• Blog
  • April 21, 2023

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing in 2023

I recently gave a talk to a local California Association of Realtors group on the “Past, Present and Future of Fair Housing” to commemorate Fair Housing month (April), and to help the group think about their role in promoting fair housing. It is...
  • Podcast
  • January 18, 2023

Podcast: Does Integration Close Racial Disparities?

In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from Darrell Owens, a policy analyst at California Yimby, and a writer on Substack who focuses on housing, planning, displacement, mobility and other issues. He just authored a new piece called Segregation or...
  • Publication
  • April 13, 2022

Exclusionary Zoning and Community Resources in Greater Los Angeles

Background Our recently released report, Single-Family Zoning in Greater Los Angeles, examined the pervasiveness of single-family zoning in counties within the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region. The analysis uncovered a...

United States History: Racial Exclusion & Housing Policy in an 11th grade classroom

What are ways to incorporate histories of racial exclusion in housing into the 11th grade History classroom? This powerpoint gives a brief overview of two units designed for 11th grade U.S. History on the topic of Racial Exclusion & Housing Policy...

Presentation for teachers

What do teachers need to know about histories of housing injustice and how these impact the present? Designed to educate teachers, this powerpoint dives into the how and why of our current racialized housing geographies and discusses the fight for...

Glossary of Key Terms - Race & Housing

This glossary contains key terms related to race & housing and is a great document to start with and keep referring back to as you teach about race & housing. Terms featured include: othering, individual racism, institutional racism, structural...

Mapping Opportunity and Segregation in California

Looking for interactive mapping tools that show the stark connection between segregation and opportunity in California neighborhoods? This powerpoint showcases a mapping tool developed by OBI that highlights opportunity disparities as it correlates...
  • Video
  • March 30, 2022

Video: Guide to Mapping Race and Housing Segregation in the US

This instructional video shows users how to use our interactive segregation mapping tool which was released in 2021 as part of our Roots of Structural Racism project. The mapping tool allows users to view the levels of segregation anywhere in the US...
  • Video
  • March 30, 2022

Video: Local Histories of Segregation

On Wednesday, March 30 we hosted three brilliant authors who have helped create reports on local histories of segregation for the San Francisco Bay Area and Hartford, Connecticut. They shared their stories as well as their research processes and...

Afrofuturism Unit

How can we envision our community as thriving in a future that embodies racial equity and belonging? How might the framework of Afrofuturism help us get there? This unit has elementary, middle, and high school students dive into histories of housing...

Place & Identity Unit

How does place shape identity? How do social systems shape us? What impact can we have on social systems? This unit invites students to make connections between various aspects of their identity, origins, and culture. They are asked to build upon...
  • Press Release
  • March 2, 2022

Berkeley study: 78 percent of LA region residential land zoned for exclusionary housing

Single-family housing dominates residential zoning in six-county LA region, producing unequal health, educational and income outcomes, and creating opportunity barriers for low-income, Black and Latino residents. BERKELEY: More than three-quarters...
  • Publication
  • March 2, 2022

Single-Family Zoning in Greater Los Angeles

Single-family housing dominates residential zoning in six-county LA region, producing unequal health, educational and income outcomes, and creating opportunity barriers for low-income, Black and Latino residents.
  • Presentations
  • February 9, 2022

Unpacking the Housing Crisis

More than any time since the Great Recession, policymakers at every level are focused on the deepening problem of housing inequity and the many facets of this problem. Unfortunately, the challenges relating to housing are so many, so great, and so...
  • Video
  • November 5, 2021

White Space, Black Hood

On Nov. 5 Georgetown law professor Sheryll Cashin presented her new book, titled, White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality, at UC Berkeley, in the first in-person event organized by the O&B Institute in...
  • Publication
  • October 11, 2021

Roots of Structural Racism

Introduction In June of this year, we published the “Roots of Structural Racism” project examining the persistence and harmful effects of racial residential segregation in the United States from a number of angles. We examined trends, ranked cities...
  • Publication
  • October 11, 2021

What the 2020 Census reveals about segregation

As part of our ongoing research into racial residential segregation, we offer two new reports based on the latest demographic data of the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally using the recently-released 2020 Census. We've also significantly revamped our interactive web tool.
  • Publication
  • October 11, 2021

The Most Segregated Cities and Neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area

Introduction From 2018 to 2020, we undertook a five-part investigation of racial residential segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area. We studied the nature and extent of racial residential segregation, demographic change, and harmful effects, using...