What You Can Do in Your Town to Advance Racial Equity By: Taniqua K. Huguley

WHAT YOU CAN DO IN YOUR TOWN TO ADVANCE RACIAL EQUITY Taniqua K. Huguley, M.A. Outreach Director February 10, 2021 Asylum Hill Congregational Church

OPEN COMMUNITIES ALLIANCE Embracing Diversity to Strengthen Connecticut

Open Communities Alliance is a Connecticut-based civil rights nonprofit working with an urban-suburban interracial coalition to advocate for access to opportunity, particularly through promoting balanced affordable housing development, including in thriving communities.

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CT IS ONE OF THE MOST SEGREGATED STATES IN THE NATION Shaped by multiple factors: -

Zoning

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Subsidized housing locations

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Limits on housing authority jurisdiction

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Disinvestment

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History of intentional segregating 3 policies

SEGREGATION IS SHAPED BY HISTORY: Redlining

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SEGREGATION IS SHAPED BY HISTORY: Racial Covenants

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SEGREGATION SHAPED BY HISTORY “By the late 1960s, 94 percent of the Greater Hartford region’s low-income subsidized public housing would be located inside Hartford’s city limits. But in the ten surrounding towns, just 1.3 percent of housing stock was public housing units.”

“In 1970, Black families still made up barely 1 percent of the population in the suburbs of Hartford. All the population growth during this period—110,000 people—occurred in the suburbs. The population of the city, during the same period, declined from 162,000 to 158,000. Meanwhile, the city’s Black population nearly doubled, from about 25,000 to 40,000, and the Latinx population nearly quadrupled, from 2,300 to 8,800. During this same period, 31,000—or nearly a fifth of all white residents—left the city.”

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MAP OF OPPORTUNITY IN CT

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MAP OF DISTRIBUTION OF PEOPLE OF COLOR & OPPORTUNITY IN CT

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MAP OF DISTRIBUTION OF PEOPLE OF COLOR & OPPORTUNITY IN CT

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LONG TERM ANALYSIS OF MOBILITY: CHETTY ET AL. Outcomes for children who moved before age 13: Greater chance of going to college, and a higher quality college 30% higher income Girls were 26% less likely to become single parents

We estimate that [a move] out of public housing to a low-poverty area when young (at age 8 on average) … will increase the child’s total lifetime earnings by about $302,000.

Second Chetty et al. study showed that the longer a child can be in a lower poverty area the greater the positive outcomes.

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WHAT CAN YOU DO IN YOUR TOWN? 4 Steps to Advancing Racial Equity in Your Town

STEP 1: Educate yourself STEP 2: Educate your community STEP 3: Assess your town STEP 4: Take Action

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WHAT IT MEANS TO ASSESS YOUR TOWN Become familiar with your town’s statistics ▪ Racial demographics ▪ Internal segregation/school district segregation ▪ Opportunity analysis ▪ Where is subsidized housing located?

Review your local zoning ordinances ▪ Central Question: Where is multifamily housing of 30 units or more allowed in town with or without a special permit?

▪ What extra requirements are imposed on multifamily (3+ units) housing?

▪ Where can duplexes go?

▪ What are the rules for subdividing your property?

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WHAT IT MEANS TO ASSESS YOUR TOWN Review your Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). This is a state-mandated town plan for conserving and developing town land.

Review your town’s performance on police stops of people of color (see resources available through the Racial Profiling Prohibition Project, http://www.ctrp3.org) Conduct focus groups to assess residents’ attitude towards diversity and affordable housing (the results can be surprising).

Explore culturally competent ways to better understand the experiences of people of color (particularly Black and Latinx people in your town) – This must be done sensitively and with a diverse and culturally competent team.

Assess the accessibility of town services and benefits – is the soccer league open to children from other towns? Are town lakes and 13 swimming pools open to all?

TAKE ACTION:

HAVE A SAY IN YOUR TOWN’S PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT Advocate for changes in your town’s Plan of Conservation and Development.

Every 10 years a statemandated POCD must be adopted by every town.

BUT, town plans can be amended at any time and must have public input.

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TAKE ACTION:

HAVE A SAY IN YOUR TOWN’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING PLAN At least once every five years each municipality must prepare, amend, or adopt an affordable housing plan.

The purpose of the Regional Plan Association Inc. is to help towns develop an affordable housing plan.

Updated affordable housing plans should be submitted by next year (and every 5 years thereafter).

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TAKE ACTION:

ADVOCATE FOR CHANGES TO YOUR TOWN’S ZONING ORDINANCES Property owners have the power to petition for changes in the town’s zoning laws.

▪ Examples: ● Hire a town planner to recommend revisions to the town’s zoning laws ● Advocate for your town to adopt an affordable housing requirement ● Advocate for housing as redevelopment ● Advocate for taller building heights, coverage, and density

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LOCAL OUTREACH EFFORTS Coalition & Town Ambassador Program ▪ Education & Outreach ▪ Organize locally ▪ Make affordable housing an election issue.

▪ Advocate for changes at the state level.

Identify properties in areas of town that have a dearth of affordable housing (work with Open Communities Trust!).

Hartford County

Middlesex County

New Haven County

Fairfield County

New London County

Tolland County

Avon

Middletown

Hamden

Westport

Stonington

Hebron

Woodbridge

Darien

East Lyme

Branford

Fairfield

Farmington

Glastonbury

Old Saybrook

Simsbury

West Hartford

Recruit Housing Choice Voucher families through local housing authorities.

Rent to families with housing vouchers.

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LOCAL OUTREACH EFFORTS Identify land in areas of town that have a lack of affordable housing ▪ Work with Open Communities Trust!

Recruit Housing Choice Voucher families through local housing authorities.

Make affordable housing an election issue.

Advocate for changes at the state level.

Advocate for changes to zoning (to accommodate your town’s fair share) and/ or the Plan of Conservation and Development.

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CONTACT ME

Taniqua K. Huguley, M.A. Outreach Director Open Communities Alliance E-mail: THuguley@ctoca.org Webiste: CTOCA.org Phone: (860) 610-6040 75 Charter Oak Ave. Suite 1-200 Hartford, CT 06105 19