MSU Extension Community

Hi. I'm Dr. Craig Carpenter, Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, and I'm an Extension Specialist on the Housing Policy Team at Michigan State University Extension. The Housing Policy Team has 16 members, including faculty, directors, Extension Specialists, and Extension Educators who work in the areas of housing, planning, zoning, and good governance. I'm Harmony Gmazel, Outreach Specialist for the Urban and Regional Planning Department within the MSU  School of Planning, Design and Construction, and also a member of MSU Extension's Housing Policy Team. We are honored to be awarded the National Extension Diversity Award, and we thank the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the Cooperative Extension System’s Extension Committee on Organization and Policy The purpose of this award is to recognize accomplishments of Cooperative Extension Professionals in achieving organizational changes that support diversity, pluralism, and innovation and programs that impact our Extension audiences. The Award for Diversity is designed to focus national attention on innovative models and techniques that ensure that Extension programs equitably engage all learning audiences in an effective manner. Rural U.S. communities are increasingly confronted with several housing issues. One recent issue is an aging and insufficient housing stock. A much longer term major housing issue involves important issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in housing due to the legacy of discriminatory historical programs and policies causing large inequalities in housing affordability, and access today. Substantial effort is put into describing the sources of housing issues to extension stakeholders, but this legacy, which research shows is a major contributor to present day housing inequalities is almost never discussed in extension programs. The MSU Extension Housing Policy Team saw this as a failure to support our Extension stakeholders in making informed decisions and set out to integrate this history into our housing programs. Economic research, community planning, and housing trend data are the primary drivers of the Housing Policy Team’s programs We leveraged interdisciplinary collaborations with regional planning, geography, and sociology to enhance our program's breadth. Our Policy Team’s programs and research lay a foundation for larger community conversations around master planning, zoning, engagement, and other local solutions to the housing crisis that is facing Michigan's residents. Our program builds a shared vocabulary around common housing terms and highlights recent trends in housing stock and living arrangements based on state and national socioeconomic research. The Michigan State University Extension Team also developed a website and resource called "Redlining in Michigan: The History and Legacy of Racist Housing Policies." This website extensively documents the history in Michigan and for each of the 11 redlined Michigan cities. In addition to summarizing current research on the long-term and present-day effects of redlining policies, The website overlays the historical redlining maps on present day demographic data to show the persistence and continued relevance of these racist policies. The State of Michigan Housing Development Authority's first statewide housing plan, which sets goals for housing throughout the state, explicitly cites the MSU Team's materials as motivational and informative for its pursuit of racial justice in housing. The Michigan State University Extension Housing Policy Team is honored to win the National Extension Diversity Award for integrating the history and legacy of housing discrimination into our Extension programs. When engaging in outreach and education on local housing or planning, we encourage you and your state to include all the major contributors to present day housing inequality, including the history of housing discrimination and redlining. Please reach out to learn more about implementing similar programs or uncovering this history in your state. Thank you.