Written by Molly Amrine
Amidst an already turbulent nationwide housing crisis, the socioeconomic dichotomy of Washtenaw County is driving housing costs across the market to unprecedented extremes. In 2015, Washtenaw County published findings predicting this issue. This report saw the fault line of highly educated populations surrounding central Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus—with 39.4% more likelihood of having college degrees compared to the rest of America, according to the US Census Bureau (2020; 2021)—clashing with the economically weaker Ypsilanti area. In forecasting housing prices in Ann Arbor, this report found that as highly educated, high-income households continue to funnel into the city due to quality infrastructure and plentiful career opportunities adjacent to the university, prices would climb. Contrastingly, due to typically less secure infrastructure, higher crime rates, and less secure property values, housing prices would fall in Ypsilanti—further weakening the area (czb, 2015). These predictions of pricing polarization have largely come to fruition—as can be seen in the upward trend of median housing prices in Ann Arbor being nearing double that of Ypsilanti this September, at $432,500 and $262,000, respectively (“Ann Arbor Housing Market,” 2022; “Ypsilanti Housing Market,” 2022).
Rising housing costs not only impact students seeking temporary residence but also force locals from downtown Ann Arbor to the more affordable Ypsilanti area in search of the cheaper and more often subsidized housing options found there (“Housing Affordability,” 2015).
In addition to generating new transportation costs for these residents in commuting back to Ann Arbor for greater work opportunities, this migration is problematic for the general Washtenaw area in straining what the Southeast Michigan Council of Government considers to be an already high-traffic commuting area (n.d.). On top of surface-level contribution to transportation costs for those still able to retain downtown employment, this movement to low-rent housing is also expected to deepen existing inequality through its disproportionate impact on minority communities (czb, 2015). According to the National Equity Atlas’s Housing Burden indicator (2019), across all income levels in Washtenaw County, 57% of people of color are burdened by the cost of housing—contrasting a lesser 46% of white renters.
Policy Analyst at the Urban Institute, Gabi Velasco (2021), adds that America’s deep-rooted racial inequality “visibly manifests in our inequitable, inadequate housing system”. Further, she writes that the whole issue of systemic housing injustice is inseparably connected to the ever-growing climate crisis. As touted by environmentally friendly housing advocate and author, Dana Bourland, in an interview with Velasco, “For far too long, housing has been the physical demonstration of the racist systems embedded in our country.” Even students have begun to engage with this more rounded, modern approach to affordable housing. The Princeton Students Climate Initiative, for example, claims that environmental threats asymmetrically victimize communities of color in their much greater likelihood of living in areas impacted by hazardous pollution (Patnaik et al., 2020). Through these connections of systemic racism and environmental injustice, the affordable housing crisis is revealed to be a broadly complex issue in need of imminent action.
The revelation of the affordable housing crisis—as broadly complex and inherently connected to both racial inequity and environmental injustice—has led activists such as Bourland to propose changes to our nationwide affordable housing approach that bear in mind these deeper roots. She says, “Instead of developing in a community, we develop with a community”. This more tactful approach to development is wholly necessary for an area experiencing intricate instability patterns—like Washtenaw County. It is necessary that any affordable housing project considers many factors beyond mere pricing.
Initiatives like the local Avalon Project have done exactly that. Avalon Project, which started in 1992 as a response to burgeoning affordable housing needs in Ann Arbor, has championed numerous projects in the Ann Arbor area that consider environmental impact and intersectionality as key players in enacting affordable housing measures (“Our History”, n.d.). One such project: a six-story, 48-unit housing development, set to be constructed at 121 E. Catherine St. in Ann Arbor that aims for all-electric energy usage as well as a ground floor business incubator that will platform BIPOC business entrepreneurship (“121 Catherine St.,” 2022). Sarah Parlette (2022) of Click on Detroit also illuminated another Avalon project earlier this year that is set to begin construction in 2023 alongside Thrive Collaborative’s eco-friendly Veridian at County Farm—which was created using $1.5 million of $13 million in tax credits allocated for affordable housing by current Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Parlette writes that this development will create 50 energy-efficient, net-zero-striving units for “community members who only make up to 60 percent of the Ann Arbor area’s median income (AMI), with 30 units set aside for those existing homeless or who only make up to 30% of the AMI”.
In conjunction with the affordability and sustainability measures taken within these projects, both also serve to bridge the aforementioned price gap between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The Catherine St. Location—in being centrally located in the lively and increasingly affluent Kerrytown district of downtown Ann Arbor—brings affordable housing opportunities into an otherwise unaffordable community. As Trilby Becker (2018) writes for the local Current Magazine, “the historically black neighborhoods of Water Hill and Kerrytown, have since attracted wealthy, mostly white people …driving prices further up and pushing black residents out.” The introduction of affordable housing back into a community that has been redeveloped for affluent, white residents—like Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown—is a possible start to tackling issues of racism and classism in housing shortages. Similarly, Avalon’s project in partnership with Thrive Collaborative is to be built in between the hubs of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti—bridging the two communities as well as providing affordable housing options closer to work and education opportunities within the Ann Arbor campus area.
These initiatives are only a start for Washtenaw County, however. Just in 2020, the Washtenaw Housing Alliance found that nearly 2,800 Washtenaw residents were experiencing homelessness; lack of affordable housing was cited as a primary cause. While private initiatives seeking to create affordable housing do undeniable good in tackling this issue, they are not yet outpacing homelessness altogether. It is necessary that Washtenaw County—as well as much of the United States—continues to be informed on the pervasive issue that is lack of affordable housing as well as its complex ties to greater social and environmental concerns in order to continue this movement towards a more just and stable future.
References
121 E. Catherine Street. Avalon Housing. (2022, May 6). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://avalonhousing.org/121-e-catherine-street/
Ann Arbor Housing Market: House Prices & Trends . Redfin. (2022, September). Retrieved October 24, 2022, from https://www.redfin.com/city/782/MI/Ann-Arbor/housing-market
Becker, T. (2019, January 8). A tale of two cities: Socioeconomic diversity and the future of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Current Magazine. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.ecurrent.com/feature/gentrification-and-segregation-in-ann-arbor-and-ypsilanti/
czb. (2015, January). Housing Affordability and Economic Equity – Analysis. Washtenaw County. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.washtenaw.org/affordablehousing
Homelessness facts. Washtenaw Housing Alliance. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from http://www.whalliance.org/facts#:~:text=Yes%2C%20there%20are%20people%20in,and%20live%20with%20a%20disability.
Housing burden. National Equity Atlas. (2019). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://nationalequityatlas.org/indicators/Housing_burden#/?geo=04000000000026161
Our History. Avalon Housing. (2022, May 10). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://avalonhousing.org/our-history/
Parlette, S. (2022, June 20). Avalon housing awarded $1.5M in tax credit for new affordable housing units in Ann Arbor. WDIV. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.clickondetroit.com/all-about-ann-arbor/2022/06/20/avalon-housing-awarded-15m-in-tax-credit-for-new-affordable-housing-units-in-ann-arbor/
Patnaik, A., Son, J., Feng, A., & Ade, C. (2020, August 15). Racial disparities and climate change . Princeton Student Climate Initiative. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/8/15/racial-disparities-and-climate-change
Semcog traffic volume map. SEMCOG.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://maps.semcog.org/TrafficVolume/
US Census Bureau. (2022, February 24). Census Bureau releases New Educational Attainment Data. Census.gov. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20highest%20level,college%20but%20not%20a%20degree.
US Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: Ann Arbor City, Michigan. Census.gov. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/annarborcitymichigan/INC110220
Velasco, G. (2022, February 4). We can’t address our housing crisis without addressing our climate crisis. Housing Matters. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://housingmatters.urban.org/articles/we-cant-address-our-housing-crisis-without-addressing-our-climate-crisisYpsilanti Housing Market: House Prices & Trends. Redfin. (2022, September). Retrieved October 24, 2022, from https://www.redfin.com/city/21108/MI/Ypsilanti/housing-market