“One by one, many of the working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class – upper and lower … Once this process of ‘gentrification’ starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.” – Ruth Glass 1964

Like many major cities around the country, Houston is undergoing a number of transformations as a result of higher density living and economic growth. This includes efforts towards inner-city revitalization and a revamp of the public transportation system. In the process, we increasingly see longtime residents and neighborhood businesses relocated and historic structures demolished in the name of Urban Renewal. In almost all these cases, these types of revitalization are spearheaded by the government subsidies given to private corporations, which are an entrenched part of the city government. So much that in 1987, The Texas Constitution amended sections in the Local Government Code to authorize the creation of special districts that promote urban development, renewal, and community involvement – such as library districts, arts districts, management and tax increment reinvestment districts, in addition to providing financial assistance through tax abatements or grants. The initial goal of these efforts was driving out urban decay at all costs, however in

Paid for by Thomas Wang for District 147 Campaign 1 www.HoustonUnited.com

Thomas Wang Republican Nominee for TX House District 147

I am running to be your Texas House Representative for District 147 because I want to give a voice to the neglected communities that are too often forgotten, and to bring back leadership that focuses on supplying the tools necessary to empower our citizens to c reat e , b u i l d a n d f o s t e r creativity through productive forms that promote community sustainability and proactive solutions to the issues we face.

A CONSERVATIVES CASE FOR

Solving Gentrification Thomas Wang Campaign for TX House of Representatives

practice it often results in the destruction of neighborhoods’ histories and the displacement of longtime residents, leading homeowners to question: who are t h e r e a l b e n e f i c i a r i e s o f t h e s e revitalization efforts?

Many have attributed this mistrust to a lack of community involvement and inadequate homeowner protections in the revitalization initiatives. Even though the city has come a long way in seeking out community participation, the lack of robust civic engagement has often enabled local officials to foster a system which appears to serve a narrow and elite constituency, in which the market and moneyed interest replace the benefits of a broader public purpose.

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THE BEGINNING Urban renewal initiatives are nothing new for the city of Houston. Early efforts during the 1960’s gave birth to the ExxonMobil building downtown, the Astrodome, and the urban sprawl that followed. Most of the developments during that period severely neglected the extreme poverty and the housing crisis that was affecting the surrounding historic neighborhoods such as the 3rd ward and 5th ward. These efforts intensified segregation in the city and undermined the vitality of the existing urban areas. Many people have investigated the effects of the issues including James Blue in his film, “Invisible City”. What is disheartening now is how little has changed in the way the city approaches revitalization efforts. The city policies in place to address urban decay have stagnated and failed to address the continued victimization of these communities. We are still dealing with the same question of how to better protect residents and homeowners’ rights, and their power to maintain their way of life in the face of dramatic economic changes. The goal for policymakers should be to promote sustainable, responsible, and most importantly, ethical growth in the city. We must ensure that these changes do not come at the expense of longtime residents and homeowners, but rather that they can fully enjoy the benefits of these changes.

GENERATION RENTERS “When people lack jobs, opportunity, and ownership of property they have little or no stake in their communities.” –  Jack Kemp

In nearly every example of low-income ne ighborhoods that are exper ienc ing gentrification, there is a high discrepancy between the ratio of renters to homeowners. For the 3rd ward community, this ratio is 70% renters to 30% homeowners, putting the overall community at extreme risk from influence from outside forces and special interest money, making it difficult for initiatives l ike neighborhood preservation to build and retain wealth within the community and all but guaranteeing involuntary displacement. The problem is made even worse by the uncertainty of Houston’s unsustainable and mismanaged affordable housing programs. For individuals or families, the endless pursuit of a living wage diminishes any hope of achieving the American Dream of homeownership, ultimately depriving them of the opportunity to recognize or reap the benefits of a strong community. This hopelessness is precisely the cost of urban decay, illegal dumping, and the overflow of refuse that afflict our community. I believe that community investment and responsibility comes directly from the levels of homeownership.

“What you don’t want is to reinforce the sense that there is no vision for the future, that the best we can do is help you with the day-

to-day stuff, … That’s a r e c i p e f o r l o n g - t e r m dependency on government. It’s a recipe for depression.” – Wade Horn

As a community and as a city, we must rethink the overall objectives and implementation of o u r a f f o r d a b l e h o u s i n g p r o g r a m s . Unfortunately, our current system does not lift people out of dire economic circumstance and provide opportunities for independence but instead creates a population of dependency that undermines the personal mental health, dignity, and spirituality of families for generations. But that is not all; the inadequate affordable housing policies have been matched with unprecedented incompetency from the city. In 2017 the Houston Chronicle published an extensive investigation on the lost money from Houston’s low-income housing fund. (“Lost Money” Houston Chronicle 2017)* Out of $130 million in local taxes collected by the city in the last ten years, almost half the $96 million was spent on administrative costs, federal fines, or keeping projects suspended by state or federal grants. The city also has lost track of $46 million that could have used for new projects. The report points out as of 2017; there are roughly 43,000 families were still on a waiting list. I am absolutely convinced the current system is broken and the ways in which we continue “warehousing” people are unethical and more importantly unsustainable. We must break this cycle by carving a pathway, through g o v e r n m e n t h o u s i n g p r o g r a m s , t o homeownership.

*https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lostmoney/

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THE STORY OF FIXED INCOME HOMEOWNER

“Homeownership has never worked for people like us.” - 3rd Ward Homeowner

When I heard this quote at a community meeting about gentrification, I was shocked. It goes against everything I believed in as a 1st generation American. This particular statement particularly grates against not only my the sense of the American Dream that I was taught growing up but also my ideas as someone of Asian descent, where property ownership is a foundational part our culture. For us, property ownership not only represents prosperity, but also symbolizes stability and independence. It is not just a rite of passage, but an essential part of life. My disbelief though did not last; it became clear that despite the tenets of independence that we hold in this great state of Texas, our current system of assessing property tax inhibits community growth in low-income neighborhoods. This system punishes fixed-income homeowners, drains the collective community wealth, and paves the way for outside gentrification.

The problem with this system is the market value based approach to tax assessment. Each year, county appraisals estimate the current

market value for a home and use this estimate to calculate the yearly property tax. However, this estimate rarely reflects the actual market value of the home, evident in a large number of tax protest cases won by homeowners. The county appraisal district system places the burden entirely on the homeowners, forcing them either take time off work to prepare and attend the protest or hire 3rd party company specializing in property tax protests. These repeated and unexpected needs to protest property value often result in unnecessary expense to the homeowners, draining savings which can culminate in default on payments, adverse credit reports, mortgage foreclosure, and loss of home.

A market-based tax assessment is essentially a wealth tax. The fee is not based on means of production, i.e. income and spending, but rather, on simply the possession of things. The existence of a wealth tax serves only as a means to redistribute wealth, moving wealth from those that can afford it to those that cannot. However, in our case, the market value tax assessment does not consider one’s ability to pay. This method places an extreme and unjust burden on fixed-income homeowners in low-income communit ies . When the same community is undergoing revitalization (gentrification), the increasing property tax is sure to outstrip the homeowner’s ability to pay, guaranteeing involuntary displacements.

If we want to combat this draining of community wealth and stop the eviction of longtime residents, the solution is clear: end the practice of market value based tax assessment for homesteads and ease the burden of raising taxes on homeowners.

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THE STEPPING STONE COMMUNITY

The Stepping Stone Community is an example of new holistic affordable housing community concept that not only will provide various workshops on personal- f inance, home maintenance, and job training for its member residents, but also will have a renewed focus on building individual wealth and implementing a pathway to homeownership. In short, in this concept, a new type of community land trust will be formed, working with various neighborhood partner organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, community economic development council etc., to build single-family homes for qualified low-income families to rent. The length of term will be limited to 5-8 years, but at the end of the term, 100% of the monthly rent payment for the term will be reimbursed by the land trust, for the original renter to use as down-payment to purchase a home in the neighborhood, providing a way to transition from a long-term renter in the community to a homeowner. For low and fixed-income families, this concept shifts the paradigm of renting and limits the loss of wealth generally spent on rent, thereby reducing the barriers of traditional homeownership and allowing renters to accumulate the lump sum required by many lending institutions for home loans.

I believe concepts like this can help combat the unhealthy dependency on government assistance that we often see, and begins to build self-sufficiency, enabling individuals and families to regain control over their lives in meaningful ways.Obviously, by no means, this is a one-size-fits-all situation. We must keep an open mind to promote innovative policies, and we can’t expect these programs to develop overnight, but whatever the case, stopping involuntary displacement, retaining neighborhood wealth, and creating a pathway to homeownership should be the foundation of every city’s affordable housing policies.

CULTURE RENAISSANCE & CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURES A community is not complete without small businesses, and historically, they serve as community cornerstones and essential places of assembly. Small businesses are a crucial part of weaving the cultural fabric of the community and creating neighborhood identity. They create one of a kind, locally produced goods, and services, creating a character for the community and as a result, fostering tourism and economic growth. Not all business is the same though, and cookie-cutter economic policies often predominately benefit an elite constituency, creating oversized development footprints and consuming communi ty resources and infrastructure. Rather, economic policies should consider not only the needs and wants of the local community but also the historic characteristics of the neighborhood. Local government agencies should focus on building more fair and balanced systems designed to empower communities at the grassroots level. Strategies should encourage the local food and

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art scene, building community diversity and stability, as opposed to current models which far too often end up importing unwanted and often exclusionary elements into a community.

One of the most important ways local government can and should engage the community in developing these economic strategies is through the development of civic infrastructure. By creating a substantial network of community members who are invested in the well-being and character of the neighborhood, we hope to move power back to the citizens and promote growth initiatives that widely benefit the long-term residents of gentr i fy ing areas . This type of c iv ic infrastructure develops from grassroots origins and takes form in neighborhood civic clubs, homeowners associations, local churches and

faith organizations, and local activism concerned with maintaining neighborhood culture. The local government occupies a unique position to build and promote substantive civic infrastructure capable of working collectively with the local government to address public issues such as quality of life, neighborhood revitalization, land and economic planning, infrastructure improvements, and the enactment of local ordinances and initiatives. It is my firm belief that the government’s role should always be empowering the people who live and work in the community, building policies shaped by the concerns of the people directly affected by them, and helping capture and encourage the value of public investment for long-term community benefit.

“Our goals for this nation must be nothing less than to double the size of our economy and bring prosperity and jobs, ownership and equality of opportunity to all Americans, especially those living in our nation's pockets of poverty.”Jack Kemp

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S.H.I.E.L.D – SUSTAINABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP INITIATIVES AND ETHICAL LAND DEVELOPMENT Together we must work across political spectrums for the betterment of our communities. We must eliminate the destructive policies that penalize homeownership and stop the unjust redistribution of individual and community wealth. It’s time for leadership that focuses on supplying the tools necessary to empower our shared institutions by developing and cultivating policy innovations that promote community sustainability and proactive solutions to the issues we face.