Black History Month & Housing Equity
This year, Black History month comes as our federal government is working to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs in federal offices and beyond. HCA has been increasing our work to be diverse, equitable and inclusive over the last few years, and we will continue to do so, because it prevents us from continuing past injustices, and because it makes our organization and the HCA community more effective, more creative, more interesting, and therefore more fun!
A small part of HCA’s DEI work has been to include pieces in our newsletters about communities, cultures, or parts of history that otherwise may not be front and center. During this Black History Month we are exploring housing related injustices that impacted Black people (and others) in our community, and honoring the Black leaders who fought back.
Redlining was the practice of denying or limiting access to services, such as housing loans, mortgages, and insurance to residents in specific neighborhoods based on racial or ethnic composition. This policy originated in the 1930s when the federal government created maps to outline areas deemed “too risky” for investment. It was often based only on how many Black people or other people of color or immigrants lived there. While redlining was officially outlawed in the 1960s with the Fair Housing Act and other laws, its effects are still felt today on all levels of society, contributing significantly to racial inequality in housing and wealth.
Arlington did not have specific redlined areas on these maps, but the broader impact in the Boston region meant that mostly white suburbs, like Arlington, were favored for investment while communities of color such as Roxbury or Dorchester were deemed “hazardous”, and residents of these areas generally could not qualify for loans to buy houses.
Arlington, like many suburban communities, adopted single-family zoning laws that made it extremely difficult for lower-income families to move in. Since many Black families and other communities of color in Greater Boston were historically denied access to wealth-building opportunities like homeownership, zoning laws worked to keep out low-income people and people of color. Economic class is not a protected group under the Fair Housing Act, so zoning laws that catered to higher economic classes resulted in exclusionary racial practices in conjunction with the prior redlining practices.
This terrible legacy is still visible in Arlington’s demographics today. Our town remains predominantly white. And since home prices are extremely high, it is extremely difficult for historically marginalized groups to move in to contribute to the community and enjoy all that Arlington has to offer.
But Boston’s Black community leaders have had a rich history of leading successful fights for housing equality. In 1963, Melnea Cass (photo to right), a prominent civil rights leader and the president of Boston’s NAACP chapter, helped lead protests against discrimination in housing policies, such as access to equal public housing. The activists pressured landlords who refused to rent to Black families, exposing racist practices in real estate. After Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Boston in 1965, Boston’s Black leaders redoubled their activism efforts for equal housing policies.
After the Fair Housing Act of 1968, redlining and other laws that created intentional segregation became illegal, but displacement due to rising costs and gentrification continued. Mel King (photo below) and other influential Black community leaders in Boston organized the South End & Roxbury Housing Marches. Marchers demanded community control of housing, leading to the creation of community development organizations like Madison Park Development Corporation and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. These organizations gave residents more control over the development of their neighborhoods. As the  idea for local organizations to address housing issues spread, more such organizations formed in many different kinds of neighborhoods, including in Arlington: HCA was formed in 1986.
Boston’s Black activists were able to curb many advances that discriminatory housing policy attempted to make in Boston. Neighborhoods that were set to be demolished under the guise of Urban Renewal projects were instead revitalized by community members who took ownership of their futures. Without their brave efforts to fight government policy for the good of their city, who knows what Boston would look like now.
The affordable housing and community development field still has a lot of work to do; the housing crisis is worse than ever, and it still disproportionately affects our Black and Brown neighbors, even 57 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Neighborhoods are still being gentrified, and people who struggle financially are still being displaced from their communities. But HCA and similar groups across the state keep working on this issue. We appreciate and take inspiration from the Black leaders who advanced fair housing, affordable housing, and community voice. |
Welcome Andrew!
at our October annual meeting. The luxurious option shown here won! Several final details are still being revised, but this rendering shows the general color scheme. Thanks to everyone who weighed in!