Displacement and Exclusion

While Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been used to examine housing policy and segregation previously,[i] I propose a new conceptual model to extend CRT. The analysis will examine RECAPs as extremely weak markets resulting from a series of interrelated mechanisms that work to reduce minority home buying in strong market neighborhoods and/or dislocating them from neighborhoods that may show signs of market potential. These mechanisms include displacement factors (foreclosure, gentrification, eviction, and prisoner reentry to the general population) and exclusion factors (limited access to credit, lack of affordability, zero tolerance policies). The interplay between these factors reduces viability of housing sub-markets and constrains housing choice. Each factor impacts housing markets independently and collectively.

Foreclosures: In the years after the mortgage crisis, white homeowners have begun to recover;[ii] while communities of color continued to suffer the effects of the downturn.[iii] Leading up to the crisis, minorities held more subprime mortgages and subsequently were more at risk when the crash occurred.[iv] As a result, minority homeowners were displaced at greater rates.[v] Rental homes that were once owner-occupied are concentrated in African American neighborhoods.[vi]

Access to Credit: Access to credit presents a barrier to home seekers wishing to move to better neighborhoods. Today, the outlawed practice of redlining still exists through color-blind banking practices.[vii],[viii] The transparent process of applying for a loan should produce equitable outcomes in the distribution of loan approvals, yet, using logistic regression to compare white and non-white loan seekers in the Piedmont of NC, I have found that African Americans were 46.9% less likely to be approved for a loan when controlling for all other factors. Credit history was the greatest factor of denial, disproportionately impacting African American loan seekers. [ix]

Affordability: The rental market was especially strained as moderate and low-income homeowners lost their homes. Now, nearly half of households are renters and rental demand far exceeds supply. This demand has driven the rental vacancy rate down to the lowest it has been in over a decade, resulting in very little selection for rental seekers and giving landlords the ability to charge a premium for their properties. In this market, there is little incentive for landlords to discount rents or spend extra on maintaining low-rent units. Nearly 50% of all renters in the NC Piedmont are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of income on housing-related costs. A shortage of affordable housing has significant repercussions throughout the local economy.

Evictions: Summary Ejectment or evictions have also been on the rise,[x] 99% of filings in Greensboro, NC were for non-payment of rent. Post-eviction interviews showed that it was difficult to obtain affordable and decent housing, resulting in tenants having to accept substandard housing or in some cases becoming homeless.[xi] More than half (65%) experienced homelessness. One participant explained: “I lived in a tent in the woods with my dogs for about two months before a woman gave me some money to get a hotel.” Families with children are more likely to be evicted than families without children. [xii] Outcomes for children include truancy, lower achievement, delayed literacy, and increased likelihood of dropping out.[xiii]

Gentrification: Gentrification has become another mechanism of displacement. Cities have become increasingly sprawling and combined transportation plus housing costs exceed 50% of household incomes. Middle class families are moving back into older neighborhoods with access to public transportation and proximity to work. Reinvestment in neighborhood infrastructure and the demolishing of blighted residences has increased the value of some neighborhoods pricing them out of reach of long-time residents. [xiv],[xv] Displacement, both physical and cultural, is a potential outcome of the process of gentrification.[xvi]

Reentry: More than 650,000 people are released from incarceration in federal and state prisons and jails each year.[xvii] Former offenders, already facing many struggles in reintegrating to society, are often barred from jobs and housing due to policies against individuals with criminal backgrounds. Recently incarcerated individuals are at a greater risk of housing insecurity, homelessness, and “one-strike” policies at the hands of landlords that immediately determine their ineligibility to maintain residence.[xviii] As much as 50% of the homeless population have been incarcerated.[xix] Policies and practices limiting residential opportunities for the recently incarcerated increase their segregation in areas of least resources and fewest opportunities.[xx]

In this era of colorblind racism, advancing understanding of how mechanisms of displacement and exclusion manifest through structural conditions is critical to racial equity.

SEE MORE AT Sills, S. (2020). The Need for Innovative Investment in Affordable & Healthy Homes in North Carolina. North Carolina Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation. at: https://www.bcbsncfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Affordable-and-Healthy-Homes-in-North-Carolina.pdf

— NOTES—

[i] Martin, Lori Latric, and Varner, Kenneth J. 2017. “Race, Residential Segregation, and the Death of Democracy: Education and Myth of Postracialism” Democracy & Education, 25(1).

[ii] Raymond, Elora, Kyungsoon Wang, and Dan Immergluck. 2015. “Race and uneven recovery: neighborhood home value trajectories in Atlanta before and after the housing crisis.” Housing Studies. 3: 1-16.

[iii] Boak, Josh. 2016. “10 years after housing bubble, damage lingers for minorities.” ktsp.com.

[iv] Calem, P.S., Gillen, K. & Wachter, S. The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics (2004) 29: 393.

[v] Bocian, Debbie Gruenstein; Li, Wei; & Ernst, Keith S. June 18, 2010. Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: The Demographics of a Crisis. Center for Responsible Lending

[vi] Immergluck, Dan. (2017). Renting the Dream: The Rise of Single-Family Rentership in the Sunbelt Metropolis. Working Paper Series, Urban Studies Institute.

[vii] Sills, S. and Blake, E.A. 2008. “Factors Influencing Denial: A Study of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data for The Greensboro – High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area 2006” Report to the City of Greensboro Department of Housing and Community Development and the Human Relations Department.

[viii] Sills, S., Clark, J., Sheldon, P. “Unfair Lending in Greensboro: Home Loan and Refinance Trends 2009-2014.” [Draft]

[ix] Sills, S. and Sills, M. 2013. “Regional Fair Housing Equity Assessment of the Piedmont of North Carolina” Piedmont Triad Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Project.

[x] Marr, Taylor 2016. “Millions of Renters Face Eviction—Why Today’s Housing Market is Partially to Blame.” Redfin Real Estate News & Analysis.

[xi] Greenberg, D., Gershenson, C., & Desmond, M. 2016. “Discrimination in Evictions: Empirical Evidence and Legal Challenges.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 51(1) :115-158.

[xii] Desmond, M. 2012. “Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty.” AJS 118(1) :88-133.

[xiii] Desmond, M., An, W., Winkler, R., & Ferriss, T. 2013. “Evicting Children.” Social Forces 92(1) :303-327.

[xiv] Rose, K. Combating Gentrification Through Equitable Development. (2002) Policy Link.

[xv] Alexander, F. September 2011. “Neighborhood Stabilization Strategies for Vacant and Abandoned Properties.” Zoning and Planning Law Report, Vol. 34, No. 8.

[xvi] Williams, K. N. 2015. Toward a Universal Operationalization of Gentrification. Sociation Today (13)2.

[xvii] Carson, E. Ann, and Elizabeth Anderson. 2016. Prisoners in 2015. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

[xviii] Geller, Amanda, and Marah A. Curtis. A Sort of Homecoming: Incarceration and the housing security of urban men. Social Science Research 2011;40(4): 1196-1213.

[xix] Lutze, Faith E., Jeffrey W. Rosky, and Zachary K. Hamilton. Homelessness and Reentry. Criminal Justice and Behavior 2013;41(4): 471-491.

[xx] Harding, David J., Jeffrey D. Morenoff, and Claire W. Herbert. Home is Hard to Find: Neighborhoods, Institutions, and the Residential Trajectories of Returning Prisoners. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2013;674(1): 214-236.