This event is in partnership with Free DC.

Amid a national housing affordability crisis with political and social implications, Washington, DC is notorious for its rapidly rising income inequality, high rates of displacement, and some of the most expensive rents in the country. Housing policy expert Rosemary Ndubuizu uncovers more than 100 years of affordable housing politics in the nation's capital to illustrate local and national trends in how various social, economic, and political forces have worked together to ensure the persistent vulnerability of low-wage Black families to housing insecurity and displacement.

Since the 1960s, Black women have been at the forefront of combating efforts to force them out of DC. The Undesirable Many recounts the history of Black women's tenant activism and organized opposition through a Black feminist materialism framework that exposes present-day housing inequities as deeply entangled in the politics and practices of gender and racial inequity. Drawing upon extensive archival research and dozens of in-depth interviews with Black women tenant activists and affordable housing advocates, Ndubuizu uncovers how gendered stereotypes of Black tenant irresponsibility have shaped market behavior and informed political justification for different consumer treatment. Politicians, landlords, and even nonprofit housing providers often championed disciplinary housing governance such as mandatory housekeeping classes, welfare garnishment, paternal property management, and case management, contending that the problem was not housing but the Black family itself. By exposing these strategies alongside low-income Black women's political perspectives and experiences, The Undesirable Many offers valuable lessons for contemporary challenges in affordable housing advocacy and welfare politics.

Rosemary Ndubuizu is a scholar-organizer who studies the political, economic, and social forces that shape social welfare concerns like affordable housing. Ndubuizu is an Assistant Professor of Black Studies at Georgetown University. She is also a long-term member and volunteer community organizer with Organizing Neighborhood Equity DC since 2006.

Ndubuizu will be in conversation with Congressman G.K. Butterfield, a retired U.S. Congressman who represented North Carolina’s 1st District for 18 years. A former civil rights attorney, Butterfield was also Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and a key early supporter of President Barack Obama. He now serves as a Senior Advisor with McGuireWoods Consulting in Washington, DC.

This event is on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7:00 PM. The event will be held in person at Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, and is free with first come, first served seating.

To learn more, visit the event page here.