“Imagine that a group of people works hard to fill their neighborhood with urban farms, bike lanes, parks, murals, community services, and education programs. Next, imagine that those same people are forced to move away. Ouch, that bites.”
So what can we do to avoid this cycle of displacement?
According to Janelle Orsi, the Executive Director of the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC), the answer may sound crazy, but is really rather simple and profound.
“We have to stop profiting from property. We have to treat homes as homes, not as investment vehicles that we hope to later sell to the highest bidders. If the privilege of property ownership determines who builds wealth, then the wealthy will build wealth more quickly than everyone else, white people will build wealth much faster than black people, and we’ll continually deepen inequality and racism in this country.”
SLEC is promoting an alternative model of home ownership called a “Permanent Real Estate Cooperative.”
To learn more about this equitable, scalable and transformative economic model, check out Orsi’ article:
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