Housing is among the most powerful drivers of school segregation since where a child lives is usually where they go to school.

One solution to segregation, according to many housing advocates, is to make the state's housing policies better reflect the economic and racial diversity of New Jersey's population.

As part of the Segregated series among several newsrooms.

WNYC reporter Karen Yi takes a look at Franklin Township in Somerset County as a model for how embracing affordable housing has led to more diverse schools.

Karen Yi joins me to discuss how segregation affects the student experience.

Karen, explain what Franklin Township is doing differently when it comes to affordable housing.

So Franklin Township has really been a model for embracing the moral doctrine, which essentially mandates that all towns provide or create opportunities for affordable housing.

That's not quite a mandate to say that towns should build dissertations and zoning rules or developments that will bring more multifamily into community.

And so Franklin stands out because they've sort of kept pace with this doctrine over time.

We're now you're seeing a lot of towns that have these settlement agreements in court suddenly with these really big obligation numbers and trying to provide for affordable housing that they haven't done for the last few decades.

Right.

So I think it's really important to explain how in turn that has led to more diverse schools.

I was curious, like, what is it?

What is a town that has been a model for what it would schools look like?

Right.

And its schools are very diverse.

I mean, the district has been called one of the most diverse districts in the state.

And it's diverse in many ways, not just racially, but socioeconomically.

As well.

I mean, more than 65 languages are spoken inside the schools there.

And the district itself, too, I mean, has embraced this diversity.

They have passion in anti-racism policy.

They've hired a director of equity and inclusion.

And you can really sort of see a trickle down both in big ways and these big policy moves, but also in small ways.

And how teachers are interacting with their students on a day to day basis because they really want to make sure that every kid walking through that door, whatever background they come from, whatever home they live in, feel reflected in the lesson planning and the teachers and how they're engaging in the classroom.

And then I think it's important to explain to viewers, especially those who may not understand fully how desegregation really affect the student experience.

Yeah, I think what was interesting was asking students themselves about this.

And I sort of look at the inverse question, right?

What is an integrated school?

How does that affect your experience?

I met with a bunch of high schoolers and sometimes students can see and kids can really see things more clearly than adults.

Right and right there.

Yeah.

They were saying, you know, I walk into a classroom and I see somebody that looks at me and I have had that experience as I was a kindergartner.

And so for someone who is maybe a young black child or young Latino child, having that sort of reflected throughout the course of your education, is confidence building.

So, you know, while this all seems like a win win for everyone, quite frankly, why has there been pushback or no change in other towns and cities?

The reason why I want to talk to them about Laurel is this is one tool that essentially said almost 50 years ago, we are requiring every town to provide affordable housing.

And then in many ways, towns did not do that.

And so I wanted to analyze the impact of that on the schools.

And there are many reasons why people move into places.

Mount Laurel is one of those reasons, not Laurel was the first to diversify housing and also, by fact, also integrate schools and integrate communities right.

And I think now we're really starting to see a change where, you know, I think most of the movement gains and racial justice movements are really won through the courts.

But then policy and politics get involved.

Right.

And we saw that happening in Mount Laurel where you had this core doctrine and then policy and politics involved that for the first thirty decades, this doctrine wasn't enforced as it should've.

Now we're seeing it back in the courts and the courts now assigning these obligations.

And really, I think we're going to start seeing the doctrine enforced, as it should have been almost 50 years ago.

And I think you're going to see the effects of that, both in communities and in schools in the next few years in New Jersey.

Yeah, I think you said at best, accountability.

Karen, thank you so much.

Excellent reporting.

Thanks for joining me.

Thanks so much.