CityViews
The Intertwined Crises of Housing and Education in New York City
As another school year begins in New York City, conversations on how to make a school system serving nearly 1 million students more effective in providing a high-quality, equitable, and inclusive education for all are underway. While many educational justice advocates rightly focus on issues within the purview of schools, I also recognize a need to broaden the conversation to include another critical social sector—housing.
The Impact of Housing Affordability on Student Enrollment Trends
This year marked the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, offering a moment of reflection for organizations working to address school segregation. While it’s crucial to recognize the progress made, we must also confront the challenges that still impede true integration in our schools—including the impact of residential segregation and the legacy of redlining.
One such example of their intertwined history is the effect housing affordability and unaddressed historical neighborhood divestment have had on student enrollment trends across the city. Affordability—in particular housing and the cost of raising a family—is increasingly driving population loss across the entirety of New York State. Households with young children are more than 40 percent more likely to leave the state, and twice as likely to move out of New York City, as households without young children.
The Hoarding of Resources and Opportunities
The affordability crisis has a twofold effect on our school system. It has led to the hoarding of resources and opportunities in affluent neighborhoods, making them largely inaccessible to low-income families and historically marginalized Black and Latino families. Simultaneously, it has continued to compound on the legacies of redlining, concentrating divestment in historically Black and brown neighborhoods. Rising unaffordability, worsened by a global pandemic, has created a cycle where many Black and brown New Yorkers, along with other marginalized groups, see leaving the city as their only option.
The Urgent Need to Address Segregation
Between 2012 and 2022, public school enrollment in New York City declined by 12 percent. Enrollment declines, and out-migration trends, are particularly stark amongst Black students—enrollment has declined by 32 percent over the same time period. As a result, school utilization rates in historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods like Central and Eastern Brooklyn and the South Bronx are declining, raising concerns about the financial sustainability of those schools. Notably, these underutilized areas often overlap with those marked in red on housing redlining maps from the late 1930s.
A Path Forward
While direct efforts to address segregation in schools have not received the required attention for change, we are encouraged by the current administration’s commitment to forwarding a housing plan. Specifically, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a proposed package of reforms that would ease barriers to adding new housing that is expected to be voted on by the City Council later this year, would move to ensure every neighborhood in New York City is doing its part to affirmatively further housing and address segregation head-on.
Conclusion
We’ve been ready to turn the page on our troubled history of segregation. While many education advocates remain disheartened by the lack of focus on school policies that could further integration, Appleseed finds a silver lining in forward-looking policy changes, like the City of Yes that showcase potential for New York City to be a more functional, affordable, and livable place for generations to come.
FAQs
Q: What is the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity?
A: The City of Yes is a proposed package of reforms that would ease barriers to adding new housing in New York City.
Q: How will the City of Yes address segregation in schools?
A: The City of Yes would ensure every neighborhood in New York City is doing its part to affirmatively further housing and address segregation head-on.
Q: Will adding new housing exacerbate challenges such as overcrowding in classrooms?
A: No, the City of Yes has tailored strategies for all neighborhoods to add new housing while reflecting communities’ needs, and assumes noncompliance with the recent law lowering class sizes.
