Reporting Responsibly on the Housing Crisis: A Guide for Journalists
The housing crisis in the United States has reached alarming levels, affecting people across diverse communities. Journalists play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and influencing policies that impact the housing sector. Unfortunately, too often journalists report on the housing crisis in a way that further marginalizes those suffering and exacerbates the issue.
One of the most major problems is the oversimplification of complicated issues. Journalists tend to focus on isolated events or controversies. Consider the subject of homelessness, which is often examined without exploring its root causes and how they relate to public policy. Or look at the topic of rising gentrification, which is often looked at without exploring how the government is incentivizing multibillion dollar corporations to move into neighborhoods, which in turn contributes to skyrocketing housing prices. It is important to connect the dots and highlight the interconnections between various aspects of the crisis.
In conjunction, journalists often rely on the stories of individuals rather than allowing for communities and activists to come together and share a unified message through media. This can severely limit the perspectives and voices present in their research, which in turn will give readers a very limited lens with which to understand the crisis. False narratives about the plight of homeless individuals or else misrepresentation of the bigger picture also contributes to incredible bias among readers, who may reinforce or exacerbate the problem when bringing their own ideas into public discourse.
Because of this, public discourse around the housing crisis is often framed within a market or commercial perspective—utilizing the stories of landlords and homeowners while almost intentionally overlooking the structural and racial inequities at play. History and context in the United States surrounding how housing has been distributed among lower income communities and communities of color contains plenty of answers that journalists can and should telegraph to their readers. The interconnectedness between housing issues and factors such as tax laws, land use, and government policies cannot be ignored and the structural oppression that politicians participate in must be examined with a critical lens.
In order to report on the housing crisis holistically, journalists must first consider how many things contribute to the problem. Things like educational equity, economic justice, racial disparities, health outcomes, poverty, and access to job opportunities are all involved in the exacerbation of concurrent housing crises, and false narratives pushed by bad actors (i.e. “They just need to work harder!”) cause the state and the people to withhold even more resources and continue to push people out of their homes.
This is why journalists must not rely on government officials and experts to construct their narratives. Instead, journalists should tap into community members' expertise and lived experiences. Most, if not all, areas experiencing severe housing crises are dealing with similar intersections of problems, and diving in with those communities will put all of the factors at the forefront of the final report.
As this is a nationwide issue, collaborating with other news organizations can also enhance the impact of reporting on the housing crisis. This way the message gets out to more communities and more readers, and journalists will also help their own reporting by pooling resources with each other, sharing data, and coordinating efforts in the style and language of the final report. Mining large databases can uncover hidden stories of housing injustices. Analyzing data can reveal patterns of discrimination, segregation, or disparities in mortgage lending or rental prices, providing a solid basis for the story you are telling..
With print media on the decline and online newsrooms turning to paywalls to finance their content, other mediums of reporting should also be considered to reach communities without local news sources or the financial resources to subscribe to news sites. Podcasts and other new media formats offer opportunities for serialized, in-depth coverage of the housing crisis. YouTube videos containing interviews with these communities, or insights into housing board meetings, can also bridge a gigantic gap in who has access to this news and who can see what’s really going on behind the scenes.
Overall, the housing crisis is both worse and more complicated than journalists are reporting at the moment. Journalists owe it to their own communities and marginalized communities to present a complete picture of the truth and to be inclusive with who gets to comment on the rising crisis. With more holistic reporting, communities may be able to work together to counteract the more difficult and worrying pieces of this crisis.
