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Happy Black History Month Redfin!
Every February, we send out a note about the history of Black property-ownership in America. Last year, we talked about how the government forced Black families out of Santa Monica, and a neighborhood that is now New York’s Central Park.
The year before we talked about Durham, North Carolina and Boley, Oklahoma, both thriving centers of Black commerce since the end of the Civil War. And the year before that, our subject was the Realtor Code of Ethics, which, until 1974, forbade brokers from bringing Black people to white neighborhoods.
In Philly, Black Builders are Raising $100 Million
This year, we have a full calendar of speakers and forums, but this note is focused on how Black history is shaping a new generation of builders and entrepreneurs. After re-developing an area in West Philly that, in 1985, the city bombed and then let burn to the ground, a coalition of Black developers and investors is now raising $100 million to build more single-family homes, hiring Black tradespeople, and targeting the Black community.
A Black Family Reclaimed the Southern California Beach Taken from Their Ancestors
Five Black developers have stopped competing with one another to start a similar project in the West Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. Then there’s the story of a Black family who lost a thriving Manhattan Beach resort when the local government, fearing an “invasion” of Black tourists, seized it in 1924. They just got the state to give back the land, now valued at $75 million.
19 Atlanta Families Are Farming 500 Acres
In Toomsboro, Georgia, 19 Black families from Atlanta recently bought 500 acres for farming, using federal loans for families who lost land due to racism. In 1920, 14% of U.S. farmers were Black, but today only 1.5% are; the value of the U.S. land taken from Black farmers exceeds $350 billion.
Righting History’s Wrongs is Part of our Job
These reclamation projects are one of many examples of the Black entrepreneurship happening in cities across North America. But people of color shouldn’t be the only ones working to make property ownership more fair. Everyone at Redfin, not just our Black employees, can support these efforts, by ensuring we all get a shot at owning a home and amassing wealth. Redfin could never say we had redefined real estate if we left segregation still intact. The fight for fair housing is our fight.
Black Home-Ownership Rates Are Lower Today Than When Discrimination was Legal
This is why, when we look at Black history, we have to ponder our own place in it. The people who took land from others, or made sure Black people didn’t get it in the first place, never saw themselves as monsters. And even now, we can’t judge them without also judging ourselves. Year after year, we try to convince ourselves that the rules of the game are finally fair, even though the results are the same: Black home-ownership rates are lower today than before the passage of the Fair Housing Act, when open discrimination among builders and brokers was legal.
Play Your Part!
Here’s what you can do to reverse that trend:
- Build a website & mobile tools based on reliable information about ‘hoods & home values.
- Run ad campaigns to reach everyone, not just one demographic.
- Market listings to every homebuyer, not just the people in your personal network.
- Ask listing clients to look only at the strength of an offer, not the buyer’s family photos.
- Donate $5 from each paycheck to Redfin Rise, our affordable-housing fund.
- Ensure the Redfin employees making decisions and negotiating sales represent the people we’re supposed to serve.
And most important, go all out for the tentative homebuyer or borrower, the one with no family history of home ownership, who feels like an impostor rather than a customer, who needs all our special powers to get a loan and find a home she can afford. We make our name not with the buyer who could’ve bought with any broker, but with the one who wasn’t going to get a home at all but for our efforts.
Many thanks to Khelli White, Nick Hallmon and Kellie Hampton for working together on our Black History Month events, and for helping me with this note! Have a great week!
