An Affordable Dream: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Lasting Fair Housing Legacy

An Affordable Dream: Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s Lasting Fair Housing Legacy

On April 4^th, 1968, the world lost Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A beacon for racial and economic equality, King left wisdom, principles, and ideas that have continued to push generations onward in search for a just nation, where all Americans are afforded equal rights and freedoms. While his marches and speeches are admired universally, less commonly known and shared is King’s final major initiative from 1966 to 1968, his push for fair housing.

In 1966, Dr. King moved to Chicago and co-led the Chicago Freedom Movement, a rebuking of the unjust living conditions many African American Chicago residents faced through veiled discrimination. Legislatively, congress had taken notice of the movement, but had largely stalled on any decisive action. Seven days after King’s death, Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Historians attribute to Dr. King and the Chicago movement for this action.

At TCG, we are committed to continuing to follow in the steps of Dr. King, to ensure equality and justice exist in affordable housing and all of commercial real estate. Dan O’Berski, managing broker at Trinity, is a partner of the Impact for Equity CDVC Fund, an opportunity fund focused on redevelopment and community renewal in the historically African American Dunbar/Michigan neighborhoods.

More than half a century after King’s passing, there is still plenty of work to do to ensure fair housing as is it states, Fair. Today, we mourn his death and admire his advocacy, as we continue to build upon the legacy he left behind.