Tenants to Homeowners, is a local Lawrence, KS nonprofit that has helped more than 350 families become homeowners since 1992. TTH also provides 140 affordable rentals and reaches more than 300 people annually through homebuyer education workshops and presentations to help equip families to be successful homeowners.
For its homeowners, TTH also provides maintenance workshops, post-purchase counseling and foreclosure prevention advocacy. The Housing Trust has a 0% foreclosure rate since it was adopted in 2005.
The Lawrence Community Housing Trust Program offers a stock of affordable renovated or newly constructed homes at subsidized sale prices to buyers with low to moderate incomes. In exchange for this value, the buyers agree that when they elect to resell, they will resell to another income-eligible buyer at a formula price that allows buyers to earn a fair amount of equity, while keeping the home affordable to the next buyer without requiring additional subsidy.
Letter of Solidarity; Movement for Black Lives
Black Lives Matter
Equitable and affordable housing opportunities for individuals and families of color is a step towards healing the future of our historically racist and exclusionary housing practices here in Lawrence.
Housing in the US, in Kansas and here in the City of Lawrence is permeated with a deep history of Racism and racial exclusion. Looking back to the deeds of homes still standing within our neighborhoods, one discovers exclusionary and racist clauses (redlining) that served to legally disallow persons of color from purchasing homes within many of the town’s neighborhoods. While these exclusionary clauses are no longer legally upheld, many of these original deeds and their racist rhetoric are still in use. Today, some of these homes are now owned by persons of color who are reminded by the very certificate of ownership that their home and the overtly racist history of their community sought to exclude them from opportunity, equality, equity and class mobility. This is systemic racism.
Banks too have a history of denying loans (including loans for homeownership) based on racial identity. This is systemic racism.
While Lawrence is touted as a proud locale of the Free State, these 20th century realities of institutional and systemic racism were not foreign to our community. The inability to build wealth through homeownership has caused generational disadvantage leading to greater economic challenge and reduced opportunities for black and brown people here in Lawrence. This is by definition systematic racism. Lawrence often speaks of the architectural historicism of its homes and structures, what remains less discussed, is the narrative of egregious racial exclusion/ and the traumatic racist history of housing in our community. This is systemic racism.
As a community-responsive organization TTH is anti-racist. Our work provides affordable homeownership opportunities, rental opportunities and microloans without discrimination. Our very model as a Community Land Trust is derived from New Communities Inc., a re-imagined and progressive model of shared land ownership borne out of organizing efforts of the Civil Rights Movement.
Racism is institutionalized within the very fabric of our societal structure. The only way to begin to dismantle its presence is to intentionally acknowledge its existence and to work intentionally through anti-racist actions that will aid in the processes of creating a culture of healing, full equity, opportunity and equality. TTH is committed to listening to people of color in our community and offering leadership positions on our board and within our staff to people of diverse backgrounds.
This is what TTH is about. We will continue our role in this community as an ally, supportive service agency, responsible landlord, client and as your anti-racist neighbor.
Want to learn more?
Read www.rewire.org/neighborhood-institutional-racism/ and check out Monhollon’s book from the Lawrence Public Library at https://lawrence.bibliocommons.com/item/show/10457119
