In April, Congress reintroduced the Fair Housing Improvement Act of 2023 to ensure that the variety of income sources people use throughout the country to pay their rent don’t pose an obstacle to signing a lease. For 2.3 million households around the country living with low incomes, rental subsidies in the form of housing vouchers offer the promise of affordable housing. Yet, in many places, legal forms of discrimination create a barrier to realizing that promise.

A recent Enterprise analysis found that while foreclosure risk overall declined from September 2020 to November 2022, gaps remained between white homeowners and homeowners of color who reported being behind on their mortgage payments and likely to lose their homes. That persistent gap indicates government interventions during the pandemic did little to shrink systemic inequities in housing stability for households of color.

Deadly disasters disproportionately affect underserved communities and people of color, reflecting decades of disinvestment and the climate impacts faced when compared to wealthier and non-redlined areas.

In this post, the author unpacks the racial inequities built into another tax provision that unfairly benefits white owners: the mortgage interest deduction (MID). Through an examination of its origins, uses, and value relative to costs, the following discussion shows how this seemingly race-neutral tax deduction actually exacerbates racial wealth and homeownership gaps.

Learn how anti-racist policy focused in the short term on the adequate and equitable allocation of rent and legal assistance can help BIPOC-led households avoid the disruption of an unplanned move, including the associated financial and psychological strain.

For over a century, Native Hawaiians have been fighting to get back the land that's rightfully theirs.

Last year was the hottest year on record , and 2024 has a one-in-three chance of being even hotter. As temperatures increase and climate change worsens, extreme heat events will occur with more frequency and intensity, having an outsized impact in dense, urban areas. Urban neighborhoods face increased temperatures due to building concentrations and a lack of green space, creating a phenomenon referred to as the urban heat island effect. Neighborhoods with a high number of low-income residents of color experience more intense heat island effects. This is not by chance, but is a result of deliberate, discriminatory housing policies that have impacted people of color, pushing them into vulnerable neighborhoods prone to extreme heat exacerbated by climate change.

While the world watches and calls for swift and immediate action to address climate change, environmental justice proponents warn that not all policies are created equal, and that some may serve to exacerbate existing inequities, including by race and ethnicity. While many homeowners can invest in efficiency upgrades, electric technologies, and renewable energy generation, renters—particularly low-income and BIPOC renters—rarely have the same options. A careful approach to decarbonization must be considered to avoid exacerbating the nation’s affordable housing crisis.