Housing Discrimination: Redlining Continuing Affects

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Housing Discrimination: Redlining Continuing Affects

Table of Contents

Introduction
Redlining and its Lingering Effects
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The issue of homeownership inequity, such as the historic redlining practice, is one of the most challenging aspects when buying a home. Housing discrimination limits certain homebuyers capacity to build equity. Housing discrimination is the unlawful act of discriminating or acting in a biased manner toward those who purchase or rent homes on the basis of their ethnicity, race, religion, nationality, gender, family background, or disability (Quillian et al., 2020). Notwithstanding increases in actual numbers and homeownership levels over the recent few decades, non-White communities have persisted to lag behind White communities in homeownership attainment (National Association of Realtors, 2022). The lingering impacts of redlining, one of many housing-discriminatory lending policies, are one explanation for why the homeownership gap continues today. The impacts have accumulated over the decades and persist to significantly affect people, particularly minority communities, even though many of these practices are now prohibited. Recognizing what redlining is, as well as other forms of discriminatory lending can facilitate the understanding of the challenges that some people have encountered and continue to encounter in the process of becoming homeowners. For the past few decades, local, national, and government housing policies have focused on promoting homeownership among low-income and racial minority groups (Fenelon, 2022). The focus marks a change from a previous period in the history of the country when housing rules prevented members of certain racial and ethnic groups, primarily Blacks, from becoming homeowners. The statistics remain startling even though numerous people, groups, and projects are working to decrease the homeownership gap. In contrast to 44.7% of Black families, 48.9% of Hispanic families, and 55.9% of other racial minority families, only 73.7% of white families owned their homes at the start of 2020 (Jones, 2020). Non-Hispanic white households had a 73.8% homeownership rate as of the first quarter of 2021. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this contrasts sharply with 45.1% for Black households (Campisi, 2021). These disparities have a substantial impact on the economic mobility of the affected communities since they are a result of continuing residential segregation and a racially divided housing market.

Redlining and its Lingering Effects

Redlining refers to the process of designating specific regions or communities as having a high risk of defaulting, typically based on the ethnicity of the inhabitants. Eligible consumers who request loans in particular communities are consequently denied. Government surveyors assigned grades to communities in more than 200 cities in the 1930s, designating them with one of four colors: green for best, blue for still desirable, yellow for definitely declining, and red for hazardous (Mitchell, 2022, p.4). The racial and ethnic composition of the people was a major factor in why local lenders considered the redlined neighborhoods to be credit risks. In addition, they considered housing pricing and community amenities.

Historically, redlining has been utilized to deny minorities access to finance and housing possibilities. It limited the ability of low-income residents, many of whom are racial minorities, to acquire property, thus limiting their ability to flourish. Additionally, denying loans to potential local business owners, hindered the economic development of specific localities (Jan 2021). Redlined communities were openly denied opportunities to grow, which resulted in those communities citizens falling behind other communities where businesses, schools, and housing, including real estate prices, grew. Although the practice was outlawed in 1968, its effects have lingered and have grown in the form of income and homeownership disparities over time.

According to Jan (2021), minorities make up 91 percent of the population in redlined neighborhoods in Macon, Georgia, while low-to-moderate income still makes up 73 percent of these neighborhoods. In contrast, the vast majority of people who live in Macons best neighborhoods, all of which are still middle- to upper-class, are still white. The citys statistics on poverty reflect the racial disparity. Godoy (2020) asserts that residents of historically redlined neighborhoods are more likely to experience lower lifespans than those of residents of other regions of the same city, possibly by a factor of 20 or 30. These formerly redlined communities are much more prone to experience higher degrees of social fragility due to their more limited resources, which makes them less resilient to both natural and man-made catastrophes.

Redlinings consequences on education are still being seen today. Public schools that are not performing well in the twenty-first century are frequently found in redlined neighborhoods from the previous century. However, local government regulations usually uphold residential assignment and attendance zone lines, forcing low-income students to attend whatever public school is on that side of the roadway (Burke, 2021). This implies that pupils living in nearby attendance zones within the same school district may experience drastically varied educational options and results depending on which side of the street they reside on.

Conclusion

Redlined communities now experience increased poverty and decreased wealth, as well as shorter lifespans and a higher prevalence of chronic diseases that increase the probability of negative outcomes, particularly in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Redlining serves as evidence of the long-term harm caused by government involvement in the housing market. Although the people who carried out the 1930s housing redlining practices are no longer with us and cannot be held accountable, their repercussions are still felt today. We can all agree that a familys ability to purchase a home should not determine the standard of living for its members.