On Wednesday, politicians and community leaders came together to discuss ways to end the housing crisis at New Jersey Citizen Action’s annual Financial Justice Summit. Among them was Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who said he’s committed to improving housing affordability and availability in his city, where three quarters of residents are renters.
“Whether it’s redlining or lack of opportunity to get the kinds of loans and credit rating and equity and all the things you need, the high cost of construction, all these things contribute to the difficulty of building housing that’s affordable,” said Baraka.
Nikitra Bailey of the National Fair Housing Alliance said many existing housing inequities are deep-rooted in years of systemic racism, and breaking those barriers down is critical to housing equity.
“Those race-conscious policies explicitly favored white consumers,” said Bailey. “So, thousands of public policies since the founding of our nation actually ensured that white people would be in a better financial position. Solutions are things like special housing programs and first-generation down-payment assistant, which the state of New Jersey just passed. And it’s a significant victory that will help us to rectify discrimination in our system.”
Housing advocates said it’s important for all levels of government to work together to eliminate discriminatory housing practices so no community will continue to be left behind.
