"Sundown Towns" - Racial Exclusivity in the mid-20th century (Chicago: low income, section 8)

[Vasily]

People are free to live where they can afford to live, and I see no reason why a community should be forced to provide affordable housing to all (which I'm guessing is one of the subtexts here) ... The net effect of which can be lowered property values and increased crime. If you can't afford to live in a high-end community, move to a community where you can afford the mortgage/rent.

I'm looking at places to live in SC and many are off my list because there's no way I could ever afford living there (I'On, for example). I would never think of complaining about the "unfairness" of it all ... But then, I'm not a progressive with an axe to grind. I don't begrudge the successful their incomes; almost all of them earn it, no matter their race. Just my opinion.

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by Vasily

People are free to live where they can afford to live, and I see no reason why a community should be forced to provide affordable housing to all (which I'm guessing is one of the subtexts here) ... The net effect of which can be lowered property values and increased crime. If you can't afford to live in a high-end community, move to a community where you can afford the mortgage/rent.

I'm looking at places to live in SC and many are off my list because there's no way I could ever afford living there (I'On, for example). I would never think of complaining about the "unfairness" of it all ... But then, I'm not a progressive with an axe to grind. I don't begrudge the successful their incomes; almost all of them earn it, no matter their race. Just my opinion.

I actually agree, but nonetheless, the Wilmette affordable housing thing came to my mind in the context of this thread. I can't afford to live in Wilmette, so guess what? I don't live there.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by vandre

I know that North Barrington has relatively large minimum lot sizes. This does not necessarily mean black discrimination, but more like economic discrimination.

As does hawthorn Woods, Long Grove, Deer Grove...................
More like smart zoning IMO so that you don't take an agrarian area and turn it into another Schaumburg or Naperville.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by kindrakindra

What about Winnetka two years ago? Affordable housing for people making $75,000 failed:

Winnetka's affordable housing plan divides village - Chicago Tribune

Wouldn't affordable housing for people making $75K be called move to Skokie?

[Wicket]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

I actually agree, but nonetheless, the Wilmette affordable housing thing came to my mind in the context of this thread. I can't afford to live in Wilmette, so guess what? I don't live there.

You get an achievement gap if you think like that. The poor get dumped in with the poor and make more poor. And the poor get subsidized to live in the lower income areas anyway, so why is Winnetka exempt?

[nana053]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Everything on the interwebs is 100% true....

LIES JAMES LOEWEN TOLD ME | The Review


Reply to Loewen - Replies to Critics - News - Students For Academic Freedom

If some crazy old peope can be called "get off my lawn" types than surely others can be called "the man has been keeping people down" types. Neither is particularly accurate...

Interesting because much of what Loewen researched is very carefully documented.

Someone else posted the Winnetka affordable housing article. Note this quote from the article:

"There is plenty of affordable housing in neighboring communities," said Carry Buck, chairman of WHOA, or Winnetka Home Owners Association. "Most people in Winnetka are conservative and they do not want more involvement from government."

IOW, not in my back yard.. It's fine as long as it is in another community.

[Wicket]

Originally Posted by nana053

Interesting because much of what Loewen researched is very carefully documented.

Someone else posted the Winnetka affordable housing article. Note this quote from the article:



IOW, not in my back yard.. It's fine as long as it is in another community.

Fine and desirable yes. Knowing the poor are safe is big to a white liberal, and better still if its in another town!

[summer22]

Originally Posted by nana053

Kenilworth, Chicago’s richest suburb was set up to be free of blacks and Jews from its founding. While it is not a sundown town today, it was in its beginnings. Several sundown suburbs of Chicago also barred Jews. Naperville also has a similar history. While some of these towns are not racist today, the history is there.

I'd say the same for the more suburban parts of NW Indiana as you get further out from the "original" center of Gary/Hammond.

But I think generally we've moved from racial discrimination to economic discrimination, as someone else also mentioned. What the suburbs (both Chicago and NWI suburbs) did, strategically it seems, is eliminate zoning for studios and 1 bedroom apartments, so the end result is that if you're not making much money, you can't afford the larger housing that exists. This might have originally been meant to keep out African-American and Latino people. But now the result is that it keeps out your service industry workers (who might even have been born and raised in the community), divorced adults, seniors looking to downsize, and recent graduates. It also contributes to not being able to attract and retain college graduates.

[Larry Siegel]

"Affordable" housing is never fine if it is government subsidized. The process of who gets it becomes politicized and the taxpayers and neighbors end up paying the cost (usually several times over).

The Chicago area is generally affordable and if you have to live in Skokie instead of Winnetka, there are about 6 billion people in the world who wouldn't consider that a sign of deprivation.

[Larry Siegel]

@Chet: Kenilworth did permit racially restrictive covenants in the 1950's. I don't think Jews were particularly welcomed either, but Fischer Black, the great University of Chicago finance professor, lived in KW in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Black was Jewish.