06/13/2020
I love and support my Black friends, clients, and neighbors. As the nation is reckoning with its current and past history of police brutality, we are also coming to terms with the United States' history of codifying racism. I’d be remiss as a real estate agent not to address the role that the real estate industry has played in the systemic oppression of Black people.
In the 1960s, sociologist John McKnight coined the term "redlining" to describe the discriminatory practice of marking areas where banks would avoid investments based on the demographics of the local community. Areas colored blue or green meant it was an area as a low risk, “safe” place for banks and other businesses to invest in. Red meant high risk, with some maps even saying “hazardous”. These areas not so subtly translated directly to the demographics of those neighborhoods. Typically the areas most frequently marked red were Black, inner city neighborhoods. Boston was no exception in this discriminatory practice (see link below to a map of the various lines drawn in cities across the US).
By either not lending to Black families in these neighborhoods, or by offering them insurance and/or loans at higher rates than White families, banks stunted economic growth for the people and businesses within these areas. The effects of this codified racism are devastating to this day: in 2019, 73.1% of White Americans owned homes as of the second quarter of 2019 and a record low of 40.6% of Black Americans had achieved homeownership. The resulting 32.5 percentage-point gap in homeownership between Black and White Americans is 3.6 points wider than it was at the beginning of 2010! If that gap wasn’t bad enough, according to the Urban Institute’s Housing Financing Center, the Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the disparities of homeownership. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/new-data-suggest-covid-19-widening-housing-disparities-race-and-income
In learning more about the horrible practice of redlining, I am also learning ways that the real estate industry can work to change things for the better. Compass has taken the lead to enact the following changes in order to hold ourselves accountable:
Inviting Compass agents & agents around the country to join the 15% Pledge to support Black professionals:
I have signed this pledge: “Moving forward, I will work to allocate 15% of my real estate vendor spend to Black professionals — from photographers to videographers to attorneys to contractors to stagers to all the small businesses I source and refer to my clients."
Committing to ensure that the Company’s external advisors like law firms and consultants include Black professionals directly advising Compass:
Compass has also made a commitment that going forward, we will only work with outside advisors who have at least one Black person on the team directly advising Compass. As our CEO Robert Refkin says, it seems like this should be an incredibly low bar that any business can meet, but one might be surprised how many companies won’t pass the test.
Hiring a strong Diversity & Inclusion leader and giving them concrete goals:
Compass is fast tracking the hiring of a Diversity & Inclusion leader. They are tasking this leader with: building a more inclusive culture in line with our values; creating trainings on diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias; creating an internship program in consultation with premiere nonprofits focused on providing professional development opportunities for diverse talent; overseeing an Allyship program to educate non-Black employees and agents on the best ways to support their Black colleagues; amplifying efforts to support Black and brown communities through Compass Cares; and more. This week, Compass launched an Allyship platform for employees. Compass’ CEO has committed that within two weeks Compass will add Inclusion training to our onboarding for all new employees.
While none of these efforts will fully reverse the systemic racism in the real estate industry, I hope these small changes and steps add up to meaningful change in our community. Personally, I am also donating to the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (https://www.ulem.org/) and the Urban Institute (https://www.urban.org/aboutus). In addition to these donations, I vow to listen and learn from the Black community about how I can use my role as a real estate agent to close the gap in home ownership. I will also continue to provide support, information, and guidance to Black families seeking to purchase a home.
To learn more about redlining in Boston, I suggest reading the following articles:
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/11/12/how-a-long-ago-map-created-racial-boundaries-that-still-define-boston
https://www.wbur.org/artery/2019/04/25/redlining-exhibit
https://www.dotnews.com/columns/2019/how-redlining-dashed-dreams-hurt-neighborhoods
This map of the United States shows in each city where the various lines of investment were drawn.
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/ =5/39.1/-94.58
More about the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts:
The mission of the ULEM is to enable adults in eastern Massachusetts to overcome racial, social barriers, economic inequities, sexual and domestic violence to employment and economic development opportunities. ULEM provides opportunities for every person that walks through our door to realize economic empowerment through necessary- and mid-level skills training, certifications, internships, and job placements. It is my belief that ULEM and similar nonprofits can help bridge the inexcusable gap between White and Black home ownership.
To donate to the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts:
https://www.ulem.org/howToDonate
More about the Urban Institute:
The Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization that believes decisions shaped by facts, rather than ideology, have the power to improve public policy and practice, strengthen communities, and transform people’s lives for the better.
The Urban Institute has a Housing Finance Policy Center that looks ahead to identify opportunities for change. They use their research findings to help stakeholders craft relevant solutions and strategies that address today’s concerns and avert tomorrow’s roadblocks.
To donate to the Urban Institute:
https://www.urban.org/aboutus/support-us/ways-give
