MWEJN in the news: How the legacy of environmental racism continues to shape housing in America

By Zach Wichter

“Property values in a neighborhood are influenced by a whole host of factors: schools, nearby facilities, community crime rates and other things too numerous to mention, which all play a part in how much a person would be willing to pay to live in a particular house.

History also has a role, because past policies and early decisions about zoning and how different parcels of land could be used continue to affect neighborhoods and real estate values today.

And of course, none of those historical factors happened in a vacuum. Things like garbage dumps and petrochemical plants don’t just build themselves; all sorts of different policymakers and stakeholders affect where polluters will go, and more often than not, they’re put near neighborhoods that are home to mostly lower-income people with less political clout.

That legacy is complicated to address, but here’s some insight into how those decisions were made in the past, and what people are doing to achieve what activists call “environmental justice” now.”

Read the full article here: https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/biden-plan-for-environmental-justice-racism/