I ate, slept and prayed in the area,” said Star Reyes, client services manager for south Phoenix-based Raza Development Fund. “South Central Avenue (in south Phoenix) has been my go-to spot for decades. Raza was a lender for the housing project. Star Reyes, client services manager for Raza Development Fund, stands outside of Roeser Village: FSL, a much-needed affordable housing project in south Phoenix. Many longtime south Phoenix residents are hopeful about the area’s rejuvenation and are fighting for it. Housing advocates say the city hasn't done enough to help them rebound. But then freeway construction and development of Phoenix’s airport broke them up. She said despite housing discrimination shaping south Phoenix early on, the area still had thriving neighborhoods. “It just manifests itself in other ways than it did 50 years ago.” “Sadly, we still have redlining in south Phoenix,” said Patricia Garcia Duarte, executive vice president of Homeowner Homeownership Initiatives for Chicanos Por La Causa.
South Phoenix’s real estate boom is shutting the door on many of the area’s longtime residents who can’t afford to live there now.
Many parts of south Phoenix are now being revitalized with new housing and shopping developments and investment from the extension of light rail.īut the area, which saw some of the highest foreclosure rates during the Great Recession, is now seeing some of the biggest jumps in rents and home prices in the Valley. And by keeping the area’s residents from getting mortgages to buy homes for so long, the discriminatory policies kept many families from building the home equity that translates to savings and wealth.