Community Organizing for Affordable Housing and Anti-Displacement Policy

• In Event: Lightning Round: Research in Five: Graduate Students III

Abstract

The ongoing lack of affordable housing and pandemic pressures have contributed to stronger resident-led efforts in the Denver Metro area for affordable housing policy advocacy in the face of rapid gentrification. Through ongoing ethnographic research over the past 18 months in Denver, Colorado, including repeated interviews of low-income residents, city government/stakeholder interviews, and community fieldwork related to housing organizing and affordable housing political activism, this project documents the ongoing struggle for resident voice in local politics and the power of coalition-building. This research explores the real impact of community organizing in introducing practical solutions to policy makers and the development of affordable housing and anti-displacement housing protections. Documenting the experiences of these coalitions in organizing for housing policy can inform political activism at the local level in gentrifying cities across the country.

Author

• Marisa K Westbrook, University of Colorado Denver