PEOPLE, PLACE, & OPPORTUNITY

Planning for the Commonwealth’s Economic ReboundJanuary 12, 2009

Massachusetts State House

john a. powell

Executive Director

The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity

The Ohio State University

Reece.35@osu.edu

Funded by Massachusetts Legal Services Programs

Overview

What are the costs of opportunity isolation?

Where do we go from here? What narratives should be rethought,

challenged? How do we seize this time of crisis to

advocate for sustainable, transformative change?

What are the costs of opportunity isolation? Individual/family costs

Living in “concentrated disadvantage” reduces student IQ by 4 points, roughly the equivalent to missing one year of school (Sampson 2007)

Societal cost Neighborhoods of concentrated poverty

suppress property values by nearly 400 billion nationwide (Galster et al 2007)

Racial Isolation & Segregation Depress Overall Well-Being: Societal Cost Wasted Creative Capacity

The wasted creative capacity associated with a lack of social, economic and educational opportunity drags down competitive strength.

Fragmented Economic Voice To attract investment in the global economy, regions

must act collectively to promote themselves, and they must align key infrastructure and assets to be more innovative, efficient and competitive

Paying for Exclusion Residential segregation is fueled by exclusionary

housing policies, but these policies come at a price for all residents

Inefficient Infrastructure and Government Services Regions that are highly fragmented into hundreds of

local governments are often inefficient (redundant) with respect to infrastructure and government services

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Wasted Creative Capacity

Figure from Atkinson and Wial, “Boosting Productivity, Innovation, and Growth through a National Innovation Foundation,” Brookings Policy Brief available at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/04_federal_role_atkinson_wial.aspx

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Figure from Mills and Reynolds, “Clusters and Competitiveness: A New Federal Role for Stimulating Regional Economies.” Brookings Institute Policy Report available at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/04_competitiveness_mills.aspx

Fragmented & under-funded plans

Collaboration $$

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Paying for exclusion7

Urban Inequities Encourage Sprawl (& sprawl impairs public health…) Sprawl and Quality of Life. The

environmental impact of greenfield development, and increased traffic congestion (and fuel cost) impairs the quality of life for everyone in the region

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Opening pathways to opportunity… What happens when we affirmatively connect

people to opportunity? After implementing economically diverse magnets

schools in Wake County, NC, African American student test scores doubled

Children in public housing who moved to the suburbs as part of Chicago’s Gautreaux program were twice as likely to attend college (in comparison to their urban peers) (Rosenbaum)

Despite the flaws in the implementation of MTO (Moving to Opportunity), many participants experience substantial psychological benefits

Moving to opportunity for boys resulted in a 25% decline in depressive/anxiety or dependency problems (2005)

Where do we go from here?

Crisis and transformation Opportune time to create new paradigms

Rethinking narratives (including the definition of opportunity) Global, financial market regulation Role of government Expertise … and democratic norms

Redesigning institutions Fair Housing / Fannie & Freddie Credit Community Development

Crisis and Transformation

Crisis has spurred great changes in our society

Crisis can allow for reflection and preparation to develop models that enhance or inhibit growth

Crisis…transformative change A paradigm shift from a transactional

approach to transformative change Crisis often indicates that the system itself is

breaking down, and that it cannot be addressed by incremental transactional moves

The global economic crisis (and globalization) illustrates the importance of relationships and systems in understanding our interconnected and dynamic world

We must focus on being goal-oriented and on interactions and relationships which impact our communities

This moment is an opening

At this moment in history, everything is being rethought Including free market – government relations

Greenspan acknowledged under questioning that he had made a “mistake” in believing that banks, operating in their own self-interest, would do what was necessary to protect their shareholders and institutions. Greenspan called that “a flaw in the model ... that defines how the world works.” (AP Report 10/23/08)

This is a critical moment to “rewrite the rules” Institutions and rules should be ordered to serve

everyone No one should be left out Start with the “canaries” Ensuring that all participate

Opportunity is mediated For much of human

history, we interacted exclusively on a face-to-face basis within small communities How we understand

discrimination, prejudice, and identity

Now, many of our relationships are mediated Technology Distance Institutions

People in foreclosure cannot find a person to talk to

And our opportunities are strengthened or truncated by these mediating factors

Opp’y is differential…

How can we be sensitive to inter- and intra-group differences?

How do the ladders or pathways of opportunities differ for different people?

Every institution has built in assumptions, i.e. “stairways” are a pathway – but not for people in wheelchairs, baby strollers, etc.

Redesigning institutions

Sustainable economic development Fair Housing Credit

Fair Housing Law …Beyond Enforcement Title VIII has largely been tort approach

Reactive Best hope: effective remedial action (i.e. structured

mobility) Meanwhile, fragmented regions with

decentralized housing markets support and structure a segregated landscape

Why not try to build differently? Proactive Carrots and sticks

Use housing and tax policies to affirmatively link people to opp’y

Remove tax benefits from segregated communities (Boger)

Mortgage finance went from a two- to a three-party system…(Slide 1)

The Post Depression FHA Era: The Three Party Mortgage Market

Pre Depression: The Two Party Housing Market

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Based on research by Chris Peterson, University of Utah Law School

Created by Chris Peterson, University of Utah Law School

…to this!

Today: The web of actors and institutions involved in the

sub prime lending and mortgage securitization

market

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Where do we go from here? Sustainable economic development

The state’s economic future is dependent on its most plentiful natural resource, human capacity and innovation

Without addressing the social, racial and interregional inequities facing the state, our future is compromised

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Remedying Opportunity Isolation

Section 4

Adopt strategies that open up access to levers of opportunity for marginalized individuals, families, and communities Bring opportunities to opportunity-deprived areas Connect people to existing opportunities throughout the

metropolitan region Invest in people, places, and linkages

How can we advocate for opportunity communities?

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Example: Neighborhood Revitalization

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A systems response Where are your key

leverage points? What are the critical

intervention points? Equity focused

Creating a community for all (not a model of gentrification)

Emphasis on strategic collaboration

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High OpportunityLow Opportunity

Connecting Multiple Domains: e.g. Housing and Schools:

Housing Discrimination Segregation Dysfunctional Schools

(How can we reverse this pattern?)

Example: Opportunity Based Housing - Integration into Opportunity

Rethink fair housing… Not just integration but integration into

opportunity Inclusive fair housing means access to

good schools, jobs, doctors, child care, transportation, parks, and the civic fabric

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People, Places and Linkages

Example: Opportunity Based Housing in Practice (Baltimore – Thompson Litigation) Baltimore: Opportunity mapping in the

Baltimore region was conducted as part of the Thompson v. HUD fair housing litigation Plaintiffs used opportunity mapping to frame

their remedial proposal, in response to a liability ruling that found the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in violation of the Fair Housing Act

The plaintiffs have proposed establishing 7,000 affordable housing units in the region’s high- opportunity communities, available to volunteers who wish to relocate out of the City of Baltimore’s public housing

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Proposed remedy identifies Communities of Opportunity

Used 14 indicators of neighborhood opportunity to designate high and low opportunity neighborhoods in the region Neighborhood

Quality/Health Poverty, Crime, Vacancy,

Property Values, Population Trends

Economic Opportunity Proximity to Jobs and Job

Changes, Public Transit Educational Opportunity

School Poverty, School Test Scores, Teacher Qualifications

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Minimize depth of exposure

Decrease the cost of membership in a democratic society Current estimate for family of four: $48,778*

Over three times as many families fall below family budget thresholds as fall below the official poverty line

Decrease how far you fall (children in extreme poverty, skyrocketing bankruptcy rates, family homelessness?)

Work to ensure that all neighborhoods are neighborhoods of sustainable opportunity What are you financing? Is it just a house?

*James Lin and Jared Bernstein, What we need to get by. October 29, 2008 | EPI Briefing Paper #224

Intervention Strategies for Building Opportunity Communities

Strategies for community-activists, policy-makers, and researchers Adopt an opportunity-based approach to community

development Adopt an opportunity-based approach to housing

advocacy Support both in-place and mobility-based strategies

to affirmatively provide access to opportunity Adopt a multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach to

advocacy Address not only personal and institutional racism,

but also structural racism and racialization

Section 5

Strategic Opportunities for Change Design strategies that are sensitive

to the unique challenges and strategic opportunities of each community e.g. strategies for an undercapitalized

city might focus on vacant property while strategies in a hot market city might focus on regional affordable housing

Conclusion:A Call for Collective Advocacy and Action Cooperation and a multi-disciplinary

approach Thinking locally and globally Seek to transform structures into

productive systems for all of society Moving from concept to practice