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Is Housing a Human Right?

by Keanu Thompson
With the current housing crisis in the Bay Area, there is a question of responsibility for those displaced by gentrification. Housing inequities can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century and the effects can be seen today.
Housing is a right for all.

A simple declarative statement has caused much debate throughout the history of the United States. The allusion that people have a choice in deciding where they get to live has been fabricated to continue housing discrimination against marginalized communities.

From de facto segregation in housing with neighborhoods actively excluding people of color from moving into predominantly white neighborhoods; to de jure segregation where the government endorsed real estate agents to actively segregate housing districts based on race. This racial segregation is called redlining in which systematic discrimination is imposed through denial of neighborhoods or housing communities through price raising or other various methods.

Businesses would be hesitant to move into redlined neighborhoods because of the low property cost. This would led to these redlined neighborhoods to be food deserts, where residents would have to travel beyond their neighborhood to get fresh food.

The effects of housing discrimination could be seen today with these same redlined communities being predominantly low income and people of color. With some people disenfranchised by housing policy, should the responsible be on the people to change it or the ones who created it?
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Brookings Institution report
Thu, Dec 13, 2018 11:07AM
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