In 2005 I was working with a national real estate advisory services firm. I was an associate, which meant doing the behind the scenes work, while the principals met with clients. At the end of an engagement I called into a meeting occurring elsewhere, the principals in the room with the client, me on speaker phone (ahh the world before daily zooms). I launched into an explanation of the analysis I completed for that client. Midway through my presentation the client, who had never met me in person, stopped me and stated, “I just want to make sure the type of community we are developing isn’t one that will attract black people”. This was 2005. In that moment I was hurt and frankly angered that I had spent 100 billable hours working on a project for a client that wouldn’t have welcomed me in community I was helping to plan. I got off that call, and to my employer’s credit, they quickly fired that client. At the time, I was appreciative of that gesture (not an easy thing for consultants to give up their well-paying clients); but reflecting on the experience later I realized that there must be so many more boardrooms, golf courses and kitchen tables where people are designing and planning for places where I am still not welcome. I think the in this moment, in October 2020, the racial inequities and increasingly public face of white supremacy, this sentiment continues to ring true.

One of the most important lessons that experience illustrated for me was continuation of the active role that the real estate industry and its practitioners play in systematic racism in this country.  The legacy of redlining and ever present practice of heirs’ property or loss of farmland, the devaluing of black communities and financing obstacles have clear  social and economic consequences.  I believe these practices are well understood within the industry. But it was eye opening to me 15 years ago, and today, to see how it persists.

In my current position, as Chief of Staff for Councilmember McDuffie, the Ward 5 Councilmember and Chair of Business and Economic Development in the District of Columbia, I often have the opportunity to hear about new real estate projects as they are being conceived and am reminded of that 2005 experience.  The meaningful and substantive inclusion of the communities they will impact are often not incorporated nor are black owners and developers usually driving decision-making.  We have to look at both the institutions that further racists practices but also the execution of projects and the individual decisions that cement them.  Major redevelopment continues to occur without us. It is not enough that we are at the table, we must own those tables and have a say who gets a seat alongside us.

In this moment, it is incumbent on us to be more thoughtful in the way we approach our work. The real estate industry, and its partners in the public sector must push further into making systemic changes. Councilmember McDuffie recently introduced and passed and number of measures to support these goals, including the funding of a disparity study to support a race-conscious economic development rubric and new equity enterprise language to allow for a more targeted approach to contracting and District sponsored development. In a parallel track, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, released Equity RFPs which move beyond minimums of participation by prioritizing developers and owners of color. Leveraging public sector assets to advance policy goals includes issues we typically consider, creating affordable housing, increasing environmental resilience and achieving economic development goals. In addition, redevelopment projects can and should address ownership – including capacity building for developers, alongside communities through co-operative models, community land trust and community investment vehicles.  It should confront gentrification and legacy discriminatory practices and create space for displaced black residents to come back into our city in meaningful ways.

We have the ability to reframe our understanding of what is possible, equitable and sustainable. The public sector can help create that new framework, by looking for structures of engagement, ownership and influence that are both reflective of the communities where they are implemented and also explicitly work to dismantle inequitable development patterns that have dictated our built environment. It is incumbent on the public sector to provide regulations, policy and investments needed to support those outcomes. This can only be achieved, however, through proactive collaboration with the private sector, ULI is fertile ground for establishing those partnerships and I am excited to be a part of the solution.

 Marisa Flowers,
Chief Of Staff, Councilmember McDuffie at DC City Councils
Members, ULI Washington Pathways to Inclusion Initiative
Member,  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group

In ULI Washington’s new Leadership Insights column, ULI Washington will regularly feature member leader’s thoughts and insights as we adjust personally and professional to a “new normal.”