Regional Equity: Tools to Bring Fairness and Choice to Inner City Communities

1
Regional EquityTools to Bring Fairness and
Choice to Inner City Communities

• ACORN North Atlantic
• Regional Leadership Meeting

john a. powell Williams Chair in Civil Rights
Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law Director,
Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and
Ethnicity The Ohio State University http//www.kir
waninstitute.org/
2
Todays Discussion

• What challenges are facing low income
  communities? (Both White and Non-White)
• Does regionalism provide a solution?
• What does equity based regionalism look like?
• Are there concerns about regionalism?
• What do we need to do?

3
What challenges are facing low income communities?

• What are the root causes of these problem?

4
Low Income Neighborhoods in the Mid Atlantic

• Where are they?
• In inner cities and older inner suburbs
• Who lives there?
• Millions of people
• Families, children and the elderly
• Primarily people of color
• What challenges do they face?
• Concentrated poverty
• Abandonment
• Limited investment
• Dysfunctional schools
• Limited employment opportunity
• Segregation

5
ChallengesConcentrated Poverty

• Concentrated Poverty
• Concentrated poverty is found when 40 or more of
  the people in a neighborhood are in poverty
• Living in concentrated poverty has adverse
  effects on many facets of life, some of these
  include
• Employment opportunity
• Educational opportunity
• Physical and mental health
• Crime and safety

6
Concentrated Poverty

• Concentrated poverty is primarily an inner city
  phenomenon (but it is growing in some older
  suburbs)
• Four out of five people living in concentrated
  poverty are in an inner city in the nations 100
  largest regions
• Over 1.8 million people in the Northeastern
  States live in concentrated poverty
• More people of color are trapped in concentrated
  poverty than whites
• 70 of the 7 million people living in
  concentrated poverty are Hispanic or African
  American

7
Concentrated Poverty in the Mid-Atlantic
NEWARK
PHILADELPHIA
As seen in these maps, poverty (areas in dark
red) is concentrated in the inner city
neighborhoods of Newark and Philadelphia/Camden
8
Concentrated Poverty in the Mid-Atlantic
BALTIMORE
As seen In both Baltimore and Washington DC,
concentrated poverty (areas in dark red) is an
inner city phenomenon
WASHINGTON
9
Challenges Segregation

• Low income urban communities are primarily
  communities of color
• Limited by discrimination and unfair housing
  policies, low income African Americans and
  Latinos often are trapped in low income
  neighborhoods
• White flight to the suburbs has exasperated this
  problem, creating racially segregated central
  cities across the nation

10
African American Segregation in the Mid-Atlantic
As seen in these maps, African Americans are
segregated (areas in dark red) into the inner
city neighborhoods of both Newark and
Philadelphia/Camden
11
African American Segregation in the Mid-Atlantic
Once again, African Americans are segregated
(areas in dark red) into the inner city
neighborhoods of both Baltimore and Washington
12
Hispanic/Latino Segregation in the Mid-Atlantic
Hispanics are also segregated (areas in dark red)
into the inner city neighborhoods of both Newark
and Philadelphia/Camden
13
ChallengesAbandonment and Poor Investment

• Decades of suburban flight have drained low
  income inner city neighborhoods of people,
  business and investment
• The high rates of vacancy and poor investment
  harms the quality of life for inner city
  residents and limits the resources (tax base) for
  low income communities

14
Challenges
Produces Dysfunctional Schools
Structural Inequality
50 years after the Brown Decision, Americas
schools have re-segregated into affluent white
districts and poor under-funded African American
and Hispanic districts.
15
Dysfunctional Schools

• Urban sprawl and regional fragmentation have
  worked to re-segregate urban school districts
• Research by the Harvard Civil Rights Project has
  found school segregation to have the increased
  since the 1980s
• Racial segregation in schools strongly
  corresponds to economic isolation in schools
• Resources available are tied to property values
• Segregated inner city schools have more limited
  resources

16
Educational In-Equity and Segregation in the
Mid-Atlantic Philadelphia Example

• Equitable educational resources?
• 1 of Philadelphia City School teachers earn more
  than 70K per year, while 35 to 47 of suburban
  teachers earn more than 70K per year
• 51 of new teachers starting in 1999 in the
  Philadelphia city schools left the school system
  within three years
• Source Resource for Action, at
  http//www.resourceforaction.org

Source Philadelphia Inquirer. The Great Divide.
Promise Unfilled. May 16, 2004
17
Challenges Limited Employment Opportunity

• Low income inner city communities have lost most
  of their job base as jobs move from the city to
  the suburbs
• Low income residents can not access these new job
  opportunities
• 70 of all new jobs are in the suburbs and public
  transit can only reach 40 of suburban jobs

18
What Causes the Challenges Facing Low Income
Communities?

• Sprawl (Dysfunctional and Unfair Policies)
• Sprawl is the byproduct of unfair and
  dysfunctional land use policies that move
  opportunity (jobs, housing, people, money) to the
  suburbs and exurbs
• Fragmentation
• Regions carved into many local governments that
  work to keep out low income residents
• Racism
• Racist policies and laws that disadvantage inner
  city communities of color
• There is nothing natural about the segregation in
  American cities
• The result of deliberate policies and actions
• Two factors working together
• 1) Racially motivated policies and 2) Policies
  that produce racially disparities

Poor Land Use Policies
19
Effects of Unfair and Dysfunctional Land Use
Policies
By pushing good jobs, stable housing, and
educational opportunities further into the
suburbs, these policies have created segregated,
impoverished areas of the central city and
inner-ring suburbs that are locked off from
access to meaningful opportunities.
Source University of Boston Geography Dept.
20
Effects of Fragmentation

• How does fragmentation limit choice for low
  income people?
• Suburban local governments can use land use
  policies to keep out affordable housing
• Communities fight to attract jobs, usually the
  inner city loses in this competition
• Suburban communities build higher cost housing
  and attract jobs to expand their tax base to pay
  for schools, roads, water, sewer and public
  services
• This creates tremendous inequity between suburban
  communities and low income communities

21
Racism (Spatial Racism)

• Spatial racism describes how government policies
  work to disadvantage low income communities of
  color
• Examples
• Spending for transportation favors suburban
  highways over public transportation
• School funding is tied to property taxes, which
  creates inequitable resources for low income
  communities
• Subsidized housing is concentrated in low income
  communities of color
• The courts will not force schools districts to
  desegregate within regions

22
Opportunity Segregation

• Sprawl, fragmentation and spatial racism work
  together to segregate low income residents from
  opportunities such as
• Good schools, meaningful employment, safe and
  stable neighborhoods
• This is opportunity segregation

23
How Does Opportunity Segregation Occur?
1. Whites flee the central city for new suburbs
2. Abandonment rises and investment stops in the
central city
3. Government subsidizes suburban growth with new
infrastructure (roads)
4. Jobs grow in the suburbs and disappear in the
inner city
5. Government concentrates subsidized housing in
the inner city
6. Low income people are blocked from the suburbs
with zoning that makes housing unaffordable
7. New well funded schools grow in the suburbs,
inner city schools decline
8. Low income residents become isolated from the
regions opportunities (jobs, good schools, new
housing)
24
What is Regionalism?

• Regionalism an approach that emphasizes the
  region as the primary geographic unit determining
  the distribution of opportunity and resources
• The region is the primary sphere of life in
  which we live and work
• Consequently the region is the best geographic
  entity to base some level of decision-making
• What is a region?
• Usually a metropolitan area
• The central city and the surrounding suburbs and
  exurbs

25
Does regionalism provide a solution?

• What is regionalism and why should we care about
  the region?

26
Social Justice, Democracy, and Human Capacity

• Structural and spatial issues represent the most
  important impediments toward racial and social
  justice in the 21st century.

Suburbs
Central Cities

• By 2000 the suburbs
• contained over 2/3 of the
• metropolitan population
• Only 1/3 remained in the
• central cities

27
Is Regionalism a Solution?

• Land use policies that determine the distribution
  of opportunity and people in our regions
• A large community of advocates, academics, policy
  experts, business leaders, planners and
  politicians have been promoting regionalism as a
  solution to the regional problems (sprawl,
  fragmentation, opportunity segregation) hurting
  low income communities and our regions

28
Why Focus on the Region?

• The importance of the region
• The spatial orientation of todays economy,
  housing market, infrastructure, and labor market
  are no longer locally focused
• Local conditions are under the influence of
  regional forces outside of local control
• There is a need for solutions to better link
  city/suburb/exurb and reflect the regional
  economy
• Local initiatives alone are not enough

29
What Does Regionalism Look Like?

• There are multiple types of regionalism
• Regional Governance
• Annexation
• Mergers Consolidation
• Regional Functions
• Tax base or other forms of revenue sharing
• Opening the regional housing market
• Regional land use control
• Regional Infrastructure
• Infrastructure related growth management
• Each region must choose which strategies would
  work best based on needs and the potential impact

30
Does Regionalism Mean Regional Government?

• Yes and No
• A few regions have strong regional government
  which can control land use and housing
• Also, regional planning agencies exist in almost
  every region to help local governments deal with
  regional problems such as transportation
• Many regions use special agreements between
  governments to implement regionalism
• Regions also use policies such as annexation or
  control of resources (like water and sewer) to
  implement regionalism
• In some regions foundations, business
  organizations and advocacy groups have been the
  primary proponents of regionalism

31
What does equity based regionalism look like?

• What are real world examples of regionalism that
  promotes equity?

32
Equity and Regionalism

• Regionalism can work to enforce inequity or
  improve equity, depending on the focus of
  regionalism
• What is the focus?
• Economic efficiency, fiscal efficiency,
  infrastructure efficiency, environmental quality,
  racial social equity
• These goals can work in concert or in conflict
• When goals are aligned to combat inequity and
  promote fairness, regionalism can be powerfully
  effective in aiding low income communities

33
Equity and Regionalism

• How can regionalism promote equity and fairness?
• By controlling the regional forces creating
  inequity (sprawl, fragmentation, opportunity
  segregation)
• By assuring fair access to the regions resources
  and opportunities (such as good schools,
  employment, public services, fair housing, stable
  neighborhoods) for low income residents

34
How Can Regionalism Improve Equity

• By managing regional growth and reducing sprawl
  while prioritizing inner city growth
• By assuring affordable homes and apartments are
  available in the regions areas of opportunity
• By fixing the inequity in resources (such as
  taxes and government spending) in the region
• By fixing the inequity in public services
  available to low income communities
• By opening access to the regions job
  opportunities for everyone by providing better
  public transportation
• By fixing the inequity in resources for the
  regions schools and by granting everyone access
  to well-performing schools

35
Examples of Regionalism that Promotes Equity

• Housing Initiatives
• Inclusionary zoning, subsidized housing,
  workforce housing
• Growth Control Initiatives
• Growth boundaries, growth management
• Tax Sharing Initiatives
• Tax base sharing, income tax strategies
• Transportation Initiatives
• Transportation spending
• Public Education Initiatives
• Regionalized school districts
• Reducing reliance of property taxes for schools

36
Equity-Based Regional Housing Initiatives

• Inclusionary Zoning Laws (Montgomery County)
• Inclusionary zoning is a policy that assures a
  variety of homes and apartments are built to suit
  people of all income levels
• In Montgomery County, Maryland these policies
  have produced over 11,000 affordable units
• Inclusionary zoning has now spread throughout the
  nation (California, Wisconsin, Illinois)
• Inclusionary zoning can work to better connect
  housing to opportunity (jobs, schools)

Affordable Housing Built in Montgomery County,
Maryland
37
Regionalism InitiativesSubsidized Housing Reform

• Several states are modifying their approach to
  new subsidized housing (Low Income Housing Tax
  Credit Projects) to target more opportunity
  rich areas within metropolitan regions
• Wisconsin
• Prioritizes Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
  Projects (LIHTC) in high income, high job growth
  areas
• Illinois
• Live Near Work program for Low Income Housing
  Tax Credit Projects, prioritizes housing
  development in areas with high job growth and
  limited affordable housing
• Minnesota
• Prioritize LIHTC housing proposals in areas of
  both high job growth and high population growth

38
Expanding Subsidized Housing in Areas of
Opportunity

• New Jerseys statewide Section 8 rental
  assistance program
• Our research in Columbus, OH has found Section 8
  to be better connected to the regions
  opportunity structures than other types of public
  housing
• Federal funding cuts threaten this program which
  is critical to the poorest households in the
  nation
• New Jersey is addressing this problem by
  establishing a state Section 8 program to address
  housing need
• 25 million has been committed to this program at
  this time

39
Regionalism InitiativesPromoting Work Force
Housing

• Work force housing initiatives (providing
  affordable homes in areas with lots of jobs but
  little affordable housing) can be found in many
  states
• In Chicago, a major proponent of workforce
  housing has been the Chicago Metropolis 2020
  organization
• Members of this business based organization have
  pledged to not build or relocate facilities in
  locations without affordable worker housing or
  public transit access

40
Equity-Based Regional Growth Control

• Growth Control Initiatives (Portland)

Urban Growth Boundary in the Pacific Northwest
Source University of Washington
Oregons land use policies have promoted regional
equity by redirecting private investment back
into the central city and older suburbs by
restricting sprawl
41
Equity-Based Regional Growth Management

• Other growth management strategies can benefit
  regional equity
• Infrastructure related growth management
• State law in Maryland limits infrastructure
  subsidies for new suburban development
• The City of Columbus, OH uses its control of
  regional water and sewer lines to influence
  regional suburban growth
• Impact fees allow for developments to pay more
  for their infrastructure costs (such as new
  schools, new roads, new sewer lines)
• This reduces burden imposed on existing residents

42
Equity-Based Tax Sharing Initiatives

• Tax-Base Sharing Plans (Twin Cities)
• Tax revenue sharing to avoid local conflict over
  expanded tax base and reduce tax base disparity
  between communities
• Program covers 2.5 million people, seven counties
  and 2,000 local jurisdictions
• Appropriates approximately 40 of local revenues
  back to a pool to be shared

43
Equity-Based Tax Sharing Initiatives

• Income tax policies
• New Jerseys Millionaires Tax
• Shifting tax burden to those earning more than
  500K a year
• Tax relief for distressed cities and schools
• Several major cities use income taxes paid by
  suburban workers (who work in the city) to offset
  property tax disparity
• Examples Earnings Tax in Cleveland and
  Occupational Privilege Tax in Pittsburgh
• Special tax districts
• Pittsburghs Regional Asset District special
  tax sharing fund (paid with a 1 sales tax) to
  fund shared regional resources, produces 70
  million annually

44
Equity-Based Regional Transportation Spending
Source Michigan Land Use Institute

• Michigans Fix it First
• State policy reform to redirect transportation
  spending back to existing roads
• Reform would not have been possible without the
  advocacy of M.O.S.E.S., a faith based social
  justice organization representing the Detroit
  region
• Previous policy prioritized spending for new road
  projects, causing disinvestment in many urban
  areas like Detroit, leaving Michigan with the
  worst roads in the nation
• The new policy has curtailed almost two dozen
  road expansion projects (mostly in suburban
  Detroit)
• Spending can now be directed to repairing the
  congestion and quality of roads in Detroits
  urban areas

45
Equity-Based RegionalismRegionalized School
Districts

• County-wide school districts
• K-12 public education in Charlotte, NC is
  administered at the County level
• This was the result of combining the Charlotte
  and Mecklenburg County districts
• This policy reduces school segregation and
  provides a more equitable resource base for the
  school district

46

• Today the Charlotte school district is one of the
  least segregated large districts in the nation,
  with student performance much higher than other
  segregated major school districts

47
Equity-Based RegionalismEqualizing School
Funding

• In 1994, the State of Michigan shifted some of
  the burden of school funding from property taxes
  to statewide sales tax revenue
• Poorer districts received state funding to offset
  the disparity in local tax revenues between
  districts
• As a result the gap in school funding between
  the wealthiest districts and poorest districts in
  the state declined by 25

48
Are there concerns about regionalism?

• Can regionalism be harmful to low income
  communities?

49
Concerns About Regionalism?

• Sometimes regionalism is opposed by low income
  communities because they feel it will bring more
  harm than good
• Why?
• Concerns about power dilution
• Concerns that regionalism will ignore equity
• These issues can be (and must be) addressed if
  regionalism is to gain the support of low income
  communities

50
ConcernsMinority Power Dilution

• Communities of color and low-income communities
  can be further marginalized through power
  dilution from certain regionalism initiatives
• Municipal consolidation is one regional solution
  which has resulted in minority power dilution
• In most regions, consolidation has resulted in a
  reduction in the concentration of African
  American voters (and in some cases elected
  political representation)
• In some regions inner city communities have lost
  the ability to influence the regional agenda

51
Power Dilution Must Be Avoided in Regionalism
Initiatives

• Work to assure that regionalism does not result
  in power dilution for communities of color
• Federated Regionalism Approach
• Voting and representative strategies to assert
  minority rights
• Cumulative voting, decision-making bodies which
  allocate seats to assure minority representation
• Neighborhood control over allocation of resources
• Require a supermajority to approve regional
  actions

52
ConcernIgnoring Equity Issues

• Regionalism may not explicitly target the issues
  impacting racial equity (such as housing,
  education and tax base)
• These primary equity issues are critical to
  helping low income communities
• It is imperative that issues pertaining to
  regional equity are part of the agenda
• Example Columbus OH
• The City of Columbus has long used annexation to
  obtain greater control over regional resources
  and to manage growth
• As a result the Citys population has boomed
  while all other major cities in Ohio have lost
  population
• But, Columbus annexation policies ignored school
  districts (a key equity issue)
• As a result the Columbus school district has not
  expanded, leaving the district highly segregated
  and with a limited tax base

53
What do we need to do?

• What are the critical steps to pushing a equity
  based regional agenda to aid low-income
  communities?

54
Strategies to Advance a Regional Equity Agenda

• Coalition building
• Work both locally and regionally
• Be strategic and target key structures
• Assure the political power of low income
  communities is not diluted
• Assure equity issues are part of the agenda
• Focus on housing

55
Coalition Building

• Coalition Building
• Coalitions are critical if regional initiatives
  and consolidation are going to gain popular
  support
• Consider building support among key stakeholders
• The business community, labor community
• The private sector can have a significant role in
  regionalism initiatives
• Distressed older suburban communities
• Social justice faith-based organizations
• Affordable housing advocates
• Smart growth and environmental advocates

56
Why Would Suburban Communities Collaborate for
Regional Equity?

• Suburban communities (especially older suburbs)
  should have interest in regional equity
• Why?
• The trend of disinvestment and concentrated
  poverty does not stop at City borders, many
  suburbs are facing traditional urban issues as
  growth moves farther into the exurbs
• Todays winners are tomorrow's losers
• David Rusk
• Regional equity does not just help low income
  communities but promotes the economic health of
  the entire region
• Making the region more competitive in todays
  global economy

57
Successful Regional Coalitions for Equity

• Minneapolis-St. Paul
• Coalition for revenue sharing
• Building a coalition among older suburban
  communities was critical to gaining the political
  strength to implement revenue sharing between
  local governments
• Detroit
• M.O.S.E.S.
• A faith based organization representing both
  urban and suburban congregations in Metropolitan
  Detroit
• M.O.S.E.S. works to promote an equity-based
  regional agenda in Detroit and has addressed
  issues such as road funding, public
  transportation and abandoned property

58
Work both Locally and Regionally

• Local advocacy and organizing still has a
  critical and important role
• Regional context is critical, but local focus
  needed as well
• Regional context local focus and expertise
• Regional strategies are best but must be done
  right
• Local advocacy is critical to assuring regional
  strategies address the needs of low income
  residents

59
Be Strategic and Target Key Structures

• Grab the lowest fruit on the tree
• Identify possible turning points or critical
  interventions and work with existing
  organizations, policies and structures to force
  change
• For example, what are the key issues for your low
  income communities?
• Is it housing? Is it education?
• Identify what policies, organizations and
  structures are addressing these issues
• Address how these policies, organizations or
  structures would need to be changed to help your
  low income community
• Fighting against structures/organizations may be
  overwhelming, force the structures/organizations
  to work for you

60
Assure the Equity is on the Regional Agenda

• The social justice advocacy community must be at
  the table in respect to regionalism
• As regions struggle to cope with sprawl, the
  regionalism movement will only growth
• We must assure the concerns of low income
  communities are represented
• Regionalism that does not focus on the key issues
  of equity (land use, housing, education,
  taxation) will not help and may prove harmful to
  low income communities

61
Addressing Key Equity Issues Connecting Housing
to Opportunity

• Where you live is more important than what you
  live in
• Housing is more than just shelter, the location
  of your home dictates many of the life chances
  and opportunities you have access to
• These are referred to as opportunity
  structures, the resources and services that
  contribute to stability and advancement

62
Regional Opportunity Based Housing

• Affordable housing must be deliberately and
  intelligently connected to high performing
  school, sustaining employment, necessary
  transportation infrastructure, childcare, and
  institutions that facilitate civic and political
  activity
• Housing is a component of a larger set of
  interrelated structures that are both affected by
  housing and have impacts for the attainment of
  safe, stable housing

63
Housing is Key for Access to Opportunity
64
Linking People to Opportunity

• When expanding affordable housing the following
  questions must be addressed
• Does the creation of housing support wealth? Does
  is allow for the savings that could lead to home
  purchase?
• Is the housing located near sustainable
  employment opportunities? Is it near safe,
  affordable public transportation and childcare
  options?
• Does the housing support school residence and
  school attendance? Is the housing located near
  schools that produce positive student outcomes?
• Does housing support the health of occupants? Is
  it safe and is it located in a safe neighborhood,
  free of health hazards and near recreational
  space?
• This requires an assessment of the distribution
  of opportunities throughout the region.

65
Concluding Thoughts

• Understand the root causes (unfair and
  dysfunctional land use policies, fragmentation,
  spatial racism) of the challenges facing low
  income communities
• Regionalism can be a powerful tool to address
  these concerns
• Regionalism and institutional arrangements can
  help or hurt low income communities
• It is the role of the social justice community to
  assure regionalism address the equity issues
  critical to low income communities (housing, land
  use, education, taxation and community resources)

66
For More Information Visit us on-line at
http//www.kirwaninstitute.org/