1. Place, Housing & Opportunity: Fair Housing for
Supporting Thriving Families and Communities
KEYNOTE ADDRESS - 2015 FAIR HOUSING BREAKFAST
FAIR HOUSING CENTER OF SOUTHEASTERNMICHIGAN
ANN ARBOR, MI – MARCH 25TH
2015
JASON REECE
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, THE KIRWAN INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF RACE & ETHNICITY
LECTURER, CITY & REGIONAL PLANNING PROGRAM, KNOWLTON SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

2. Why Fair Housing Matters
SUPPORTING THRIVING FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES

3. Housing matters, place matters….

4. The Significance of Housing to
Child Development
 Housing stressed families
spent 30% less on food, 50%
less on clothing, and 70%
less on health care (Joint
Center for Housing Studies)
 Children are particularly
vulnerable to housing
instability, impacting health
and educational outcomes
(stress, toxin/environmental
exposure, classroom/school
instability)
 Housing instability can
potentially undermine child
development initiatives and
interventions

5. Place/Community Matters.
(Places of Toxic Stress)
“Point to a group of toddlers in a low-income neighborhood, and — especially if they’re boys
— they’re much more likely to end up dropping out of school, struggling in dead-end jobs and
having trouble with the law.
Something is profoundly wrong when we can point to 2-year-olds in this country and make a
plausible bet about their long-term outcomes — not based on their brains and capabilities,
but on their ZIP codes.”
- Nick Kristof, “For Obama’s Second Term, Mr. President Start Here”. New York Times. January 23, 2012

6. The Role of Chronic Stress & ACE’s
(Adverse Childhood Experiences)

7. Toxic Stress:
Areas of Youth
Gun Violence
YOUTH VICTIMS OF
GUN VIOLENCE IN
COLUMBUS, 2012 (BY
RACE)

8. Thriving Neighborhoods = Thriving Children
Struggling neighborhoods = Struggling Children
Opportunity structures are vital to combating
the impact of poverty,creating strong
neighborhoods and an environment in which
children can become successful adults.
Neighborhood conditions and childhood development are intricately intertwined

9. Scope of the Challenge
SUPPORTING THRIVING FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES

10. Continued Challenges:
Disinvestment & Unhealthy Neighborhoods

11. Continued Challenges: Exclusion

12. Washtenaw Co. FHEA Data
Overall Opportunity (quintiles)
Very High [71.3 - 93.4]
High [62.7 - 71.3]
Moderate [54.2 - 62.6]
Low [45.1 - 54.1]
Very Low [16.3 - 45.0]
HUD’s FHEA
Opportunity Index:
Relative to Washtenaw
County, Michigan Block
Groups
The Geography of Opportunity

13. School Quality & Assisted
Housing in SE Michigan

14. Continued Challenges:
Dimensions of Affordability
Who isn’t served by the housing market?
Population at125% of the poverty in the U.S.
Nearly 1 in 3
children
1 out of 3 African
Americans,
Latinos and
Native Americans
1 in 3 disabled
1 in 4
immigrants

16. Continued Challenges:
The Ghost of History

17. Baltimore: Passes First Racial Zoning Ordinance
in 1910/1911
(Used Public Health Language as Justification)
 "Blacks should be
quarantinedin isolated
slums in order to reduce the
incidents of civil
disturbance, to prevent the
spread of communicable
disease into the nearby
White neighborhoods, and
to protect property values
among the White majority."
 Baltimore Mayor Bary Mahool,
1910

18. Opportunity
SUPPORTING THRIVING FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES

19. A New Family Portrait – Population Change by Race.
Source: Figure from the PolicyLink Equity Atlas

20. Recognition of the
Challenge and the Stakes
Quote from “Housing Affordability and Economic Equity –
Analysis,Washtenaw County, MI” Office of Community and
Economic DevelopmentWashtenaw County

21. Investing in Places & Assuring Housing
Choice in Areas of Opportunity

22. Where Do We Go
From Here?
 Raising awareness of the critical
need for fair housing to support an
economically vibrant community
 Identifying more resources to
support fair housing
 Building community will to work
together (leveraging resources and
supportivepartnerships) to support
fair housing
 Supporting a policy framework
which assures access to opportunity
for all

23. Innovation: Housing as a Health
Intervention
 Public health stakeholders are looking toward housing as a critical “social
determinant” linked to health problems
 We can anticipate more projects involving health practitioners and stakeholders to
support housing as a health intervention
Housing rehabilitation as part of the Nationwide Childrens Hospital
Healthy Neighborhoods, Healthy Families Program