Wisconsin Suburb Misjudged Housing Complex

 John Eligon. Wisconsin Suburb Misjudged Housing Complex: Affordable Unites Challenge Basis of Trump Pitch. New York Times, November 5, 2020, p. A13.

     The story of the fight over affordable housing in New Berlin, a deeply conservative suburb about 15 miles southwest of Milwaukee, challenges a key pitch made by President Trump to voters in the suburbs -- that "low-income" housing invites crime and hurts property values.

     The reality in New Berlin is that the mixed-income development, surrounded by a pond, a farmers' market and a library, is "really rather attractive" said Mayor Dave Ament, who is white and staunchly opposed the project as a alderman a decade ago. 

COMMENT

   Trump voters in a white suburb were terrified that "those people" would move into their neighborhood.  They believed that they had  "worked hard" to live in a segregated neighborhood and didn't want to offer a "handout" to Black people.  In reality, the new housing development was affordable for low-income working people, and it offered new amenities that improved the neighborhood including a library.  In fact, libraries contribute to education and economic opportunity for people who grow up near them.  Whether they know it or not, the proximity of a new library almost certainly improved future earnings for the children of the people who didn't want it built.