How philanthropy can advance housing equity · Event recap
Access to safe and secure housing is a fundamental human right. Yet, as costs of living and inflation exponentially rise in tandem with one another, waves of evictions and foreclosures in the U.S. are rarely far behind.
At a recent panel discussion co-hosted by Aperio Philanthropy and the George H. Heyman, Jr. Program for Philanthropy and Fundraising, we gathered to explore how to center community needs while advocating for accessible, affordable, and secure housing. Expert panelists also discussed the role of philanthropy in defining and advancing rights for homeowners and tenants.
Moderator:
Matthew Kwatinetz (he/him), Clinical Assistant Professor of Real Estate Economics at NYU School of Professional Studies Schack Institute of Real Estate and the Director of the NYU Urban Lab
Panelists:
Cy Richardson (he/him), Senior Vice President for Programs, National Urban League
Aubrey Merriman (he/him), Chief Executive Officer, LifeMoves
Kyle Bennett (he/him), Senior Director of Policy and Equity, United Way of Rhode Island
The panel of nonprofit leaders shared their expertise and analysis of the past and current housing landscape and helped us better understand the role of philanthropy in advancing a more equitable future. We explored the following questions:
What opportunities do you see—and why is philanthropy, specifically, important to seizing those opportunities?
How should philanthropy be approaching support for accessible, affordable, and secure housing?
How can they defend and advance rights and access to services for homeowners and tenants?
Following the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, philanthropists and funders faced pressure to change who they fund and how they fund—with much more focus on racial justice. What changes have you seen in how donors approach housing issues? What level of urgency are you seeing?
How can they center community needs in their activism?
Panel moderator Matthew Kwatinetz emphasized the need for systems change, calling out the role of colonization in housing inequity. Kwatinetz’s work at the NYU School of Professional Studies Schack Institute of Real Estate acknowledges the role that non-profit organizations and philanthropy have played in being simultaneously complicit in the legacy of colonization in housing equity—and essential to the solution.
The housing crisis is fueled in large part by the same factors that drive the racial wealth gap. Cy Richardson of the National Urban League said that this is where the limitations of government reveal themselves and where philanthropy must work cheek-by-jowl alongside the federal government and those on the ground to provide equitable, safe housing.
“Equality differs from equity, which brings with it the unabashed call to grapple with race,” said Richardson. “Race is central to Americana and the ability to talk about race in a post-George Floyd moment is integral and requires questions around equity and equity gained and sustained through home ownership, which is one of the main ways people pass down generational wealth.”
Aubrey Merriman, Chief Executive Officer of LifeMoves, similarly highlighted the intersectional nature of housing equity and how it relates to his work in providing safe housing for the unhoused. He said that regardless of what philanthropic lens is used to view housing justice, racial justice must be the focal point; all the historical pillars from which this country was founded are delivering the inequal effects it was intended to deliver.
Black and brown folks largely exist outside the bubble of home ownership, Merriman said, asserting that in California and many other states, there is a huge housing crisis disproportionate to geographic wealth.
It is vital to position philanthropic conversations and lived experiences as the driver around policy discussions for approaching housing justice. Change is happening; however, the question is what kind of change must happen in and outside of philanthropy to effect systemic adjustments to housing inequity.
There is a pressing need to look at housing inequity from an income perspective, said Kyle Bennett, Senior Director of Policy and Equity at United Way of Rhode Island. To that end, there is a need to shift towards a trust-based model of philanthropy in providing nonprescriptive, unrestricted support to organizations working on the ground.
Bennett described trust-based philanthropy as a concept integral to housing equity, which disrupts the notion that the funders know best. Instead, trust-based philanthropy is grounded in the idea that while funders may have thoughts or ideas, those on the ground are truly the experts in the field.
The challenge—and opportunity—for philanthropy is to go beyond the status quo to engage in collaborative efforts. Merriman noted that philanthropic “collaboration occurs at the speed of trust.”
The perennial tension is that even as they aim to tackle housing inequity, philanthropists and grantmakers are also complicit in the problem. Kwatinetz said that in the U.S., much of the design of philanthropy and the “non-profit industrial complex” resembles the design of colonial social architecture—in its hierarchy, competition, specialization, and consolidation of power for scarce resources. Dating back to redlining and opportunity zones, federal programs and philanthropy have exacerbated the housing inequity problem.
Related, there is often a tendency to overthink solutions to the homeownership and inequity conundrum. In reality, the major barriers that depress Black homeownership include credit, student loan debt, and a systemic lack of information and available resources for BIPOC home buyers. It is essential to contextualize the question of housing equity within the context of overall financial health.
Kwatinetz proposed possible solutions to the housing crisis, including special-purpose credit programs and pools of funds laser targeted to communities of color. He concluded that ultimately the housing inequity conversation is a place-based one, with a strong need to create systems that will bring people into civil society and connect them to the homeownership pathway and trajectory.
As humans, philanthropists, and non-profit leaders we must collectively break down the barriers and assumptions that those who are poor or without stable housing have done this to themselves. Trust-based philanthropy is one answer, as are community-centered responses that invest in low-income housing options, and creative broad-scale mobilization efforts that include the communities most impacted by housing inequity.
Ultimately, the legacy of housing discrimination, which first constrained opportunities to build household equity, continues to contribute significantly to today’s homeownership gap between Black and white Americans. To echo Richardson’s closing statement: “For my philanthropic allies and partners—it’s showtime. You’re on.”
