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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

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Collage of George Romney giving a speech, the Baileys, their house, and riot police.

In 1967, a Black Man and a White Woman Bought a Home. American Politics Would Never Be the Same.

What happened to the Bailey family in the Detroit suburb of Warren became a flashpoint in the national battle over integration.
by Zack Stanton via Politico Magazine on December 22, 2023
Three panels of a graphic depicting Soul city. Images include two people walking in a street, people playing golf, and the inside of a mall

The Plan to Build a Capital for Black Capitalism

In 1969, an activist set out to build an African-American metropolis from scratch. What would have happened if Soul City had succeeded?
by Kelefa Sanneh via The New Yorker on February 1, 2021
Protestors against eviction.
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Covid-19 Has Exposed the Consequences of Decades of Bad Public Housing Policy

A reduction in public housing units left Americans at the mercy of private landlords.
by Gillet Gardner Rosenblith via Made By History on September 8, 2020
A race wall

A Nation of Walls

An artist-activist catalogues the physical remnants of 'segregation walls,' unassuming bits of racist infrastructure that hide in plain sight in neighborhoods.
by Chat Travieso via Places Journal on September 1, 2020
President Richard Nixon, HUD Secretary George Romney, and Washington Mayor Walter stand near a pile of rubble

How Federal Housing Programs Failed Black America

Even housing policies that sought to create more Black homeowners were stymied by racism and a determination to shrink the government’s presence.
by Marcia Chatelain via The Nation on August 25, 2020

Racism After Redlining

In "Race for Profit," Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor walks us through the ways racist housing policy survived the abolition of redlining.
by N. D. B. Connolly via Black Perspectives on April 21, 2020

Goodbye to Good Earth

A Louisiana tribe’s long fight against the American tide.
by Boyce Upholt via Oxford American on September 3, 2019

How Real Estate Segregated America

Real-estate interests have long wielded an outsized influence over national housing policy—to the detriment of African Americans.
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor via Dissent on October 2, 2018

151 Years of America’s Housing History

From the first tenement regulation to work requirements for public-housing residents, these are key moments in housing policy.
via The Nation on May 24, 2018

The Unfulfilled Promise of the Fair Housing Act

Fifty years after President Johnson signed it into law, the bill has failed to create an integrated society.
by Michelle Adams via The New Yorker on April 11, 2018

America’s Real Estate Developer in Chief

Donald Trump's rise to power was fueled by the profits of predatory real estate ventures.
by Thomas J. Sugrue via Public Books on November 27, 2017
Affordable housing development under construction in New York City
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The History of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could make a successful program even better—and address a major crisis.
by Tom Hanchett via Made By History on June 12, 2025
Title card of the cartoon, featuring FDR committing money to a federal housing program.

The Tragedy and Tenacity of Public Housing in America

A cartoon report on the only policy proven to address the housing shortage and how racism, inept management, and disinvestment led to long-term decline.
by Eric Orner via The Nation on March 18, 2024
A promotional pamphlet for Soul City, 1969.

Black Capitalism in One City

Soul City was a boondoggle—not a story of lost or forgotten roads tragically not taken.
by Adolph Reed Jr. via Dissent on May 25, 2022
A crowd watches a roller skater dance at block party in the Bronx.

The Stories of the Bronx

"Urban Legends: The South Bronx in Representation and Ruin" is a vibrant cultural history that looks beyond pervasive narratives of cultural renaissance and urban neglect.
by Emily Raboteau via New York Review of Books on March 17, 2022
Demonstrators outside the New York City offices of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Aug. 31.
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The Supreme Court Ended The Eviction Ban But Not The Fight Against Evictions

Historically, the failures and limitations of federal policy have emboldened activists.
by Maia Silber via Made By History on September 9, 2021

9/11 was a Test. The Books of the Last Two Decades Show How America Failed.

The books of the last two decades show how overreacting to the attacks unmade America’s values.
by Carlos Lozada via Washington Post on September 3, 2021
Lightning bolt above a city at night.

The Human Nature of Disaster

A storm is never just wind or rain. Our natural problems are social problems. The solutions to them must be social, too.
by Maia Silber via Public Books on March 26, 2021
photo of Otto Kerner with quote: "freedom for every citizen to live and work according to his capacities and not his color"

We Were Warned About a Divided America 50 Years Ago. We Ignored the Signs

As in the 1960s, the nation today stands at a turning point.
by Elizabeth Hinton via Washington Post on March 16, 2021
An row of small suburban houses, with an SUV parked in a driveway and an American flag in the foreground.

Trump Doesn’t Understand Today’s Suburbs—And Neither Do You

Suburbs are getting more diverse, but that doesn't mean they’re woke.
by Thomas J. Sugrue, Zack Stanton via Politico Magazine on June 8, 2020
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A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty has an Unexpected History

Some cities are trying to help poor children succeed by having their families move to middle-income, "opportunity areas" -- an idea once politically impossible.
via Retro Report on October 22, 2019
Mugshot of Bernard L. Barker.
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Want to Know Why Some Hispanics Support Donald Trump? Ask Richard Nixon.

Nixon created the blend of Republicanism that remains attractive to a segment of Hispanic voters.
by Geraldo Cadava via Made By History on August 9, 2019

Inside the St. Louis Rent Strike of 1969

Led by African American women, the strike inspired legislation that affected the entire nation.
by Caitlin Lee, Clark Randall via Belt Magazine on June 4, 2019
Freedom Hill historic marker half underwater in a flood.

The Water Next Time?

For generations, a North Carolina town founded by former slaves has been disproportionately affected by environmental calamity.
by Danielle Purifoy via Scalawag on October 10, 2018

The Housing Revolution We Need

A decade after the crash of 2008, a growing movement has thrust our prolonged housing crisis to the center of the national agenda.
by Thomas J. Sugrue via Dissent on October 1, 2018

Greater Homeownership isn’t the Answer to Ending Wealth Inequality

Black Americans have just one-tenth of the wealth of white Americans, and the difference in home values is a big part of the problem.
by Eshe Nelson via Quartz on April 19, 2018

Who Segregated America?

For all of its strengths, Richard Rothstein’s new book does not account for the central role capitalism played in segregating America's cities.
by Destin Jenkins via Public Books on December 21, 2017
Floyd B. McKissick and Kimp Talley stand in front of a tall sign that reads "Soul City."
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Soul City

In the 1960s, civil rights activist Floyd McKissick successfully sold President Nixon on an idea of a black built, black-owned community in North Carolina.
via BackStory on November 17, 2016
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Fair Housing

Has the government done enough to stop housing discrimination?
via Retro Report on September 18, 2016
Folk singer Tom Glazer performs in July 1965 for nearly 400 children enrolled in Head Start centers at Saratoga Square Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. (AP)

Evaluating the Success of the Great Society

Lyndon B. Johnson's visionary set of legislation turns 50 years old.
via Washington Post on May 17, 2014

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