Save the date – 9th National Housing Mobility Conference: Sponsored by PRRAC, Mobility Works, and CLPHA, this year’s conference will highlight the latest research, policy developments and practice innovations as we mark the continued expansion of the field. “Live” in Washington DC, Wednesday, September 20 – registration and hotel details to follow.
In the meantime, if you are a housing mobility practitioner, you can register for the next Mobility Works webinar, on “Understanding and Communicating Your Program’s Value,” March 16 from 3:00-4:15 ET – register here.
How not to waste $85 million: Last year, Congress appropriated funds to provide incentives to “remove barriers to affordable housing.” In a recent policy brief, the Urban Institute has joined the call to strategically focus these funds on addressing true exclusionary zoning in racially and economically segregated regions – with an emphasis on reforms at the state level. Similarly, in 2021 we joined the Alliance for Housing Justice (AHJ) in urging HUD to avoid fueling displacement in the pursuit of removing barriers to affordable housing. As AHJ explains, “Exclusionary zoning is about the exclusion of people, not the exclusion of types of buildings or housing types. In many predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods, reducing barriers to higher density development is unlikely to increase access for low-income families and, instead, has the potential to fuel real estate speculation and displacement.”
Other news and resources
Linking school funding and school integration advocacy: David Sciarra, a longtime advocate for equitable school funding and retiring head of the Education Law Center in NJ, has written an important final policy brief for ELC, pointing out the undeniable connection between school funding inequity and school segregation. Sciarra urges education advocates to adopt a broader definition of the constitutional right to education that encompasses both equitable funding and school integration, and to focus their political pressure on state legislatures and governors. See ELC’s new report, Equity and Diversity: Defining the Right to Education for the 21st Century. PRRAC will also be devoting its summer 2023 issue of Poverty & Race to the intersection of school finance and school integration.
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