Racism in Real Estate: Redlining
(CC: “Let’s talk about redlining and how this racist policy affects you today. This is important considering the 2021 economic conditions and policies being passed.
Redlining started in the 1930s in the Great Depression with the passing of the New Deal Policy. This prompted banks to use racial criteria to create color-coded maps, often redlining “undesireable” black and brown communities. After the Great Depression, white people were offered subsidized loans and mortgage assistance while black people were only offered predatory loans and denied loans outside of the red-lined area. This held back black homeownership and enforced segregated neighborhoods. This also enabled cities to cut public funds and investments in those red-lined areas. This caused disparities in political support, education, health care, and transportation in those once red-lined areas.
Neighborhoods in once red-lined areas are valued at about 1/5 of their white counterparts that are literally across the street. This all has a direct effect on the racial wealth gap, as real estate is the number one tool for building generational wealth.
While redlining became illegal in the 1980s, the discrimination had been done and replicated in different industries, often seen as “not your target audience,” usually excluding black and brown people of color.”)
On Friday, we will look a bit deeper into the history of redlining and the ways it impacts us today.
-Your Friends at Undoing Racism