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Innovation spotlight: Betterhood Rethinking housing as a tool for social equity Jonathan Barnes Jonathan Barnes earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental design from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Master in Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Barnes previously practiced with the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill on new-construction and renovation projects in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and London, including the development of the NBC Tower, one of Chicago’s premier high-rise buildings. As managing and design principal with JBAD, Barnes has led design teams in architecture, planning, and interiors projects for over 24 years with award-winning results. At JBAD, Barnes has focused on urban mixed-use and infill projects in the private and public sectors, including multi-family, commercial office, retail, civic, and higher education projects.
Matt Toddy (MT): Can you explain the genesis of Betterhood? What is the 20-year goal for the organization? Jonathan Barnes (JB): Betterhood is a not-for-profit organization founded by Jonathan Barnes Architecture & Design (JBAD) as a way to bring innovative design concepts to bear on contemporary issues facing urban American neighborhoods through social entrepreneurship. The organization has served as an important outlet and point of leverage for a lot of the creative thinking that happens at JBAD. I’ve never had a 20-year goal for anything, but our expectations have always been focused beyond the virtual notoriety of Instagram and Twitter and on actual implementation and making a real difference in the lives of the residents of challenged neighborhoods.
the country. From 1950 to 1970, African Americans lost nearly $4 billion in potential gains to these conditions. Many urban neighborhoods in Columbus have been similarly segregated by race and economics for decades, offering limited opportunities for residents in those communities to participate in real estate ownership and investment compared to other neighborhoods. Entrepreneurial housing offers an important tool to help level the playing field.
MT: Why is the entrepreneurial housing concept so important in a city like Columbus? JB: The wealth gap that minority populations experience across the U.S. is multi-generational, persistent, and in large measure a result of unfair real estate practices, beginning around 1910 with restrictive deed covenants and later with redlining and contract-for-deed arrangements — all of these limiting where African Americans and other minorities could live and how they could benefit from real estate ownership like the rest of
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Above: Owner/Tenant Module Opposite: Rendering of proposed prototype at Near East Columbus, Taylor + Emerald