“Home” is a powerful concept and the one place everyone deserves. National Affordable Housing Trust, Inc. (NAHT)’s core mission has always been to support developing, expanding, and preserving healthy, sustainable, affordable rental homes. Together with our member partners at Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF), which emerged from grassroots organizations advancing racial equity in housing, and our member team at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), our collective work fosters opportunities for communities with limited economic resources. However, the impact of centuries of racist and discriminatory policies has created inequity in every aspect of society, including housing, making the reality of “home” unaffordable and inaccessible for many people of color. Most recently, demands for change have become more acute with the disparate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and widespread calls for racial reckoning, particularly in response to police brutality. Recognizing the historic lack of diversity within institutions that provide affordable housing, NAHT sees a need for a renewed, intentional commitment to enhancing opportunities, resources, and partnerships in all aspects of our work as an organization and in the communities we serve. Advancing racial equity, diversity, and inclusion means closing the gaps in employment, education, health, housing, and income so that race does not determine access or success while also working to improve outcomes for communities that have been historically marginalized. At the same time, we must move beyond providing services to focus on influencing change in policy, institutions, and structures; we are called to do more.
With these comprehensive needs in mind, NAHT is publicly pledging to utilize its expertise to serve as a platform first to aggregate and then share tools, practices, and lessons learned across the affordable housing industry that will advance racial equity, diversity, and inclusion across four (4) major focus areas:
- Organizational Culture:
- Recognizing the value and collective strength of diverse experiences, beliefs, values, skills, and perspectives, take steps (both internally and more broadly) to seek out and include people from diverse backgrounds and identities while fostering an environment of belonging and respect.
- NAHT must continue diversifying its workforce and maintaining racial equity, diversity, and inclusion as a core and ongoing directive.
- Commit to transparency and accountability from the NAHT Board on advancing racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- Real Estate, Investment, and Partnerships:
- Acknowledge the role that systemic racism has as a significant driver of the housing affordability crisis by creating and perpetuating barriers to generational wealth creation and access to community resources.
- Prioritize partnerships with community-based organizations and developers who are people of color and committed to addressing these inequities and building well-serviced communities. NAHT will seek opportunities to support and engage organizations, owners, and vendors that support equity and diversity in their workplaces and encourage self-examination and accountability for equitable inclusion for all vendors and partners.
- Resident Engagement:
- Given policies that have devalued and eroded the participation of residents in the development process and housing policies, encourage robust mechanisms for dialogue.
- Collaborate with our members and others in the affordable housing industry to help identify and support potential policies and services that encourage pathways to enhanced wealth management, a sense of belonging, and overall health and well-being within their communities.
- Policy:
- Given the crucial and long-standing legal structures involved in racial inequities related to housing, we should be active in influencing policymaking on the federal, state, and local levels.
- Seek and encourage partnerships with agencies that share our goals to address these issues on regional and national levels.
NAHT recognizes that advancing racial equity, inclusion, and diversity is a long-standing multifaceted movement, not just a passing phase. While NAHT recognizes our responsibility in advancing this work, it must be done in collaboration with a wide range of partners. We welcome that perspective and partnership and look forward to engaging with local and national actors, especially those who are committed to breaking down barriers to inequities in housing. We also invite those committed to this work to join us for discussions on how to work together to advance toward a more equitable and just society.