Since Covid-19 struck our planet, I’ve become a little more cognizant of the importance of home. I appreciate the efforts I’ve taken over the years to make ours cozy, the ample space we have to spread out and the four parks we can reach within a twenty minute walk.
What I wasn’t appreciating until very recently is more important than all of the above. My family is warm and safe and not in fear of being evicted, we have17 years of equity built and we live in a good neighborhood.
What makes a neighborhood good?
I’d venture to say that most would agree on quality schools, low crime and easy access to shopping and recreation.
What makes a neighborhood best?
I discovered recently that in 1935 the “BEST” neighborhoods were defined by the federal government (with help from local real estate experts) as those that were all-white. It was in these neighborhoods, (along with yet-to-be-built neighborhoods outside the city center) where they chose to invest. They defined as “HAZARDOUS” mostly Black neighborhoods and denied them federal investment. They lured whites out of the in-between neighborhoods labeled “DEFINITELY DECLINING” and “STILL DESIRABLE” and into new suburban construction by offering federally backed low-interest rate and long-term mortgages. These investment opportunities were not available to Blacks.
Housing discrimination based upon race was made illegal in 1968, but Omaha’s racial map looks virtually the same today as it did when it was legal.
What does this mean for our city?
- Omaha is the 38th most segregated city in the U.S.
- 70% of white households own homes, compared to only 30% of Black households.
- Due to middle class wealth being accumulated by home-equity, the wealth of Omaha whites is 20 times that of Blacks.
- Poor whites live in neighborhoods of > opportunity than poor Blacks.
- Exclusionary development continues to be the norm.
- Black applicants are denied home loans at 2x the rate of white applicants.
- Due to our city custom of annexing private neighborhoods built by private developers, we have an alarming lack of affordable housing in Western Omaha as well as a city-wide shortage. (There is affordable housing available for only 19% of the households eligible for it).
- Our city’s Western-most school district is 88% white with 6% of students receiving free or reduced lunch while our Eastern-most district is 29% white with 74% receiving free and reduced lunch.
- Renters living in non-white census tracts are evicted at a rate of 41 per tract, per year compared to 17 for those living in white census tracts.
- Most of these evictions are in properties with open code violations, meaning the renters are awaiting the landlord to fix a roof, toilet, hole in the wall, etc. (the average critical code case is open 672 days in Omaha).
All of this means that while I’m home being grateful for comfort, space and quality of life, many in Omaha -most of whom live in a different geographical part of the city- are worried about being evicted from a substandard housing unit. They are not enjoying the wealth, health and opportunity that come with home-ownership. They are not able to choose where they live due to a lack of options. This current segregation is setting the stage for continuation of the status quo.
What can we as Omahans do to create change?
-Become informed.
-Start and stay in conversation.
-Bring these concerns to our city council members and our mayor.
-Create path-ways to increase home-ownership (wealth) for our Black -community members.
-Incentivize and create policy around building more affordable housing in more areas of Omaha.
In the words of Omaha’s Dr. Erin Feichtinger,
We need to create and address housing policies that increase equality with the same level of specificity and intentionality that we once created housing policy that codified racism and inequity in our communities.
As the old saying goes, it all starts at home.
*These learnings happened via Dr. Palma Strand’s article “’Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall…’: Reflections on Fairness and Housing in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Region as well as the Open Sky Policy Institute’s Policy and Equity Webinars.