April 30, 2020
New Institute Report, Erasing NJ’s Red Lines, Ties Generations of Housing Discrimination to Gaping Racial Wealth Gap in the Garden State and Offers Policy Recommendations
Released in Midst of Pandemic, Report Highlights Structural Racism That’s Also Causing Communities of Color to be Disproportionately Impacted by Health Crisis
NEWARK – The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice today released Erasing New Jersey’s Red Lines: Reducing the Racial Wealth Gap Through Homeownership and Investment in Communities of Color. The new report shines a light on how generations of structural racism in housing have led to the gaping racial wealth gap in the Garden State, and offers bold proposals to address the problem.
“As this report is being released, New Jersey – along with the rest of the country and the world – is fighting a devastating public health crisis,” said Ryan P. Haygood, President & CEO of the Institute. “As we are experiencing in this pandemic, the cracks of racial injustice in society’s foundation are causing earthquakes in Black and other communities of color. One of those cracks is the staggering racial wealth gap that is largely driven by the generations of housing discrimination laid out in our report, and which can be addressed by our proposed solutions.”