2019 News

Review praises ‘Facing Segregation’ for offering solutions

The editors of “Facing Segregation: Housing Policy Solutions for a Stronger Society” have compiled a collection of essays that “lay out the reality that segregation is not a periphery problem for cities like St. Louis or for the country,” according to a book review in the St. Louis American. 

“Rather, solving segregation is a cornerstone to progress in every measure of the nation’s health.”

St. Louis writer Clark Randall praises the 280-page volume, saying it “can help form the foundation for understanding our deeply divided landscape.”

“Facing Segregation,” released December 3, 2018, from Oxford University Press, brings together influential scholars, practitioners and policy analysts to reflect on how to use public policy to reduce segregation.

“Segregation harms us all, not just those residing in disadvantaged communities,” editors Molly Metzger and Hank Webber write in the opening chapter.

Metzger is an assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and faculty director for Inclusive Housing at the school’s Center for Social Development. She is a leader in housing justice work in St. Louis and serves as board secretary at the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council and co-chair of the Coalition for Neighborhood Diversity and Housing Justice on St. Louis’ south side. Her housing research has informed numerous local policy decisions.

Metzger also is lead author of the paper “Fair Housing and Inclusive Communities: How Can Social Work Move Us Forward?” for the national Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative to achieve equal opportunity and justice for all.

Webber is executive vice chancellor and chief administrative officer at Washington University. He is also a professor of practice at the Brown School and the School of Architecture and Urban Design. His research and writing center on community development, mixed-income housing, racial and economic segregation, and the role of anchor institutions in urban development.

In addition to Metzger and Webber, 12 authors contributed to the volume: Sarah L. Coffin, Mark L. Joseph, Lance Freeman, Jason Q. Purnell, Richard Rothstein, Barbara Sard, Michael Sherraden, Josh Silver, Todd Swanstrom, William F. Tate IV, John Taylor, and Philip Tegeler.

“In popular imagination, segregation is understood as an issue of prejudice and individualized racism and/or classism,” Randall writes in the St. Louis American. “The authors take aim at this conception, demonstrating that residential segregation is, in truth, the outcome of a massive project undertaken by the federal government for the better part of the 20th century.”

To order “Facing Segregation,” see Oxford University Press.