The African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF) is on the frontlines of confronting the manufactured housing crisis in North St. Louis, where disparities are among the starkest in the country.
In St. Louis, black residents are three times more likely to experience homelessness than white residents. The same forces that originally denied black people access to housing—redlining, violent displacement, and systematic disinvestment—persist today through corporate land grabs, selective code enforcement and gentrification, the modern face of colonialism.
The fight for housing is inseparable from the fight for food, clothing, and shelter—all essential for building healthy, self-determining, politically empowered communities.
APEDF created Black Power Blueprint and prioritizes housing as a way to uphold its mission: to defend the human and civil rights of African people and promote self-determination, free from displacement by developers or speculation. The May 16 tornado which devastated the northside black community and the predictable neglect by the City, makes this more critical now than ever!
Building Black Power by Renovating Properties for our Community
To advance this mission, APEDF has acquired and is renovating properties in North St. Louis to ensure that African families remain rooted in our neighborhoods. Currently, APEDF is transforming four properties—one apartment building and three single-family homes—into quality, affordable housing.
Local black and Indigenous contractors and skilled trades people have installed essential systems such as roofing, tuckpointing, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical wiring while community volunteers have contributed by cleaning, painting, and light carpentry. These projects not only restore homes but also strengthen relationships and build economic ties within the community.
Black Power Blueprint programs are groundbreaking because they transform the conditions of every aspect of life, so our community can see a positive vision of the future.
Be part of the movement that builds not just homes, but returns power to the African community. Uhuru!