By Denise Matthis
The State of Black Housing in Oakland For many black Californians, Oakland’s housing crisis is nothing new. Institutional racism in government policy and the residential housing market has long made finding a clean, secure, and affordable home in California more difficult for the state’s 2.2 million black residents than white residents.
T
he aftermath of New Deal-era redlining, which considered black communities unsuitable for federally subsidized mortgages, is clearly evident not just where black Californians now live but also where gentrification and displacement tensions are most acute in the state. Article 34, a still-unrepealed provision of the state Constitution that mandates local referendums before lower-income housing can be constructed in a California city, has kept affordable housing out of wealthy, predominantly white neighborhoods for decades. Article 34 Californians voted in 1950 to include a clause in the state Constitution that makes it more difficult for disadvantaged people to find housing. Article 34, which is still in force, requires voter approval before constructing public housing in a community. When it was passed, the real estate industry claimed that taxpayers should have a say in low-income housing developments as they were publicly funded projects like roads or schools.
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