Addressing Systemic Racism in Real Estate

Addressing Systemic Racism in Real Estate

This event was led by Ed Poteat, Adjunct Professor at GSAPP, with an introduction by Patrice Derrington, Holliday Associate Professor and Director of GSAPP’s Real Estate Development Program.

The Black Lives Matter Movement last summer exposed the impact that systematic racism and White privilege have on our society in general. This lecture further explored how systematic racism in real estate impacts people of color. Specifically, we explored the history of redlining and environmental racism on communities of color. Although examples like George Floyd best demonstrate the brutality and unfairness of systematic racism, there is also an actual economic cost borne by people of color due to systematic racism and an economic benefit received by White people due to White privilege. The lecture sought to quantify that cost and demonstrate how tools such as redlining and environmental racism extract that cost from people of color.

Edward Poteat is a leading developer of affordable housing in the New York City metropolitan area and an Adjunct Professor in the Real Estate Development Program at Columbia GSAPP and author of several essays and books, including The Fiscal Cliff, which discusses the plight of shrinking cities and the economic problems these cities face.

Currently, Poteat is the Founder and President of Carthage Advisors, an affordable housing real estate firm that specializes in the redevelopment of older government-subsidized properties. Carthage has more than 700 units in various stages of development and is actively pursuing other projects. The firm has exceptional expertise with devising sophisticated financial structures to rehabilitate existing affordable housing structures.