6.6 Housing Stability is Social Justice
Nora Karena
Can the housing crisis be solved? We know a social problem must be addressed interdependently, using both individual agency and collective action. In this section, we will consider and evaluate some of the interventions and strategies communities are using to address houselessness. Creating housing stability is social justice.
Supporting Students
College students are also often housing insecure. As we consider the lives of college students, what kind of solutions work? In one example, a coalition of colleges and nonprofits banded together to create housing options in response to the housing instability of COVID-19. Portland State University, Portland Community College, and Mount Hood Community College, along with the nonprofits College Housing Northwest, Native American Youth and Family Center, and New Avenues for Youth, created a new program. This program provides rental assistance for college students enrolled in their programs. If you’d like to read more about the successful programs, you can read the articles Pilot Program to Address Student Homelessness Expands This Fall and Affordable Rents for College Students.
Even if you don’t attend one of these colleges, your college will likely support meeting students’ basic needs. You can talk to your instructor or student services to learn more about these programs. You may want to review this curated grouping of articles and videos, “It Seems Impossible” — Homeless, Low-Income Oregonians Navigate Basic Needs in College, which explores meeting basic needs, including housing, for Oregon’s college students. The articles are particularly useful because they are translated into Spanish.
Updating the Fair Housing Act
Housing distribution was historically discriminatory towards minority groups regarding social identities such as People of Color, sexual orientation, gender and sex, country of origin, and disability. The Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 and banned the sale, rental, and other housing practices that indicated preference or discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. In 1974, it was amended to include sex, and in 1988 to include people with disabilities and people with children.
In 2016, a rule by the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) ensured equal access to Community Planning and Development programs regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. Gender non-conforming individuals may find it difficult to access services because this rule applies to one specific program, not to all of them. To date, the Fair Housing Act does not include gender identity or sexual orientation. Only a handful of states have made it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity, creating a challenge for LGBTQ+ families and couples (HUD 2016 and HUD 2022).
The Equality Act passed in 2019 by the US House of Representatives would amend the Civil Rights Act to “prohibit discrimination on the basis of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition of an individual, as well as because of sex-based stereotypes.” This Act was sent to the Senate in May 2019 but has not been taken up for consideration as of August 2022. If you would like to learn more, you can read The Equality Act.
Addressing Houselessness: Housing First
A relatively new and innovative approach to addressing houselessness is the Housing First model. Simply put, the idea is that if people have stable housing, solving other problems becomes more likely. Having a secure home, consistent access to schooling, transportation, and support services means that people can be more successful in addressing overlapping issues such as mental health, addiction, and seeking employment. Housing First directly challenges the sin and sick narratives discussed in the previous section Personal Problems – “Sin” or “Sickness.”
Please watch the 3:47 minute video in Figure 6.21 for a quick rundown on Housing First principles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSPPZdNjWO8
Many communities and housing service providers have adopted the Housing First approach. Utah’s Housing First approach is a model for how these services can be made available. Through the collaboration of many local organizations and donations from local churches, real permanent semi-communal housing and services such as counseling are provided. One location, Grace Mary Manor, provides affordable housing for 84 formerly houseless people. Through programs like this, Utah decreased its houseless population by 91 percent (McEvers 2015).
Community Efforts
Individuals and communities are taking the initiative to improve neighborhood livability by increasing resources that benefit families, such as informal libraries, green spaces, and art houses. In Chapter 9, we will look at how Black Lives Matter organizes mobilized resources for community care and mutual aid that prioritize the well-being of residents in under-resourced communities.
When we look at the state level, Governor Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency related to the increase in houselessness in most counties in the state in 2023. She set a much higher target for building affordable housing (Griffin 2023). She requested funding from the legislature to provide rent assistance, increase the number of shelter beds and advocate staff, and fund organizations that are working to address disparities in houselessness (Kotek 2023). In March 2023, the Oregon Legislature approved 200 million dollars in funds for these efforts. While it is too soon to tell how much impact the clear political will and the funding will have on the state of houselessness in Oregon, this work is a step in the right direction.
The City of Portland has also been taking innovative steps to end houselessness. One effort is the Residential Infill Project. This change in zoning regulations passed in 2020, allowed for the creation of duplexes, triplexes, apartment builds of no more than six units, and accessory dwelling units in zones labeled for single-family homes only. However, these additional housing units had to meet housing affordability standards. With this change, more multi-family homes than single-family homes were built in Portland during the first year. While that’s only 367 units of affordable housing in one year, the impact of this change will only grow (Wallace 2023).
In a second initiative, In April 2022, Organizers with Portland Neighbors Welcome convened the first YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard!) Conference in support of their stated mission:
We believe that every neighborhood in our city should be open and available to people with diverse backgrounds and incomes, and that every person who wants to sleep indoors at night should be able to. We support policies that can deliver an abundant supply of homes that are affordable to rent or buy at every income level and every household size, and ensure that all tenants can live without fear of eviction or displacement. We advocate for those land use, housing, and transportation policies that will make Portland a fairer and more sustainable city. (Portland Neighbors Welcome 2022)
If you want to be inspired about what is possible, feel free to listen to these recordings from the YIMBY conference.
Understanding, acknowledging, and repairing past injustices are critical steps toward making homes equitably available to everyone. Tenants unions are working to empower renters and reduce evictions. Housing advocates, many of whom have been unhoused, are lobbying for more funding for affordable housing. Nonprofit housing service providers continue developing and delivering trauma-informed services that support the social and emotional needs of people striving for housing stability. In addition, community-based efforts resource and support residents of historically marginalized neighborhoods. Each of these interdependent solutions creates stable housing, a component of social justice.
Licenses and Attributions for Housing Stability is Social Justice
Open Content, Original
“Housing Stability Is Social Justice” by Nora Karena is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Open Content, Shared Previously
“Updating the Fair Housing Act”’ and “Addressing Houselessness: Housing First” are adapted from “Movement Toward Equity” by Elizabeth B. Pearce, Katherine Hemlock, and Wesley Sharp, Contemporary Families: An Equity Lens 1e, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Modifications: edited to add social problems focus.
Figure 6.20. “Fair housing protest, Seattle, Washington, 1964” by Seattle Municipal Archives is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Figure 6.21. “Pandemic shows importance, effectiveness of Housing First programs” by CBC News: The National is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.
a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world, or our physical world
the actions taken by a collection or group of people, acting based on a collective decision
lacking a place to live
full and equal participation of of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs
an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
a person’s emotional, romantic, erotic, and spiritual attractions toward another person
a social expression of a person’s sexual identity that influences the status, roles, and norms of their behavior.
a biological categorization based on characteristics that distinguish between female and male based on primary sex characteristics present at birth.
the geographical location where a person was born and grew up
a disability is a condition of the body or mind which makes it more difficult for a person to participate fully in everyday life
one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.
an acronym that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and more.
a state of mind characterized by emotional well-being, good behavioral adjustment, relative freedom from anxiety and disabling symptoms, and a capacity to establish constructive relationships and cope with the ordinary demands and stresses of life.
a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite adverse consequences.
a hashtag that first went viral in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. In the decade following its introduction, #BlackLivesMatter became a popular organizing tool on social media.
areas with relatively high poverty rates that lack robust economic infrastructure. While the term often refers to cities and suburbs with populations of over 250,000 people, many rural communities are also under-resourced (adapted from Eberhardt, Wial, and Yee 2020:5).
a person (or group) response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms one's ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes self esteem and the ability to feel a full range of emotions and experiences.