Podcast

A summary of the conversation is below.

Housing Challenges and Context

The housing market is broken for many Americans, Georges framed. Public housing disinvestment started in the 1980s, and resources have crumbled over the last few decades. People who have been living month-to-month encountered a larger financial shock in the pandemic.

In addition to financial struggles, many tenants have been living in substandard conditions. Now that families live at their homes night and day, many are facing serious negative health implications for how unsafe their living conditions have been.

The pandemic did not cause either of these issues to start, but the pandemic did exacerbate and worsen these issues.

Corporatization

After the 2008 financial crisis, very large corporations purchased homes and consolidated that wealth in the hands of a few companies. During Covid, the concern exists that the small landlords (one or a handful of buildings) are being bought by the corporate, private equity-backed groups. In aggregate, the nearly 40% of Americans who rent are in the hands of larger corporations.

“If you are living in an apartment and the owner of your apartment lives on the first floor, you’re going to have a very different relationship with your landlord than if you living in that apartment is just another line on a spreadsheet for someone’s massive portfolio at a private equity fund,” Georges said. “The way they treat everyone is going to be different… It’s every household being viewed as a human being versus every household being viewed as a line on a spreadsheet.”

Housing Investment versus Voucher Programs

People with vouchers have to compete in the private market. Issues arise: People who are renting still struggle to pay rent. Public housing is on a percentage of income that just pay on rent versus households that are vulnerable because they are able to shift the net-rent they owe down.

Another issue is that theoretically vouchers are accepted, but the market discriminates against voucher holders. Georges said that we live in a system of multiple markets: A market for buildings that accept voucher holders, and a market for people who do not require vouchers.

This creates a perversion in the market because vouchers skew the private market and does not solve the rampant discrimination against voucher holders.

JustFix

The Mission

JustFix aims to have safe, equitable, and healthy housing in coordination with other housing justice efforts. The theory of change is to be a tool in the renter’s toolkit. Georges’ team faced initial hurdles that many non-profits face including raising capital and assembling a team. He continued by saying that two bigger areas required attention at the beginning: Determining what JustFix’s unique value projects would be to lead to meaningful intervention and how they would work to gain trust, which took time and attention.

“Trust is not something that is quick. There are no shortcuts. It just means being a good, dedicated, long-term partner as the relationship develops,” Georges said. “There is no one-day event or one-time occurrence.”

One Part Technology and One Part Trust

In support of the housing justice movement, JustFix’s team looks at technology and data as a tool in the toolkit of the housing justice movement rather than viewing technology as a silver bullet.

JustFix wants to equip the most vulnerable with tools to act, to fight back, to collectively organize, and to research. None of these things are going to solve all the problems of tenant’s rights, but they help advance coordination and problem framing, analysis, and understanding.

“When we look at the role of JustFix, it is not to be a solution in silo,” Georges said. “Our work includes a lot of different organizations and services that have existed for many years.”

Getting Involved

At justfix.nyc, you can read more about the work, the tools, the team, and the mission.

On a local level, Georges recommended finding renter activism near you.

“There are critical policy challenges on state level, federal level, and local level to engage with in addition to people in your community right now facing eviction during a global pandemic that has severely limited the ability of our most vulnerable neighbors to pay rent,” Georges said. “I encourage you to start local and help out as you can.”