Case Western Reserve study confirms racism is a ‘primary factor’ in redlining neighborhoods | Ohio News | Cleveland

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Cuyahoga County HOLC Map

Neighborhoods with black residents were 40 times more likely to be demarcated in the 1930s, according to new research from Case Western Reserve University, confirming racism as a driving factor in the practice whose effects are still felt today .

In real estate, redlining refers to the process of refusing real estate loans in areas determined to present investment risks.

With the enactment of the New Deal in the 1930s, the federal government created the Federal Housing Administration and the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) to help Americans buy homes.

HOLC has created investment risk maps with areas labeled green for best, blue for still desirable, yellow for declining, and red for dangerous – hence the term redlining. These red-lined areas were ineligible for government-guaranteed housing loans, and housing manuals specifically warned against areas with black residents.

Using archival maps and area description forms by HOLC from 1934 to 1940 for 568 neighborhoods in Ohio, researchers extracted data to determine the extent to which racism and other factors weighed on mortgage application decisions by real estate professionals, loan officers and appraisers.

This study really helped us understand what determined what things were most important in the decision to demarcate a neighborhood, said associate professor of medicine and sociology Adam Perzynski, co-author of the study.

Although factors such as housing conditions, vacancy rates and xenophobia contributed to the decisions, Perzynski says racial discrimination was the overriding factor in decisions to delineate neighborhoods. »

Although redlining was officially banned by the Fair Housing Act in 1968, its legacy lives on. Poverty, life expectancy and access to resources are real and present consequences in 2023.

We created these neighborhoods, said co-author and assistant medical school professor Kristen Berg. These are the consequences of deeply intentional political decisions. So it takes intentional work to transform neighborhoods and invest in families whose generations have been harmed by redlining.

The researchers say they hope their findings will influence social, health and economic policies.

When we look at redlining, we have to think about the consequences of racist policies, Perzynski said. Community gardens are a good thing and managing blood pressure is never a bad idea, but they don’t fix 100 years of discrimination and institutionalized racism.

Today, ownership of white homes in Ohio is 73.1%, compared to just 34.7% for blacks.

Among the ideas they would like to see, the researchers cited community investments in these historically neglected and marginalized areas and reparations like those being introduced in Evanston, Illinois.

The findings were published in Du Bois Review, a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on social science research on race.

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