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For most of the world, housing is at least understood as a human right. Yet in the richest nation on earth—and in San Antonio—the struggle continues for agreement and action.
Greg Harman
Former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke in 1944 of “new truths” that had become “self-evident” in the shadow of the Great Depression and Second World War, as Rachell M. Tucker, the moderator of a community panel on housing rights at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, reminded the audience.
“We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are…the right of every family to a decent home,” he said at the time.
However, the United States is one of a handful of nations that supported but never ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), that endeavors to give these rights legal expression.
Learn more: “‘Housing as a Human Right,’ By National Homelessness Law Center“
That effort, however, continues today in the form of class struggle, as calls to “decommodify” housing —particularly public housing—populated the weekend discussion titled, “Housing as a Human Right: The Collective Power of Community Organizing Plática.” In a city marked by the acceleration of “mixed-use” and luxury housing in San Antonio’s core, rapidly rising rents and property values have sent shockwaves across the city, leading to repeated displacements of some residents.
Several attending “Housing as a Human Right” reminded the audience of the life-and-death struggle that displacement represents, specifically pointing back to the rezoning and sale of land that once held the Mission Trails Mobile Home Park. That property became suddenly valuable with the investment of more than $150M in public monies along the Mission Reach hike and bike trails along the San Antonio River, as Deceleration contributing editor Marisol Cortez, a community scholar currently teaching at UTSA, found while working with the nonprofit Vecinos de Mission Trails.
See: “Making Displacement Visible: A Case Study Analysis of the ‘Mission Trail of Tears’”
The crisis means more than simply a focus on affordable housing, however, with the range of qualifying incomes heavily debated. It highlights, panelist Teri Castillo, D5 San Antonio Councilmember, insisted, the need for a stronger commitment to public housing, in particular.
“Oftentimes what I hear from community and at work is just the entire concept of housing affordability and what does it mean and how broad it is,” Castillo said. “I believe we have to shift the paradigm and have a conversation about the public housing crisis.”
Affordable housing definitions spiral well beyond average area median incomes (up to 120 percent of median incomes, Castillo said)—nearly double what an average teacher makes.
“If we shift and continue to push this false hope and narrative that mixed income developments are going to address the crisis that we’re seeing, we’re going to continue to perpetuate poverty and hardship and the class struggle,” Castillo continued.
“We need to challenge the idea with mixed income that our unhoused brothers and sisters are going to wake up one day and make $35,000 a year to get into that new apartment. That’s not the reality, unfortunately.”
Castillo said she hope to see the housing debate shift to focus on public housing, low-barrier shelters, and permanent supportive housing.
Two days before this panel discussion, news broke that one such critical newly established low-barrier and “life-changing” shelter operating in downtown was purchased by the McCombs family, putting its future operation in jeopardy. Editorial suspicion immediately shifted to a potential relationship to simmering discussions about bundling properties for a possible future downtown sports arena.
That sports dialogue, while never centered in community planning efforts around the Decade of Downtown championed by former mayor Julián Castro, has emerged over the last year thanks o local reporting on private conversations involving San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh.
It is unclear how or when the McCombs purchase will interrupt the work of Samm Ministries at the location.
Speaking of sports arenas, Castillo complained that mega developments like stadiums are never challenged in the same way public housing is.
“No one says, where are those tax abatements coming from? How is it going to impact property taxes? Those questions are never asked. But when we talk about how we are going to get folks connect to shelter or any type of housing, it just doesn’t pencil. That model doesn’t work in the US. That’s what we hear over and over again. We need to continue to challenge that because it is possible. It is.”
One emerging solution growing up from the West Side is the Esperanza Community Land Trust, which bundles properties to keep property values in check and allow folks living at the economic margins to have accessible and reliable housing.
“Most of the community land trusts in the country focus on the 60 to 80 percent income, that’s what is called the typical working-class area median income,” said panelist René A. González. “This one focuses on the 30 percent income. So we’re talking here in about the $22,000 per year income. Somebody that is earning that cannot pay $1,200 or $1,000 for rent. It’s impossible.”
Panelists were asked to imagine a world beyond what we have today from a housing perspective. After all, it is only through tapping our collective imaginaries that we can develop the world as we would have it be.
“I want to live somewhere I want to live, not just because I can afford it,” said Dominique Renteria, an organizer with Pueblo Over Profit Coalition. “Working class people never have a choice on where they want to live because they’re just worried about how much is the rent.
“I would love to see more food sovereignty, access to nutritional food, and just the sharing of skills of keeping a home and upkeeping a neighborhood.”
Leticia Sánchez of the Historic Westside Residents Association said she hoped to see more political power shifting to neighborhood associations.
“Here in San Antonio I think it’s important to allow our neighborhood associations to have more say,” she said. “The constant thing that we say to our elected officials is let us keep our neighborhoods residential. They’re our neighborhoods. … Can you respect that?”
Panelists included: Ana Polanco (Coalition For Dignified Housing / Domésticas Unidas) Dominique Renteria (Pueblo Over Profit) Kayla Miranda (Esperanza Peace and Justice Center) Leticia Sánchez (Historic Westside Residents Association) René A. González (Esperanza Community Land Trust) Teri Castillo (District 5 Councilperson) Moderator: Rachel Tucker (Oppressed Revolutionaries for Worker Power)
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