It has been over 50 years since Congress passed the Fair Housing Act, in an effort to erase housing inequality in America. Yet even now, in 2022, inequities continue to plague housing policies and practices. The issue remains a primary culprit behind the large racial wealth gap between Black and white households in the U.S.
For several years now, WWHT as an organization has been on an intentional journey of exploration, education, and reflection, driven by a strong desire to advance the values of racial justice and equality in Vermont. This year, their efforts reached a new milestone, with the creation of the Vermont Racial Justice Housing Jam – a statewide initiative poised to examine racial inequities and affect change.
WWHT Executive Director Elizabeth Bridgewater describes the genesis of the Jam. “We are one of five housing groups that make up the NeighborWorks Alliance of Vermont. We meet monthly, and talk about all kinds of issues that overlap with our work. Our conversations often turn to the issue of racial equity, and what we might do as a network to advance the issue and change some of the dynamics within our housing communities. That’s where this idea began — it felt important to all of us.”
The consortium engaged NeighborWorks America to help jumpstart the planning and budgeting process, and found funding readily available from a core group of sources – a mix of regional, national and statewide funders.
“At this point, we all started getting together to talk about what we wanted to accomplish, and how to proceed,” says Elizabeth. “We looked around the room, and saw all white faces, and we all agreed that as part of the program design we needed to broaden the circle – we wanted to engage community members with lived experience.”
To accomplish this, the group engaged Abundant Sun, a Vermont- and London-based team of diversity strategists with a focus on cultural transformation, led by Dr. Jude Smith Rachele. Together with her team, Dr. Jude assembled an advisory group comprised of both housing providers as well as community members who had lived experience with housing insecurity, homelessness, and as consumers of affordable housing.
Garry Card is the former Housing Services Coordinator for WWHT, and is a member of the advisory team, known as the Jammers. “The Jammers are a great group – we are people who are ready to do something different, something daring, to help affect the kind of change that we all need to see throughout Vermont’s housing network. That’s where a lot of my passion lies, in changing those systems that are barriers for people, hopefully taking down some of those barriers.”
Garry says the discussions among the Jammers were honest thought-provoking, and eye-opening. “A lot of people in the Jam had lived experiences of struggling with homelessness and not being able to find housing because of race issues. It was very impactful. Hearing those stories, and hearing from the people around you, that’s where the changes start.”
The discussion and insights put forth by the Jammers guided the next phase of the Housing Jam that launches November 3rd – a thoughtful series of roundtable discussions informed by a series of speaker events. The Speaker Series features national and Vermont housing professionals, researchers, and individuals with lived experience, and are open to the public. Each Speaker Event will be followed within one to two weeks by a Roundtable Session for housing providers and Jammers to discuss the issues raised. Sessions will alternate in this manner for the duration of the program schedule.
“The entire program is designed to take a deeper and more creatively disruptive dive into systemic racism within Vermont housing,” says Elizabeth Bridgewater. “We came up with this two-pronged approach – first to increase people’s awareness of racism in the housing system and educate the general population, and second, to identify ways to work more intently with each other and with community members around very specific issues within our housing systems.”
Garry says a lot of the discussion among the Jammers was about power dynamics between residents and housing agencies, tenants and landlords. “We really want to shake up the power dynamics. Our big hope is that through that education piece, we can empower residents by giving them knowledge, so they know what their rights are as tenants, as residents, and hopefully shift that power dynamic.”
“This is big stuff,” says Elizabeth. “It’s not about transactional change, it’s about systems level change. The dynamics of power is an uncomfortable topic, but it’s an important topic, because it is always present. We all need to be comfortable being uncomfortable, because otherwise we’re not going to be able to talk about these things in ways that are really meaningful.”
“I feel like we’re asking the right questions,” says Garry. “I’m very hopeful that this roundtable discussion and speaker series will spark more discussion in the community, and then also within the housing agencies themselves. There are a lot of talented people involved in this group. It’s been a great experience, and I’m excited to see the program get started.”
The Public Speaker Series began on Thursday November 3, featuring Shanti Abedin, Vice President of Housing & Community Development for the National Fair Housing Alliance. The first Roundtable Discussion is took place Tuesday, November 29th. The complete Housing Jam program schedule and recorded sessions can be found at www.abundantsun.com.
The Vermont Racial Justice Housing Jam is a program initiated by a consortium of housing organizations and funders, and designed in collaboration with a steering committee of community members with lived experience. Organizations include Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, Champlain Housing Trust, Downstreet Housing & Community Development, , RuralEdge, NeighborWorks America Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Vermont Housing Finance Agency, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.
