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Remembering King reminds us of the need to confront today's challenges

By Melvin W. Carter III | 01/18/12
Melvin W. Carter III
Melvin W. Carter III

It is fitting that the first holiday we celebrate every year calls us to reflect on the life of  the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., without question one of our nation’s most important community rights activists. This week, in remembering King's legacy, we are reminded that, while progress has been certainly been made, his struggle against inequity is far from complete. Although the insidious practices of racial redlining and blockbusting of the 1960s may have faded; new challenges have arisen in the form of predatory and irresponsible lending.

The scars of these new economic injustices are plain to see. For-sale signs dot the front lawns of neighborhoods where homes have lost significant value and owners are unable to renegotiate their loan. Vacant, boarded houses stand as stark reminders that hundreds of families are continuing to fall behind on their mortgage and, despite their best efforts, could be forced to abandon their homes as well. Duplexes sit empty, the former tenants left with few options after their landlords defaulted.  

Over the past several years, we in St. Paul have applied a variety of tools in an effort to dampen the fallout from this wave of despair. Through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the City of Saint Paul has applied federal funds toward the restoration and resale of properties in the hardest-hit neighborhoods. The city, along with nonprofits such as the Homeownership Center and Lutheran Social Services, have provided counseling to hundreds of families facing the threat of foreclosure. These and other initiatives are making a difference in the lives of many St. Paul residents.

Yet, as families continue to slip through the cracks and distressed properties continue to strain the quality of life in our neighborhoods, we must continue to look for new and innovative approaches for bringing relief. We can look to cities like Boston, where the Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods program has successfully intervened in over a hundred foreclosures. Families on the brink of losing their home have been successfully refinanced into a mortgage that is more affordable for their situation. In Seattle, protections for renters have been put in place to prevent banks from terminating their leases simply because a building has fallen into foreclosure. The Los Angeles City Council is working to implement provisions that require banks seeking to do business with the city to provide data on their home and business lending practices.

King once said, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." These words remind us that building renewed vitality for our neighborhoods and stability for hard hit families will not come about on its own. In the months ahead, we must continue to implement new policies and programs that will press open further the doors of opportunity and prosperity that King and many others pushed to unlock for all.

Melvin W. Carter III is a member of the St. Paul City Council representing Ward 1.

Comments (3)

Submitted by Peter Rachleff on January 18, 2012 - 1:22pm.

From the perspective of poor and working people, our economic system is so badly broken that we could grab it almost anywhere to tackle it, but if we do not grab it everywhere any success can be undermined and turned into yet another failure. While I applaud Councilman Carter's call to put pressure on banks and prevent predatory lending and his suggestion that we look to effective programs in other communities, I must challenge him to address his willingness to look the other way when local businesses have sought to by-pass the Saint Paul Living Wage Ordinance. When Cosetta's sought public money and refused to create full-time living wage jobs with it, they guaranteed that fewer working people in Saint Paul would qualify for home ownership. Councilman Carter supported Cosetta's pitch for a pass on this law, which itself was gained through years of community organizing. The efforts of activists and the people who trusted them were undermined, undercut, and erased. The councilman "supports" the law until someone actually tries to use it! We can never turn around the housing crisis without creating jobs which pay living wages and humane benefits. Councilman Carter poses as a progressive, offers lip service and hot air, but is absent when needed.

Submitted by Dan Hintz on January 18, 2012 - 6:27pm.

To characterize Carter's position on the Cosetta's issue as "look[ing] the other way" is both inaccurate and unfair. Cosetta's is a pizza restaurant, and while a significant number of its employees do earn the equivalent of the living wage, ultimately it can't afford to pay every one of its employees that much with that kind of business. I would have like to have earned $13 per hour when I washed dishes in high school, but that simply was not realistic. While the living wage ordinance is a worthy requirement, there needs to be exceptions, and Carter (as well at 5 out of the 6 other council members) thought this was an appropriate exception.

Carter was targeted by Take Action Minnesota in the last election, largely because of the Cosetta's issue, and the voters overwhelmingly rejected their arguments and returned Carter to office by more than a 2 to 1 margin over the second place candidate.

Submitted by Dennis Tester on January 18, 2012 - 11:04pm.

"we must continue to look for new and innovative approaches for bringing relief."

Here's an idea that's new and innovative. The economy won't recover until the housing market recovers. Rather than helping people who can't afford their mortgage payments avoid foreclosure, council them to walk away from those properties.

Then the city should condemn and bulldoze those properties.

This will have several effects:
1. It will remove the distressed property from the market so the value of the homes around it will not lose as much in value. A vacant lot may have more market value than a lot with a vandalized home sitting on it.

2. It will remove eye-sore properties from the neighborhood where vandals and squatters make the neighborhood less safe and attractive to potential residents. A vacant lot becomes a playground or garden instead of a problem address.

3. It's cheaper for the city. Instead of spending money to rehab it, an investment with questionable return potential, or increase police hours to patrol it because of the problems vacant houses present, it's just a vacant lot.

4. If this becomes the city's common practice, the banks may be more willing to work with the home owner to refinance it because that may be preferable to having their investment bulldozed.

5. With fewer houses on the market being of the distressed/foreclosed variety, the remaining housing stock will retain or even increase in value, increasing the net wealth of all the homeowners in the city.