Housing, Race, and Poverty

Catalog description

This course will focus on the enduring impacts of systemic racism and other structural inequities on access to housing. It will proceed in three stages: We begin with a historical review, during which we will explore the myriad laws, policies, and subsidies over the past century in particular, but also throughout American history, that have served to entrench racial segregation and ensure white dominance in access to housing. Next, we take a deep dive into the impacts of this history and the struggles of housing insecurity in the modern era. In addition to our failure to ensure housing to those in poverty, this portion of the course will also review the impacts of discrimination in housing based on race, gender, or LGBTQIA+ status. In the final month of the semester we will turn to the topic of modern policy development, especially at the local level, to enable students to interrogate zoning policies and development patterns that have formed the context of their lives so far. We will take a critical lens to these routine practices and empower students to seek out better choices for their communities now and in their future. This is a 3-unit elective course, with substantial class discussion, that will culminate in a take-home exam.