Valuing Homes in Black Communities

Over 3.2 million owner-occupied homes in Black-majority neighborhoods across America have been collectively devalued by $156 billion.

meet the innovators
(re) designing the market

Ashley Allen

Houston Community Land Trust

Houston, Texas

Roshun Austin

The Works, Inc.

Memphis, Tennessee

Bree Jones

Parity Baltimore Incorporated

Baltimore, Maryland

Ericka Kelly

Greater Milwaukee Committee

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Santhosh Ramdoss

Gary Community Ventures

Denver, Colorado

Scot Rose

Class Valuation

Troy, Michigan

Ellen Sahli

Family Housing Fund

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Charu Singh

Humane Works LLC

New York, New York

Rosalind Williams

WITH ACTION

St. Louis, Missouri

Evelyn Zwiebach

Enterprise Community Partners

Detroit, Michigan

meet the community of innovators

featured content

The housing market has failed far too many residents in Black communities.

But new models are emerging to (re)design the housing markets to create more equity. They creatively restructure homeownership, create affordable housing, fight displacement, build community, and promote just development of Black neighborhoods so Black residents share fully in the benefits. This paper describes three such models.

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it is time for change.

it is time for
innovative solutions.

Ashoka and the Brookings Institution launched a large scale effort to foster a new generation of structural innovations to address racism in the housing market. We invited innovators to participate in a collaborative Challenge. Changemakers from all over the country submitted inspiring innovations, fostering both a vibrant innovator community as well as an interconnected fabric of ideas that truly value homes in Black communities.

see the challenge

project leaders

Andre M. Perry

Senior Fellow / Brookings Metro
@andreperryedu

Andre M. Perry is a senior fellow at Brookings Metro, a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. He is the author of the book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, which is currently available wherever books are sold. Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, TheRoot.com and CNN.com. Perry’s scholarship has been featured on HBO, ABC, CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC and in the Wall Street Journal.

Perry’s academic writings have concentrated on race, structural inequality, and urban schools. Perry co-authored the Brookings Institution report “The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods” and has presented its findings across the country, including to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.

Stuart Yasgur

Leadership Group Member / Ashoka

Stuart Yasgur is a Leadership Group Member at Ashoka where he focuses on social innovations that use market forces to address social challenges at large scale. While at Ashoka, Stuart has initiated efforts that have directed more than $500 million to innovative market-based solutions, engaged with the G20 through the Toronto, Seoul and Los Cabos Summits and created partnerships with leading financial institutions and corporations.

Earlier in his career, Stuart was Managing Partner of a New York-based consultancy and has more than a decade of experience working with start-up and growth stage companies. Stuart frequently speaks on the role of social innovation and has taught at New York University and the London School of Economics.