For housing justice to be a reality, people need to have agency over their own decisions and guaranteed access to housing that promotes health, well-being, and upward mobility. To overcome and repair the effects of structural racism, power-building is necessary to advocate for policy and structural change and create systems that promote justice rather than perpetuate oppression. 

Power-building groups often look for short term, immediate policy wins, but their work can also plant the seed for long-term, structural change to address the root causes of inequities in housing and well-being outcomes. Power-building work can lead to shifts in societal norms and values, changes in decisionmaking structures, new and redirected resources, and infrastructure and control for community power. 

Our current housing system and political and planning structures privilege wealthy, white homeowners. Community power-building is important in disrupting white supremacy because it centers Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people; residents of low-opportunity neighborhoods; and renters to ensure they gain access to affordable and quality housing. Building power for these groups can address the root causes of inequities and provide agency for them to create lasting change. 

This section profiles four approaches to advancing justice through power-building: community ownership, tenant organizing, community organizing, and alliance and coalition building.

Next intervention: Community Ownership