GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The city of Green Bay is moving ahead with a plan to address inequality in housing.
“When you’re barely trying to get on your feet, it’s very hard to take $20 out of your kids lunch to go fill out this application,” Green Bay resident Bianca Guzman said. “When you don’t have a house, you’re filling out two to three applications a week, whatever you can afford.”
Guzman is a single mother who is one of many fighting to find stable housing. On Monday, she shared her story with the city’s Equal Rights Commission.
“My marriage of nine years was exposed, and my sister decided that my and my children’s safety was more important than whatever relationship I had going on, and that day, she drove eight hours to pick me and my four children up. We literally packed our whole belongings into this vehicle, small van, where five people were transporting their whole life of nine years.”
The commission conducted a housing report to look at the problem. Equal Rights Commissioner Jon Shelton says some groups have disproportionately been affected.
“Whether that’s victims of intimate partner violence who are worried about if they call the police to protect themselves from an abuser if they’re going to get evicted. Or African Americans because the connection between over policing and eviction.”
The report outlines short- and long-term recommendations for the city.
“The city investing in more tenant advocacy — everything from making materials available for multiple languages to hiring a full-time housing investigator,” Shelton said. “A municipal housing ordinance that would require developers to develop a certain amount of affordable housing.”
The commission specifically chose Martin Luther King Jr. Day to discuss the report.
“In some modest way, acknowledge the work that he did by trying to make our community a more equal place,” Shelton said.
Those hoping for help understand change takes time. But they also urged officials to consider their stories and act soon.
“Take that risk. Say ‘yes’ to the single mom because, at the end of the day, that woman could be more responsible than any tenant you’ve said ‘yes’ to,” Guzman said.
The common council will review the findings of the report during their Feb. 9 meeting.
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