Safe, stable, affordable housing is a keystone of vibrant, healthy communities. It impacts all aspects of life, from child development to long term health outcomes. Over the past two decades, growth of this vital resource has been stagnating, making housing affordability a growing concern in countless communities throughout the United States, including here in Washtenaw County. Click here to learn more about the issue in Washtenaw County.
Ginsberg and founding partners at Washtenaw Housing Alliance, Ann Arbor Housing Commission, the Office of Community and Economic Development, and Avalon Housing created the Housing Affordability Regional Collaborative (HARC).
Working together, campus-community partners have identified these three priority work areas that are critical to creating a more affordable Washtenaw.
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Storytelling & Communications
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Research & Data
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Organizing & Coalition Building
Get Involved
We are eager to connect, whether you want to learn more about this issue or let us know about your current work. If there is any support we can provide to you - whether that’s connecting you with community partners for collaboration, helping you find collaborators and thought partners here on campus, providing consultation as you develop new initiatives, or any other support you may need. Use this form to:
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Share your expertise, research, or projects in this area
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Connect to a local community partner
Email [email protected] to get connected
Ongoing projects
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Impact of Unaffordable Housing- a video series: These videos are part of a collection of educational assets co-created by housing experts in Washtenaw County, the Ginsberg Center, and the Center for Academic Innovation. They focus on relaying the stories of the effect of unaffordable housing on essential workers and racial segregation in Ann Arbor.
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Groundcover News: English instructor Carlina Duan’s first year writing students partnered with Groundcover News to produce documentary, research, and narrative-based content for an upcoming anthology, commemorating 10 years of Groundcover News in the community, and by writing social media posts, conducting research, and providing other editorial content. Students are also researching GCN archives and reflecting on housing justice and homelessness within local and national communities.
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Housing Unaffordability- By the Numbers: Statistics in the Community is partnering with the Ginsberg Center to conduct analysis and create data visualizations to help educate the public about the impact of housing unaffordability has on our whole community.