07-30-2019, 12:38 PM
The struggles of Baltimore follow the troubling struggles of the US and its housing policies in the 20th century. A few miles down the road from me is Edmondson Village, which unfortunately was hit by an arsonist soon after the twitter assault on District 7/Baltimore.
Edmondson Village was a hot new neighborhood in the 40's thanks to the post WWII boom and had one of the best shopping centers built in 1947. Families flocked there, so when more and more black families entered the middle class in the 50's, they too wanted to make the same move from the heart of Baltimore City to the suburban neighborhoods on the edges.
Between 1955 and 1965, a real estate developer began buying up houses in Edmondson Village and selling them to black families. As more black families moved in, he approached white families with fears of plummeting home values and bought the homes for less than they were worth, reselling them to black families for more than they were worth. This process is known as blockbusting. Community charters were able to openly prevent the sale of homes to black families, so they were willing to overpay. The neighborhood had one of the quickest shifts from all white to all black, in only a few years.
Edmondson Village Shopping Center saw businesses begin to flee as well. Doctors, drug stores, restaurants, ice cream shops, a theater, jewelers, and a department store were some of them.
City funding also left. The local park and facilities suffered and money left the neighborhood schools. Without the influence of white families, the neighborhood was cast aside. Home values dropped and buildings became vacant.
This was not unique as Baltimore itself was facing a population problem. Baltimore's population hit its peak in 1950 at 950,000 (40% of the state lived in the city). Now it is close to 600,000 (9-10% of the state) and dropping. With a national shift away from manufacturing, Baltimore lost its status as a shipping and industrial hub. With that population shift came a decrease in the tax base and far too many vacant properties.
Federal housing policies also harmed Baltimore as redlining restricted loans and investments into immigrant and minority majority neighborhoods, preventing those areas from receiving the same influx of wealth that other areas received from the 30's-60's.
In the 50's-70's, 80-90% of those whose homes were displaced due to the constructions of highways and other urban renewal projects were black. Nationwide, the number is 67%. Jobs followed these highways out of the cities, but transportation systems did not.
Follow that with the mass incarceration policies of the 1970's. Minority populations, restricted by decades of policies, mostly remained in urban areas with low home ownership, inadequate infrastructures, and low job opportunities. Those stuck in poverty are more likely to fall to crime to survive, They're also less able to obtain the same defense as wealthier individuals and more likely to fall to the mercy of the court system. There of course is the bias that also exists within the system against minorities, which is compounded by the disadvantages of poverty within the justice system. The end result was millions of people ripped from their families in areas already struggling.
After that we saw gentrification raise property values in areas where minority populations already struggled to make it. Former industrial and low income areas became the home to shopping, entertainment, business, and high end housing. In that same period of time, banks, as we now have found out, were targeting minorities in areas like this by predatory loans, offering families who spent decades unable to own homes with the prospect of home ownership, keeping them in the dark on the hidden terms. You also have the slum lords, like Kushner who owns several Baltimore properties that were cited with hundreds of violations (which they only fixed when fines and legal action were taken), who take advantage of these situations and then trick tenants into racking up fees, using their naivety of the court system to win wage garnishments and evictions so that they can do it again to more tenants.
Rising healthcare costs, low unemployment, poor education, and a lack of services has also caused their own hardships. Something as simple as discriminatory housing
Baltimore, like most other urban areas, is the product of over a century of policies aimed at hindering minority populations and preventing them from receiving the boons that other populations received in that time. Part of it was shortsightedness. Part of it was prejudice. Part of it was the result of under-representation.
Still these areas have some amazing people who live there who want to fight for their communities, even if a small percent causes trouble. We need to be serious about addressing the issues that affect these communities and the causes, not blaming a congressman (who has spent his career trying to address this) on rats at vacant lots.
I think Buttigieg, whose emphasis has been on community, proposes a great start.
https://peteforamerica.com/douglass-plan/
Edmondson Village was a hot new neighborhood in the 40's thanks to the post WWII boom and had one of the best shopping centers built in 1947. Families flocked there, so when more and more black families entered the middle class in the 50's, they too wanted to make the same move from the heart of Baltimore City to the suburban neighborhoods on the edges.
Between 1955 and 1965, a real estate developer began buying up houses in Edmondson Village and selling them to black families. As more black families moved in, he approached white families with fears of plummeting home values and bought the homes for less than they were worth, reselling them to black families for more than they were worth. This process is known as blockbusting. Community charters were able to openly prevent the sale of homes to black families, so they were willing to overpay. The neighborhood had one of the quickest shifts from all white to all black, in only a few years.
Edmondson Village Shopping Center saw businesses begin to flee as well. Doctors, drug stores, restaurants, ice cream shops, a theater, jewelers, and a department store were some of them.
City funding also left. The local park and facilities suffered and money left the neighborhood schools. Without the influence of white families, the neighborhood was cast aside. Home values dropped and buildings became vacant.
This was not unique as Baltimore itself was facing a population problem. Baltimore's population hit its peak in 1950 at 950,000 (40% of the state lived in the city). Now it is close to 600,000 (9-10% of the state) and dropping. With a national shift away from manufacturing, Baltimore lost its status as a shipping and industrial hub. With that population shift came a decrease in the tax base and far too many vacant properties.
Federal housing policies also harmed Baltimore as redlining restricted loans and investments into immigrant and minority majority neighborhoods, preventing those areas from receiving the same influx of wealth that other areas received from the 30's-60's.
In the 50's-70's, 80-90% of those whose homes were displaced due to the constructions of highways and other urban renewal projects were black. Nationwide, the number is 67%. Jobs followed these highways out of the cities, but transportation systems did not.
Follow that with the mass incarceration policies of the 1970's. Minority populations, restricted by decades of policies, mostly remained in urban areas with low home ownership, inadequate infrastructures, and low job opportunities. Those stuck in poverty are more likely to fall to crime to survive, They're also less able to obtain the same defense as wealthier individuals and more likely to fall to the mercy of the court system. There of course is the bias that also exists within the system against minorities, which is compounded by the disadvantages of poverty within the justice system. The end result was millions of people ripped from their families in areas already struggling.
After that we saw gentrification raise property values in areas where minority populations already struggled to make it. Former industrial and low income areas became the home to shopping, entertainment, business, and high end housing. In that same period of time, banks, as we now have found out, were targeting minorities in areas like this by predatory loans, offering families who spent decades unable to own homes with the prospect of home ownership, keeping them in the dark on the hidden terms. You also have the slum lords, like Kushner who owns several Baltimore properties that were cited with hundreds of violations (which they only fixed when fines and legal action were taken), who take advantage of these situations and then trick tenants into racking up fees, using their naivety of the court system to win wage garnishments and evictions so that they can do it again to more tenants.
Rising healthcare costs, low unemployment, poor education, and a lack of services has also caused their own hardships. Something as simple as discriminatory housing
Baltimore, like most other urban areas, is the product of over a century of policies aimed at hindering minority populations and preventing them from receiving the boons that other populations received in that time. Part of it was shortsightedness. Part of it was prejudice. Part of it was the result of under-representation.
Still these areas have some amazing people who live there who want to fight for their communities, even if a small percent causes trouble. We need to be serious about addressing the issues that affect these communities and the causes, not blaming a congressman (who has spent his career trying to address this) on rats at vacant lots.
I think Buttigieg, whose emphasis has been on community, proposes a great start.
https://peteforamerica.com/douglass-plan/
![[Image: ulVdgX6.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/ulVdgX6.jpg)
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
