Keep Austin…White? How Equitable Development Can Save Austin, Texas from its Racist Past and Homogenized Future

Abstract

More than a century of racist federal, state, and local government policies created inequitable and racially segregated neighborhoods through a practice known as redlining. I-35 in Austin, Texas, represents one of the most iconic and stark segregationist splits in the country, with the Eastside being impoverished and mostly Black while the Westside’s mostly White population thrives. As a result, Austin is the only fastest-growing city in the nation losing people of color. While there have been some private and local efforts in Austin and across the country to increase investment in marginalized and divested communities, most of these approaches are limited because they cannot combat the systemic practices that lead to this issue in the first place. Without acknowledging the intentional and racist policies that created this issue and using the same intentionalism to reverse this, policies will fail to reach the communities in most need of affordable housing and eventually drive all people of color out of metropolitan cities. Thus, to properly redevelop cities such as Austin equitably, federal, state, and local governments should create affordable homes and rental units with an intentional focus on targeting marginalized communities and those displaced from the city. This Article seeks to explore tools that will allow cities to accomplish this, with a particular focus on a solution tailored to Austin, Texas, in light of redlining’s history on the federal and local levels and the more recent history of failed reforms attempting to address this issue.