Housing is top of mind for many of us who live and work in Anchorage. Our struggles, while acute and fractious, are heartening in that they are largely shared in public forums. Not a week passes without a clearly articulated op-ed in these pages, a letter to the editor or an article updating residents about the progress of municipal legislation. Kudos to my fellows in the community for engaging in this important conversation. However, it feels that we are missing the same underrepresented demographic that is often not present in public debate.
As the incoming CEO of the YWCA Alaska, my organization is guided by the mission to eliminate racism and empower women. As we look deeply at our own regional history, we can point to critical junctures where the powers that be made choices that intentionally disenfranchised specific neighborhoods and demographics. As Charles Wohlforth specifically called out in his regrettably titled commentary June 21, “Some plats in the oldest parts of the city have racist covenants,” but continued to make the point that, to paraphrase, racism wasn’t as bad here as it was in other places. At the YWCA, we feel that’s gaslighting the problem: Just because you’re allegedly not the worst at something hardly gives you the moral authority to decide not to try to be better. The YWCA aims to eliminate racism, even knowing just how far we are from the goal — not marginalize or disavow racism.
As this conversation about housing and future city planning happens in public, as with many public and political debates, the conversation is largely happening between groups of well-intentioned and motivated people with time and money to debate. This, of course, is despite the fact that housing is an everyone problem. Everyone. At the YWCA we want to engage with more diverse stakeholders: traditionally under- represented groups, women, single-parent families, and BIPOC neighbors in our city, to talk about a future vision of housing in Anchorage.
On Aug. 23, we are hosting a public conversation at the Nave (3502 Spenard Road) to share stories from the housing crisis in Anchorage. We want to hear many voices in that conversation, not only the usual ones. We have invited Assembly members to join us in a position of listening for the evening. Please come and join us so that the context for the housing debate and city planning process encompasses all stakeholders, this time around. We can — and must — learn from earlier mistakes. We have to do better.
— Jessie Lavoie
YWCA Alaska CEO
Anchorage
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