no real evidence that Dubai will not continue its current environmental efforts. Only time will tell if the people of Dubai can keep up with and adjust to these new policies, especially with Dubai having a clear identity as a city of consumption.

RESEARCH

Butler, Tina. “Dubai's Artificial Islands Have High Environmental Cost.” Mongabay Environmental News, 23 Aug. 2005, news.mongabay.com/2005/08/dubais-artificial-islands-have-high-environmental-cost/.

“Dubai's Sustainable City and the False Promise of Universality: Shanti Escalante-De Mattei.” Edited by Shanti Mattei, Compass, 2019, wp.nyu.edu/compass/2019/03/28/shanti-escalante-dubai-sustainable-city/.

Garfield, Leanna. “The United Arab Emirates Is Building a $354 Million City with Driverless Cars, Greenhouses, and Solar-Powered Villas.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 29 Jan. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/dubai-sustainable-city-uae-2018-1.

Kunzig, Robert. “The World's Most Improbable Green City.” National Geographic, 27 July 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/urban-expeditions/green-buildings/dubai-ecological-footprint-sustainable-urban-city/.

“'Living Laboratory': New Dubai City Pushes for Green Revolution in the Desert.” Eco, Eco-Business, 28 Oct. 2019, www.eco-business.com/news/living-laboratory-new-dubai-city-pushes-for-green-revolution-in-the-desert/.

The Sustainable City, 10 Sept. 2020, www.thesustainablecity.ae/.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G08nx9Jx14&feature=youtu.be

(comparing cities 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9zd-wtdKH4

(virtual field trip)

https://youtu.be/l3cpdfKRYvM

(comparing cities 2)

[citiesandslums]

Protests

Maia Courtois

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a week after the explosion, it became public knowledge and the public’s view that the explosion was the result of the government's negligence; this made the tensions between citizens and government worse and prompted daily protests. Citizens called for political reform and the removal of political elites hoping to rid of the corruption and cronyism that had lived in their political system, at least, since the end of the Civil War in the 90s. Protesters demand change from the government but also the political elite who have benefited from the corruption that has caused many middle-class citizens their homes due to poor housing policies and corruption schemes in their neighborhoods. Much like BLM protests in the US this summer, protestors are calling for a complete rebranding of government officials and institutions. The question is if political elites and government officials will put effort towards a true rebuilding of the city and its government.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuerKhSkBK4&feature=youtu.be

Conversation 1- provides some ideas for housing policies in Beirut for those effected by the explosion.

Sources

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/14/901651660/mass-protests-have-followed-the-beirut-explosion-whats-next

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/24/how-beirut-blast-enrich-lebanese-elites/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/10/middleeast/lebanon-pm-indicted-beirut-explosion-intl/index.html

[citiesandslums]

Corruption

Maia Courtois

Corruption

Corruption and the lack of accountability of government officials in Lebanon creates the risk of halting Beirut’s recovery post- the August 4th explosion because if the lack of money and resources provided for the residents that were hit the hardest by the blast; makes them the most vulnerable to corruption schemes by the government and political elites. Beirut has a reputation for rebuilding/reconstructing out of conflict or destruction. An example of this was the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), but it did not go without political corruption; what resulted was a bonanza- a situation that creates a sudden increase in wealth, for government officials and the elite of Beirut. Contracts were given to close friends of officials, aid money to pay for the destruction disappeared, and patronage networks began to flourish. The fear that this cycle of corruption will thrive in a devasted Beirut again is prominent robbing many of their homes and exacerbating the mistrust resident already have for the government. The concern of corruption is greatest among the neighborhoods near the port where the explosion took place; where hundreds died, and thousands of homes were destroyed. The main concern for these residents affected is that the government will come in, and instead of help rebuild, will take over their land and build for their profit; the government is not helping, making many citizens feel as if there is not one. The explosion came at a time when Beirut and the rest of Lebanon were suffering from debt and an economic downfall while also battling the Coronavirus. Karim Bitar, a professor of international relations at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University, said that many “residents who need fresh dollars to rebuild their homes, which most can’t afford, could be tempted to accept a lump sum from certain politicians” to take over the damaged neighborhoods for less than market value to build infrastructure that will only benefit them, as well as, eliminating the culture that lived in these historic neighborhoods that were wiped out by the explosion. Bitar commented on another account of political exploitation that occurred postwar; many international aid funds were used to help former warlords stay in office rather than help the city and nation rebuild out of destruction. Lebanon has a large unequal wealth distribution with the top 10% owning about 70% of all the personal wealth in the country, this is another aspect of Beirut’s struggling economy that can and will be exacerbated by the explosion (Glinski). Post- explosion reconstruction, or lack thereof is a driving force in the ruining of neighborhoods; not just the blast itself. These findings consolidate the lack of trust Beirut citizens have in their government, because of past failures of reconstruction and long-lasting political corruption; however, a step has been made in holding the prime minister accountable for his negligence. Corruption is often associated with instability with governments especially in the developing world and has a way of spreading; so, understanding how corruption rears its head in Beirut helps us understand other sources of instability in Lebanon. The explosion is both a cause and effect of corruption in Beirut. First, the government's gross negligence allowed for the explosion to occur which left people either dead or homeless with a government that doesn’t have the means or wants to help them. Corruption is also present as an effect of the explosion because of the lack of aid presented to the homeless, which is instead being used to develop institutions that only benefit the political elite. The understanding of corruption in Beirut allows us to examine the large disparity between classes, which is important in understanding Beirut as a whole. This research provides an interesting look at rebuilding out of destruction, in this case Beirut’s ability to rebrand and reconstruct is clouded by years of corruption and economic problems.