By Garlynn Woodsong | CNA Board Member, SW1 | CNA LUTC Chair
The book “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein makes the case that constitutional violations have been committed by the federal government – and perpetuated by state and local governments – to create and enforce racial segregation in the United States.
That’s true especially after World War II, using the instruments of the Federal Housing Agency, Fannie Mae, single -family zoning, and other housing policy tools.
Urban renewal and freeway-building policies also served this agenda, to concentrate black Americans into small areas using zoning policy, then to systematically destroy those neighborhoods using urban renewal and highway building efforts.
This story played out in Portland with the use of single-family zones and mortgage redlining to concentrate most black Portlanders into a handful of neighborhoods. Those areas were then targeted for urban renewal projects, including: construction of I-5 through north Portland, and demolition of whole swaths of the neighborhood around Vancouver and Williams avenues north of Russell Street for uses related to Emmanuel Hospital.
Our Concordia neighborhood included areas that were redlined, where mortgage lenders refused to issue government-backed mortgages because the neighborhood was not all white.
I’d like to tie together these historical policies today using a website created by an associate of mine: NeighborhoodPulse.
For instance, in 2010, black people comprised 18.7% of Concordia’s population, compared to 7.8% of all Portlanders. Yet, 70.7% of Concordia homes were owner-occupied in 2010, opposed to only 53.7% of all homes in Portland.
Our neighborhood may have had single-family zoning imposed on it during the mid-20th century. But not soon enough to prevent it from remaining a diverse enclave within a whiter surrounding city.
This diversity made it the target of racist actions – including redlining – that prevented many Concordia homeowners from gaining access to low-interest, federally-backed mortgages to purchase or to access equity-backed credit.
The latter 20th century thus saw much of Concordia’s housing stock deteriorate, as owners had difficulty accessing credit to pay for maintenance and upgrades. Yet, against this adversity, neighborhood residents persisted. They founded the Concordia Neighborhood Association, and they worked diligently over the decades to overcome obstacles presented by lingering policies related to institutional racism.
The low housing prices in Concordia at the dawn of the 21st century made it an attractive place to settle; however, as new people moved in, many long-time residents moved out.
Today we have a mix of people young and old, long-time residents, new arrivals and folks who have been here awhile but not that long.
There are a variety of remedies that could be sought at the federal level. After reading “The Color of Law,” it seems locally there is a case to be made that constitutional violations have occurred as the city continues to act as a regulatory instrument that may be perpetuating ongoing economic and, potentially, racial segregation. Single-family zoning must be reformed to prevent it from inflicting further harm.
Adopting and enacting the zoning code updates proposed as a part of the Residential Infill Project represents our first, best chance to do so as a city.
This will not be a silver bullet to erase the harms imposed by racial segregation, but it will be a first step in the right direction.
Garlynn Woodsong lives on 29th Avenue, serves on the CNA board and is an avid bicyclist. He also is a dad who is passionate about the city his son will inherit. He is the planning + development partner with Cascadia Partners LLC, a local urban planning firm. Contact him at LandUse@ ConcordiaPDX.org.