What is this toolkit?
This toolkit is a resource for anyone working to advance racial equity across Virginia’s housing spectrum. It is organized into four sections that each provide meaningful insight necessary to create meaningful action:
- Separate from the Start unravels the long history of exclusionary decisions, actions, and policies created unequal housing opportunities in Virginia.
- Lasting Impacts exposes the deep-rooted problems in our housing market that are unjustly borne by Black and Brown Virginians.
- Intersections makes connections between racial disparities in housing to inequities in health outcomes, educational achievement, and economic opportunity.
- Solutions offers real solutions and immediate next steps readers can take to advance the cause of racial justice in their own parts of the state.
Why is this needed?
The national conversation on race was amplified after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the ongoing disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This toolkit stems from our continuing efforts to highlight racial disparities in housing, which have expanded in response to the current moment.
The resources in this toolkit are needed now more than ever. Their purpose is to help demonstrate that the ongoing inequities between Virginians of color and white Virginians result from a legacy of racist institutions and exclusionary decisions.
In order to secure housing justice and affordability in the Commonwealth, we must understand how we came to our current situation and what policies are still in place that may perpetuate segregation and instability.
While this toolkit is by no means comprehensive, it pools together resources that guide you to more in-depth sources. Start here, then explore more to find data, additional knowledge, and examples of how communities are successfully addressing racial injustices in housing.
How can I use this toolkit?
Use the page buttons and the table of contents below to navigate between the four sections within this toolkit. Within sections are links and other interactive media to help further engage you about these issues. Use the content to spark conversations with friends and colleagues, to engage local leaders, and to build support for enacting change.