Look upward in downtown Detroit and you’ll see ornate skyscrapers built even before the city’s automotive-fueled heyday of the 1950s, when it was the richest city in the country. Lower your gaze, and the bevy of cranes offers signs of renewal. At street level, crowded restaurants and busy sidewalks create an urban buzz familiar to any city dweller. For Melinda Clemons, this activity is a positive sign, as her hometown builds back from the national foreclosure crisis in 2008 and municipal bankruptcy five years later.

The lasting impacts of segregation and redlining continue to play a significant role in limiting access to decent, safe, and affordable residential housing and homeownership in Black communities.

On her first day in office, new Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced a state of emergency on homelessness and days later launched “Inside Safe” to move people from tent encampments to housing. Jimar Wilson, Enterprise’s vice president and market leader for Southern California, finds this swift action and renewed investment encouraging. Still, he recognizes there are no quick or easy fixes to his hometown’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. 

A Dream Deserved: Realizing Our Collective Emergence is the culmination of intense community engagement and dialogue in the District of Columbia’s Ward 8.