Just Action by Leah Rothstein

Author:Leah Rothstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liveright

Challenging Suburbanites’ Racially Motivated Opposition to Affordable Housing

NIMBY obstruction is sometimes, but not always, undisguised in its racial motivations: opponents have sometimes warned that affordable housing will “bring the ghetto” to their communities. More often, though, opponents use language similar to those in Woodbridge that thinly veils their underlying prejudice.

It is true that diversifying elite white neighborhoods and allowing more density will bring change. There may be more students in the local public schools and an increase in traffic and demand for public services. However, NIMBY fears are often unfounded or exaggerated. New affordable-housing developments in higher-income neighborhoods usually have no effect on surrounding property values and neighbors may even be unaware of their presence. But if values do decline, racial justice advocates should be prepared to defend this as a necessary cost of desegregation.

Too often, opponents of affordable housing and desegregation dominate the debate, and even when they don’t succeed in blocking development entirely, they delay and extend its timeline. A long public process debating project approval creates an uncertain landscape for developers. This discourages some from proposing any projects and makes those that they do propose more expensive. Planners and local officials should solicit community input into development proposals but should not allow residents’ opposition to block or unreasonably delay their ability to expand housing opportunity. Local civil rights advocates should participate in these processes as consistently and vocally as NIMBYs.

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