Professor Nestor Davidson, faculty director of the Urban Law Center, co-wrote a letter to the editor in The New York Times on housing inequality in America in response to a piece called “The Cities We Need.”
There is no doubt that longstanding structural economic and racial barriers have left a legacy of inequity that too many Americans, most of whom are living in our urban centers, find difficult to escape. Cities need the tools to address inequality in place.
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Of course, there is a constructive role for states to play, but that role has to include ensuring that municipalities have the authority and financial resources necessary to solve the problems they face. Right now, too many states simply see their role as tying the hands of local elected officials, which results in many inequities growing worse.