Dealing with ‘creeping segregation’ in Columbia
The planned community of Columbia represented a clear break with segregationist practices in urban development. When it was developed in the mid-1960s, the Rouse Corporation intentionally welcomed people of all races and faiths, rejecting racial steering, redlining and discouragement of Black families searching for a welcoming community.
As a result, Columbia today ranks highly in terms of Black income and opportunity. However, early progress in constructing an integrated, economically viable community which provides “the best possible environment for the growth of people” may be slipping.
Columbia is experiencing “creeping segregation” as measures of the exposure to and isolation from Black and white residents in Columbia’s villages deteriorate. Our recent report, written for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and available online at ncrc.org/columbia-at-55, details some of the challenges facing “Columbia at 55” years of development.
Key findings include:
Columbia was a regional leader in creating a community of Black and white integration. However, Columbia is becoming more segregated with increasing clustering and isolation and also less exposure of residents in Black and white neighborhoods to each other.
The neighborhood-level segregation in Columbia is notable in the stark divisions between the economic and racial composition of the high schools serving the community. Three of Columbia’s eight high schools have over 60% Black and Hispanic students, with a third of the students there receiving free or subsidized lunches.
Housing in Columbia is “affordable” when taken in context with the higher income levels of the community. With median income at $127,545 and median home value of $409,000, Columbia is a high-income enclave relative to the country as a whole.
African Americans in Columbia have over twice the household income of African Americans nationally. In fact, most neighborhoods of Columbia are in the top ranks of Black household income, coming in at or above the 80th percentile for African Americans.
The structuring of Columbia into villages, built at different times and with different objectives, has been a key factor in racial and economic segregation in the community. The newest villages stand decidedly apart in economic metrics as well as representational ones with the median home value in the village of River Hill at over $700,000.
Bold steps to encourage a mix of affordable and market rate housing are needed as Columbia assesses its path forward for the next 50 years. Columbia once again has an opportunity to
be a leader in developing a multi-class and multiracial community. Future development must have at its center the inclusion of low-income, moderate income and high income housing that can serve as the foundation for a 21st century Columbia.
Hopefully the future of Columbia is one that strengthens its ideal of being an inclusive “New Town” rather than falling into the too-familiar mold of becoming another exclusive and elite suburb.