Title: Redlining has left many communities of color exposed to lead - Child Trends
Headings: Redlining has left many communities of color exposed to lead
Redlining has left many communities of color exposed to lead
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Content: One of these health hazards is lead, which can result in poor development, including poor cognitive and behavioral outcomes that can lead to reduced academic success and lower lifetime income. Redlining refers to federally sanctioned unfair lending practices and social policies that denied home loans to even well-qualified black families by treating them as too risky for federally backed mortgages from the Federal Home Owner’s Loan Corporation, a mortgage refinancing entity. As a result, neighborhoods with residents who were predominately black, or from any other minority group, were deemed unfit for investment and coded as red on city maps. Families in these redlined areas were denied loans, and developers were denied subsidies and loans to build in these areas; as a result, the housing stock fell into disrepair. People of color were often unable to purchase houses or refinance mortgages, or were barred from taking residence in suburbs, making it difficult for them to move out of redlined areas while white families could more easily transition to suburbs. This, in turn, made it harder for black and other racial and ethnic minority residents to enjoy residential mobility and served to entrench the system of neighborhood segregation. Over time, homes, schools, and small businesses in predominantly black or integrated communities diminished in value due to disinvestment and segregation. Black people were unable to obtain loans to purchase homes—even in redlined neighborhoods—and developer investments were deterred by a lack of funding, leading to neighborhood underdevelopment and deterioration. As a result, residents were unable to attain equity to allow their children and grandchildren to become homeowners.