The panelists at Thursday’s affordable housing discussion.
Showing up to a Black Lives Matter rally in an overwhelmingly white suburb like Weston is nice.
Turning out to that town’s zoning meetings and supporting the construction of dense, affordable, multi-family housing would make more of a difference.
Those views on the responsibilities of the suburbs in overcoming both the state’s affordable housing crisis and its long history of racial injustice and segregation were at the center of a virtual panel discussion hosted by the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
The hour-plus conversation took place this past Thursday evening online via Facebook live, and was called: “Housing As a Human Right? Tackling Affordability & Discrimination.”
Featured speakers Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton, New Haven Legal Assistance Association Executive Director Alexis Highsmith Smith, CTMirror reporter Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, and moderator John Dankosky stressed time and again that affordable housing and segregated development are not solely urban issues. They cannot be thought of, and cannot be addressed, solely by looking at predominantly lower-income, black and brown cities like New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport.
Smith and Rabe Thomas said that too many suburbs and small towns in Connecticut have exclusionary zoning ordinances and conservative zoning commissions that use excuses around preserving a town’s character, keeping traffic flow down, not overwhelming sewage capacity, and not having enough sidewalks in order to stymie multi-family housing construction.
“That’s as unwelcoming as can be,” Smith said about “character preservation” arguments against denser development. Considering the long history of redlining, white flight, and racially segregated suburban development in this state and country, she said “character preservation” is analogous in her mind to someone saying, “I want to keep it as white as we can.”
Rabe Thomas said that the town of Monroe requires a minimum lot size of 70 acres for the construction of a multi-family unit. Avon, she said, requires 15 acres.
And DuBois-Walton said that the lack of county government in Connecticut means urban housing authorities like New Haven’s have to work within exceedingly narrow domains.
“In other places, the State of Connecticut would be a county,” she said. She said when she talks with her colleagues who work in public housing around the country, they’re always shocked at how she can build affordable housing within the limits of only a single, small city like New Haven.
Rabe Thomas pointed out that Weston, a Fairfield County suburb that is 95 percent white and consists almost entirely of single-family houses, recently hosted a Black Lives Matter rally in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.
“Actions speak louder than words,” she said. “It’s one thing to say that you care about black lives at a rally. It’s another to show up at a zoning meeting.”
She and Smith said that developers interested in building multi-family housing often commit to adding more sewage capacity, or building out more sidewalks. Those potential solutions are rarely heeded as developments are often shot down by restrictive zoning ordinances or reluctant zoning commissioners.
Go to zoning meetings, Smith and Rabe Thomas and DuBois-Walton implored white suburbanites interested in racial justice. Tell your commissions that you do support denser development in town, that you do want to see true economic and racial diversity where you live.
“There is enough money in this country to ensure that everyone has a right to safe and decent housing,” DuBois-Walton said. The affordable housing crisis is not a result of scarcity, but rather of the uneven distribution of resources and wealth.
Fighting for racial justice is about more than rallying, she continued. “It’s about combating NIMBYism. That’s something that everyone can do.”