Stanford University Urban Studies &
Urban Summer Fellowship
Student perspectives of community-engaged learning and research across the United States
In a lot of ways, I got exactly what I expected to get out of my summer in Chicago. I initially started looking for jobs regarding housing in Chicago after taking the Urban Underclass in the winter where I learned about all of the systemic mechanisms that have created and continue to reinforce residential segregation and racial inequity, preserving white wealth and engraining black poverty. No matter what policy or practice we were talking about, Chicago was always the case study we ended up looking at to understand a perfect example of how local governments, realtors and residents successfully inhibited people of color from achieving homeownership and beginning a path to economic stability and general well-being. After that class I knew that considering that I wanted to work on housing that I wanted to be in Chicago. I wanted to go somewhere where I could learn first-hand how these mechanisms work, who the players and stakeholders are, how these policies affect a City and affect individual lives, hoping that I could use that knowledge to better equip myself to be of help in coming up with effective solutions to these deep seeded problems. And all that’s exactly what I got to learn coming to Chicago and working for NHS. Doing research in the central office, meeting with housing and non-profit leaders across the city, and touring neighborhoods on the West side, it felt as though every day and every project I was unveiling another piece of the intricate web of policies, practices, and attitudes that together act as a system to maintain residential segregation and exclude people of color from homeownership – from historical exclusion from homeownership and wealth accumulation to disproportionate damage from the foreclosure crisis to unfair property tax codes to highly charged homeowners insurance, it seemed as though the list would never stop expanding. Whether it was looking at staggering big picture statistics about racial disparities in homeownership and wealth accumulation, or sitting in on a conversation about the nature in which tax assessors and tax appeal lawyers benefit the wealthy and punish the south side and west side lower income residents – every angle revealed a different aspect of how the larger system functions to maintain and worsen current inequities, and every day I felt like I was becoming slightly more capable of understanding the ways in which the system actually works. And to see the impact of this relentless barrier on individual families was absolutely heartbreaking, but added to my knowledge in a different way. One day I went on a housing inspection for a house that was in court and which was threatened by foreclosure. It was a 50-something year old home in Logan Square (an increasingly nice neighborhood), and because of its age and the family’s lack of disposable income for major repairs, the house was in shambles – the space seemed practically inhabitable. Yet, three generations of one family lived in that house and depended on it, they cherished it – it had been all of their homes for their entire lives. But because of the physical destitution of the home in comparison to the up-kept surrounding homes, one of the family’s neighbors called a building inspector on them, saying they thought there were building code violations. NHS had come in to inspect the building before the inspector got there so they could educate the family on what the violations are, how they can think about financing repairs and seeing what financing NHS can help with, helping them think about how they can prepare themselves for housing court so they had the best chance of keeping their home. At the end of the inspection, NHS’s construction specialist estimated it would take somewhere around $30,000 to address all the building code violations. With the grandfather on disability, the grandmother retired, one of the daughters in nursing school, and the other two working multiple minimum wage jobs, they simply don’t have enough money. As the NHS inspector tried to explain to them the financing options, one of which was putting a lien on the property, I could see the fear in the family members' eyes and could hear the anxiety and worry in their voice as they responded, asking question after question, trying to reconcile the situation and process what was happening. But my time at NHS has not made me pessimistic about the relentlessness of racial exclusion to homeownership –NHS has showed me that positive and meaningful change in the world of housing is possible. But people here have showed me that making even an ounce of change takes so much time and energy and dedication, and for that my experience this summer has only motivated me to further dedicate myself to this critical problem. Take for example the building inspection visit with the family approaching their housing court date – though it offered me an intimate look at the different levels in which people of color are discriminated against in terms of achieving and maintaining homeownership (the neighbors’ biases, the courts’ unfairness, the lack of disposable income the family had for repairs) and though it broke my heart to witness their fear and distress at the thought of losing their home, it also showed me how effective NHS was in preparing that family to deal with all of those barriers in an educated and effective way. Similarly with learning more about the dynamics and effects of gentrification and displacement in the area surrounding the 606 (a popular walking trail in Bucktown which is causing housing prices to appreciate, threatening to displace the low and moderate income families living there) - though it was terrifying to see how dramatically housing prices were rising and though it was heartbreaking to think about the individual families who could lose their homes because of it, I got to sit in on a City Council meeting where I heard NHS get officially approved for rehab grants to be given to families living around the 606. These grants are being given out to low and moderate income families to repair their homes so that they don’t get bought out by incoming developers or residents, thus saving them from what otherwise would have inevitably been displacement. And in that way, this experience not only revealed to me the depth of the situation but also showed me an effective way to address the issue. Most of all my time at NHS has helped me appreciate the amount of work and the level of commitment that it necessary for any progress to be made. Meeting with non-profit leaders and government employees, hearing journalists talk and seeing NHS employees engage with the community - I've gotten to see how many people all across the city have committed themselves to this cause and I've started to see the role that each of them play. They're all working hard every day trying to solve their own piece of all the problems that feed into housing inequity, yet still with all that work Chicago's low and moderate income residents are as segregated and excluded as they were decades ago. There are small steps being taken every day that are helping individual families, and seeing those little victories has been one of the most meaningful parts of my summer, but looking at the bigger picture, it's my understanding that to address the deep seeded inequity in housing is going to take a commitment to people of color that the government nor society has ever been willing to give before. And so most of all this summer has left me wondering what it could possibly take to motivate people to make that commitment. -Haley Hodge
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AuthorThis blog is authored by Stanford University students engaged in summer fellowships through the Cardinal Quarter and the Program on Urban Studies. All writings and thoughts belong to the Fellows and do not represent the opinion of the sponsoring programs. Archives
September 2018
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