john a' powell

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Racial Implications of Regional Development
Presentation for the Regional Reinvestment
Roundtable June 18, 2004

• john a. powell
• Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties,
  Moritz College of Law
• Executive Director, Kirwan Institute of Race and
  Ethnicity
• The Ohio State University
• http//www.kirwaninstitute.org/

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The problem of equality is so tenacious
because, despite its virtues and attributes,
America is deeply racist and its democracy is
flawed both economically and socially justice
for Black people cannot be achieved without
radical changes in the structure of our society
exposing evils that are rooted deeply in the
whole structure of our society. It reveals
systemic rather than superficial flaws and
suggests that radical reconstruction of society
itself is the real issue to be faced Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Unfinished Business of Northern Racial
Hierarchy

• There are different ways of creating and
  maintaining racial hierarchy
• Racial hierarchies often changing
• The civil rights movement was effective for the
  southern style
• We have not had a civil rights movement focus on
  northern style
• Regional equity is the civil rights movement for
  the north at this time and space

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Racial Disparities and Inequity

• Although racial attitudes are improving steadily,
  racial disparities persist on every level.
• Income, poverty, employment, health, crime,
  incarceration, education, assets, housing.
• Inequity arises as disenfranchised groups are
  left out of the democratic process.
• Increasingly moving toward racial hierarchy
  without racist actor

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Equity Challenges Existing Forms of Racism

• We have seen a move away from legal racism and
  personal prejudice to a racial hierarchy that is
  enforced through institutional/structural means.
• de jure segregation ? de facto segregation

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Spatial racism The Civil Rights Agenda for the
21st Century

• Overt racism is easily condemned, but the sin is
  often with us in more subtle formsof spatial
  racismSpatial racism refers to patterns of
  metropolitan development in which some affluent
  whites create racially and economically
  segregated suburbs or gentrified areas of cities,
  leaving the poor -- mainly African Americans,
  Hispanics and some newly arrived immigrants --
  isolated in deteriorating areas of the cities and
  older suburbs.
• Francis Cardinal George, OMI Archbishop of
  Chicago
• Spatial Racism and Inequity
• The government plays a central role in the
  arrangement of space and opportunities
• These arrangements are not neutral or natural
  or colorblind
• Social and racial inequities are geographically
  inscribed
• There is a polarization between the rich and the
  poor that is directly related to the areas in
  which they live
• Concentrated Poverty and Concentrated Wealth

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Historical Government Role

• African American communities denied municipal
  services
• Racially restrictive covenants for housing
• Federal highway construction and urban renewal
  demolished many African American communities
• FHA housing appraisals and redlining
• If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is
  necessary that properties shall continue to be
  occupied by the same social and racial classes.
  A change in social or racial occupancy generally
  contributes to instability and a decline in
  values.
• Excerpt from the 1947 FHA underwriting manual.

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Contemporary Government Role

• Spatial Racism is not natural or neutral,
  produces cumulative impacts for people of color
• Municipalities subsidize the relocation of
  businesses out of the city
• Transportation spending favors highways,
  metropolitan expansion and urban sprawl
• Court decisions prevent metropolitan school
  desegregation
• School funding is tied to property taxes
• LIHTC
• Zoning laws prevent affordable housing
  development in many suburbs
• Housing policies concentrate subsidized housing

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Sprawl and Fragmentation Magnify Racial Inequity

• Two factors are instrumental in magnifying racial
  inequity (Sprawl and Fragmentation)
• Sprawl and fragmentation are a process of
  disinvesting in the central city and reinvesting
  in the suburbs
• Sprawl
• The continual movement of opportunity from the
  central city to the urban periphery
• Fragmentation and localism
• Political fragmentation and localism exacerbates
  the flow of resources to the urban periphery as
  communities compete over commercial investment
  and high income population (the favored quarter)
• Fragmentation allows communities to sort what
  people and businesses they wish to attract
  (strengthen economic and social isolation)

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Effects of Sprawl
By pushing good jobs, stable housing, and
educational opportunities further into the
suburbs, sprawl creates segregated, impoverished
areas of the central city and inner-ring suburbs
that are locked off from access to meaningful
opportunities.
Source University of Boston Geography Dept.
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Slow Population Growth and Sprawl in Philadelphia

• Although the Philadelphia region has sprawled
  considerably in recent decades population has not
  grown as much
• Between 1982 and 1997 the Philadelphia
  Metropolitan Area grew by 37 in urban land,
  while population only increased by 7
• Population density in the region actually
  decreased by 21 during this 15 year time period
• The region is not growing (adding population) as
  much as it is redistributing people across the
  region into less dense suburbs

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Sprawl, Disinvestment and Segregation in
Philadelphia

• Metro Philadelphia, in short, exhibits one of
  the nations most radical patterns of sprawl and
  abandonment.
• Brookings Institute, Back to Prosperity A
  Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania. A
  Profile of the Philadelphia Area (2003)

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Population Trends
Map Source Brookings Institute, Living Census
Series Report

• While the older areas in Philadelphia lost
  55,000 residents in the 90s, 2nd class townships
  gained 176,000 new residents
• Older portions of the Philadelphia region lost 2
  of their population in the 1990s
• In contrast, the regions suburban townships
  (2nd class townships) grew by 18 during the
  1990s

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Philadelphia Residential Segregation

• Sprawl and fragmentation strengthen patterns of
  residential segregation
• In 2000, 95 of the regions African Americans
  and 88 of the regions Hispanics lived in the
  regions core
• Source Brookings Institute Profile of the
  Philadelphia Area
• In 2000, residential segregation in Philadelphia
  was considered severe (a dissimilarity score of
  72)
• The Philadelphia region is the 21st most
  segregated region in the nation (Source Lewis
  Mumford Center)
• The most common measure of residential
  segregation (the dissimilarity index) indicates
  that 72 of the regions African Americans or
  Whites would have to relocate to fully integrate
  the regions housing

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Race and Space
Map Source Brookings Institute, Living Census
Series Report

• African Americans are highly concentrated in the
  Philadelphia region, racial and ethnic minorities
  now comprise 58 of City of Philadelphias
  population
• Sprawl and white flight continue to segregate
  the region, over 180,000 whites left the central
  city in the 1990s, conversely the African
  American population grew by 22,000 in the central
  city in the 90s

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Racial Economic Segregation

• The interaction between racial and economic
  segregation
• Segregation is more than just the physical
  isolation of people, segregation is isolation
  from opportunity or opportunity structures
• Segregated minority neighborhoods
• Have higher poverty rates, lower incomes, poorer
  schools, older housing stock and lower
  homeownership rates

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Philadelphia is an Undercapitalized City

• Philadelphia shows many of the symptoms of an
  undercapitalized city
• Inner-city population loss, economic decline,
  high rates of land vacancy, economic and racial
  segregation
• An undercapitalized city
• What is an undercapitalized city?
• Sometimes referred to as weak market cities,
  places where investment is marginal or declining,
  wide disparity between the core and the
  regions suburbs

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Fragmentation and Inequity

• In 1942, we had 24,500 municipalities and special
  districts in the U. S. By 2002, that number had
  more than doubled to 54,481
• Over 87,000 local units of government, school
  districts and special districts existed in 2002
  in the U.S.
• Regions are now governed by an average of 360
  local governments and special districts
• It is the control that matters for equity
• Zoning
• Planning
• Taxation
• Education
• Public Services

As many cities are moving quickly towards
becoming majority-minority areas, those same
cities are seeing their political decision making
capacities become less and less
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Fragmentation in Philadelphia

• The Philadelphia region is highly fragmented
• In 2002, the Philadelphia metropolitan area had
  the 3rd highest number of local governments and
  special purpose governments (795) out of all
  metropolitan areas in America (behind Chicago 1
  and Pittsburgh 2)
• On a per capita basis, Philadelphia ranks 12th
  out of all metropolitan areas in respect to the
  number of local government units per population
  
• Source 2002 Census of Local Governments

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Fragmentation, Segregation,and the Tax Base

• People of color in segregated areas of the region
  tend to own homes with lower values and lower
  appreciation rates (Segregation Tax)
• Municipalities rely on the tax base to provide
  essential services, often including public
  education, and the tax base is tied to home
  values
• These municipalities struggle to provide for a
  higher need population

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Tax Capacity Inequity in Philadelphia

• In Philadelphia, the older portion region
  experienced a decline in household tax capacity
  between 1993 and 2000
• In contrast the outlying townships had tax
  capacity increase by 7.5
• In 2000, outlying townships in the region had a
  per household tax capacity of 1,020
• This rate was 91 higher than the per household
  tax capacity of the older portion of the region
  (533)

Source Brookings Institute
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Fragmentation and Jobs

• A 2001 Brookings Institution study found a
  significant relationship between fragmentation
  and job decentralization in the 100 largest metro
  areas.
• Job decentralization harms access to employment
  for residents of the central city and inner-ring
  suburbs.

Job Sprawl in Metropolitan Kansas
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Transportation and Jobs

• Jobs have moved away from the labor pool in many
  metropolitan areas, making connecting job-seekers
  with jobs a challenge.
• 58 of all welfare participants in the nation
  live in central cities.
• 70 of all new jobs are in the suburbs.
• 40 of all suburban jobs cannot be reached by
  public transportation.

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Job Sprawl in Philadelphia

• Employment in the Philadelphia region is very
  decentralized with only 40 of the regions jobs
  within 10 miles of the Central Business District
  (CBD)
• Between 1994 and 2001, 87 of all new jobs in the
  Philadelphia region were found more than 10 miles
  from the CBD
• Philadelphia County contained approximately 65
  of the Metropolitan Areas African American
  population in 2000, but only contained 27 of the
  regions jobs (Source U.S. Census Bureau)

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Educational Inequity

• Urban sprawl and regional fragmentation have
  worked to re-segregate urban school districts
• Research by the Harvard Civil Rights Project has
  found school segregation on the increase since
  the 1980s
• Racial segregation in schools strongly
  corresponds to economic isolation in schools
• Resources available are tied to property values
• Segregated inner city schools have more limited
  resources

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Educational Equity and Segregation in Philadelphia

• Equitable educational resources?
• 1 of Philadelphia City School teachers earn more
  than 70K per year, 35 of Bucks County and 47
  of Montgomery County teachers earn more than 70K
  per year
• 51 of new teachers starting in 1999 in the
  Philadelphia city schools left the school system
  within three years
• Source Resource for Action, at
  http//www.resourceforaction.org
• Approximately 2/3s of Philadelphias schools are
  almost exclusively African American
• Philadelphias suburban Pennsylvania Counties
  (Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester
  Counties) have over 38,000 African American
  students and 68 school districts, 1/3 of these
  African American students are concentrated in 3
  distressed school districts

Source Philadelphia Inquirer. The Great Divide.
Promise Unfilled. May 16, 2004
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What is the impact of Philadelphias regional
growth on the African American community?

• Philadelphias sprawl is doing more than moving
  people into the regions suburbs
• Sprawl is draining resources (and opportunity)
  such as jobs, good education, tax revenues, and
  new housing away from the urban core and moving
  them to affluent suburban areas
• African Americans (and African American
  communities) remained isolated (economically,
  physically) from the rest of the region
• Sprawl benefits many suburban areas in the
  region, African Americans cannot access these
  benefits but are stuck dealing with the
  problems sprawl causes (inner city disinvestment
  and decline)

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Equity Demands that We Think in Terms of
Opportunity

• Opportunity structures are the resources and
  services that contribute to stability and
  advancement.
• Fair access to opportunity structures is limited
  by segregation, concentration of poverty,
  fragmentation, and sprawl in our regions for
  low-income households and families of color.
• Because opportunity structures exist as a web a
  multi-faceted, equity-centered approach is needed.

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Opportunities Lead to Equity

• Parents who have access to affordable housing
  have more money to spend on transportation.
• More money spent on transportation provides them
  with access to a broader range of jobs.
• A better job provides more money, which provides
  their children with better educational
  opportunities.
• Well-fed children with stable housing will do
  better in school.
• Having access to greater educational
  opportunities and doing better in school allows
  these children to achieve regular employment.

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Regionalism Leads to Equity

• Proponents of regionalism believe that resources
  should be administered at a regional rather
  than a city or federal level.
• Regionalism recognizes that the economy,
  infrastructure (transportation, utilities, etc.)
  and the labor market function on a regional
  level.
• A region usually includes a city and its suburbs.
• Regionalism recognizes how the spatial
  orientation of todays economy is not longer
  locally focused

• Local Initiatives are NOT enough

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Why Regionalism?

• Key social justice concerns are being acted on by
  regional forces, such as fragmentation,
  segregation, and the concentration of poverty.
• Neighborhoods and cities cannot solve social
  justice problems alone, or they will see their
  viability diminish relative to other parts of the
  region.
• It is imperative that communities be at the table
  for a regional approach to redress social justice
  concerns.
• Regional approach does not automatically solve
  problems but does create a framework where a
  solution is possible

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Racial, Spatial, and Regional Equity

• Equity requires us to restructure systems and
  institutions that result in racial disparities.
• Equity requires us to take the particular
  racialization of space into account when
  fashioning remedies.
• Equity requires us to link the creation of
  opportunities to regional solutions that
  explicitly take race into account.

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• If you have questions or would like to learn more
  about the Kirwan Institute please visit
  WWW.KIRWANINSTITUTE.ORG

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Addendum Undercapitalized Cities

• Characteristics and Redevelopment Strategies for
  Undercapitalized Cities

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Undercapitalized Cities

• Characteristics
• Population decline or stagnation
• Home value depreciation or stagnation
• High poverty, disrupted social networks and
  concentrated poverty
• Vacant land and declining tax base
• Employment de-concentration and limited new
  commercial/residential investment
• Single gentrified neighborhood may exist, but
  majority of neighborhoods are in decline

Please Reference Building a New Framework for
Community Development in Weak Market Cities,
prepared by Community Development Partnership
Network (April 2003)
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Undercapitalized Cities

• Threats
• Continued disinvestment and decline
• Continued isolation of central city from
  opportunity and investment
• Existing tools for community development (place
  based affordable housing projects) may be
  accelerating central city decline

Please Reference Building a New Framework for
Community Development in Weak Market Cities,
prepared by Community Development Partnership
Network (April 2003)
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Undercapitalized Cities

• Strategies
• Strongly encourage reinvestment
• Stimulate private sector (subsidies, market
  analysis)
• Strengthen existing market
• Make area more competitive for investment
• Incentives for infill development
• Need for assembly of underutilized land for
  redevelopment
• Land bank programs
• Already underway with the Philadelphia
  Neighborhood Transformation Initiative
• Housing programs targeted for increasing home
  ownership
• Programs to eliminate barriers to homeownership

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Undercapitalized Cities
Undercapitalized Cities

• Strategies (Continued)
• Targeted neighborhood planning and use of funds
  for redevelopment activities
• Promote access to suburban opportunity structures
  for impoverished residents
• Opportunity based regional affordable housing
  strategies
• Need to avoid over-concentration of subsidized
  housing
• Regional inclusionary zoning policies
• Regional coalition building
• Encourage regional strategies for sharing
  resources, regional planning
• Build coalitions with community based
  organizations, local governments, business
  community, CDCs, philanthropic institutions and
  large urban institutions (Universities)

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Undercapitalized Cities

• For more information about redevelopment
  strategies for Undercapitalized Cities please
  visit the Community Development Partnership
  Network (CDPN) web site at
• http//www.cdpn.org
• Click on Resources then click on Research
  Publications
• Access the following report
• Creating a New Framework for Community
  Development in Weak Market Cities, April 2003