Equity & Affordability: 2019 Leckey Forum Videos

On June 5, 2019, the Alliance for Housing Solutions hosted its annual Leckey Forum. The event focused on the “Minneapolis 2040 plan, which takes steps toward addressing historic patterns of segregation and lack of affordability. Keynote speaker Andrea Brennan, director of housing policy and development for Minneapolis, spoke about the bold new plan and how the city engaged its residents in a multi-year process to gain support. Videos of the event are provided courtesy of Michael Shea and Arlington Independent Media. You can also read a recap of the event (post includes links to speaker slides). Aisha Alexander Young, senior director for strategy and equity at the Meyer Foundation, grew up in Charlotte and saw first-hand how redlining excluded and eminent domain displaced people of color. She opened the 2019 Leckey Forum with personal stories and a charge to those making decisions about affordable housing: “You have incredible power. The decisions you make every single day can determine if we will be a nation where your race determines your ZIP code, and your ZIP code determines your access opportunities—or if we will become a nation truly grounded in justice and equality.” Keynote speaker Andrea Brennan, director of housing policy and development for Minneapolis, spoke about how her city recently upended many of its housing regulations to make way for affordability and, most importantly, equity. Panelists Chuck Bean (executive director of Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments), Solomon Greene (senior fellow at the Urban Institute), and Kathleen McSweeney (Arlington County Planning Commission) responded to Andrea Brennan’s keynote and took questions from the audience. Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey noted that many of the elements of the Minneapolis 2040 plan have been at play already as the county launched the Housing Arlington initiative and in Dorsey’s own equity agenda that was introduced at the start of the year. Going forward, he said, “A lot of what Minneapolis did will certainly inspire what we look at, analyze, and think about moving forward.”

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