Adam Constantine on MLK Jr.’s impact on housing equality

In today’s HousingWire Daily interview, Adam Constantine, the owner and CEO of Ace Creatives and former digital content strategist for Movement Mortgage, joins HousingWire Digital Media Manager Alcynna Lloyd to discuss Martin Luther King Jr.’s impact on housing equality.

During the interview, Constantine explains why the industry needs to focus on evoking intentional change rather than launching lackluster initiatives.

Here is a small preview of the interview with Constantine. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Alcynna Lloyd: In March of 2020, when both the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests began to dominate news headlines nationwide, the housing industry began to have serious conversations about how race and homeownership intertwined. Adam, what were some of the conversations you were having in either your personal or professional life?

Adam Constantine:  I think a lot of times we forget that equality is both intentional and tactical. I’ll bring it back for all my Office fans out there. There’s a scene in which Michael Scott comes out of his office and he says, ‘I declare bankruptcy’ and Oscar says, ‘hey, you know, you just can’t declare bankruptcy’ and Scott is adamant he did because he declared it. I think a lot of times, we see equality that way. We’re like, ‘hey, I deem you an equal’ and while the sentiment is appreciated, there are still a lot of things that need to be done both tactically and intentionally. This is one of the things I explored this past year, as it was the perfect storm in the sense of shining a light on the true inequalities of society. In March 2020, everyone was home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so when the murder of George Floyd took place, everyone was watching. Nobody could say they were too busy doing anything else, because it was right there in front of us all and it brought up a lot of discussions about inequality that still persist to this day.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.