Opponents of Proposition 10, the local rent control initiative on the November ballot, might say rent control is an esoteric free market issue. But California’s housing crisis is not esoteric. It’s a racial justice issue, plain and simple.

Voters should pass Prop. 10, which repeals the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, and start to address inequality in housing based solely on race. Prop. 10 would expand local government’s authority to enact rent control on housing.

White Americans have been property owners for hundreds of years, and people of color historically have been compelled to be renters. Redlining, which discouraged banks from approving home loans in “undesirable” parts of cities where more people of color lived, began in the 1930s when federal housing programs established an appraisal system that tied home loan availability to race. Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government backed $120 billion in home loans — 98 percent of which went to white families. Private lenders used these government guidelines to deny home loans or charge higher interest rates or fees.

Redlining was ruled illegal in 1968 but its legacy lingers.

This is not that long ago. My white grandparents got home loans. By buying property, they had access to the cornerstone of building familial wealth in this country while Californians of color did not. By allowing landlords to continually increase rents without limitations in California, we are continuing to build the wealth of white people at the expense of people of color.

Today, most African Americans and Latinos in California are renters. Nearly 63 percent of white adults are homeowners in California, while 34 percent of African Americans and 42.3 percent of Latinos are homeowners.

We need to pass Proposition 10 to allow local communities the ability to pass rent control, thereby adding to the efforts to level the playing field for everyone. It won’t erase the grave racial disparities in our housing, but it’s a start. I don’t want my sons to live in a world that favors them simply because they are white, while making economic survival in California harder and harder for everyone else. Supporting Proposition 10 is a big part of that.

Muffie Fulton of Los Altos owns a company called Bold Food where she teaches the science of cooking and organizes food-focused travel tours. She has a background in neuroscience and spent 15 years working in biotech supply chain businesses. She is a member of Showing Up for Racial Justice in San Jose.