Homes for Equity Oral Histories

“We saw pictures of what was to be developed through urban renewal. It never looked very great. As a matter of fact, I was on a committee from APAC, and the BRA came to the meeting to show us Marksdale. They didn’t even plan to have steps to get in to the house. They had those little inclines with the little boards across them like going in to a chicken coop. That’s what the plan was. And I remember having a fit. I said that’s for chickens. That’s not for human beings. But that’s just the way they thought.”

“Many people were forced out of what were very adequate living conditions. I've had friends tell me their grandparents were given a pittance for restitution for the displacement that was caused by urban renewal. A lot of people have come to recognize, literally, large stakes of generational wealth were just wiped out and never recovered.”

In 1956, after experiencing racial discrimination as renters, Barbara Toney and her husband bought their own home. “[The seller] found out that my husband had the GI bill and that he had Triple A credit. [Without that,] I don’t know whether the GI bill would have been enough.”

Sharif Abdal-Khallaq and his nine siblings lived in a multifamily house his father bought in Roxbury around 1944. In the mid 1950s, the City of Boston took the property by eminent domain. He said, “My father fought very, very strongly against it … but they demolished the whole block.” Sharif joined the Air Force around that time, and said, “When I came back in the ‘70s, [there were] a lot of boarded up buildings. A lot of things that were done in the ‘50s never got restored.”

“A lot of people who lived in Roxbury at the time of urban renewal were not able to get the loans to buy houses. A lot of people endedup in housing projects. Displacement had significant impacts on the people forced out. There was also trauma on everyone during urban renewal. Life tracks were diverted. People were in a stable situation and then many people ended up in unstable situations in strange neighborhoods.”

“As urban renewal came, from what my Grandpa told me, there was very little notice. People weren't given months and months of notice to be able to find other places to live. There was very little effort to clean up the debris after demolition had happened. It just sat there. The City or the government destroyed our home and gave you a voucher for a new home. And now you're in a position where suddenly people have all this extra scrutiny over your life and unfortunately that exists today in public housing right now.”

“Being able to own a home and own property, it allows you to do other things because you have that asset. If I had a crisis, I could take out an equity line and pay off a $5,000 medical bill. If my kids want to go to college, I could take out an equity line.”

“My daughter came out of the house and the house was being auctioned off. The landlord lived right across the street, but he never said anything to us. Then the next thing that happens, you get a notice that the new owner wants to have you vacate the property. And I had to go to court. Owning my own home gave me the capability to have just a little bit more control over my life, more independence, and being self-reliant “