Title: HOLC “redlining” maps: The persistent structure of segregation and economic inequality » NCRC
Headings: HOLC “redlining” maps: The persistent structure of segregation and economic inequality
HOLC “redlining” maps: The persistent structure of segregation and economic inequality
Executive Summary
The economic and racial segregation created by “redlining” persists in many cities
Persistent economic inequality
Persistent residential segregation
INTRODUCTION

Content: More than 150 of these maps still exist. The examiners systematically graded neighborhoods based on criteria related to the age and condition of housing, transportation access, closeness to amenities such as parks or disamenities like polluting industries, the economic class and employment status of residents, and their ethnic and racial composition. Neighborhoods were color-coded on maps: green for the “Best,” blue for “Still Desirable,” yellow for “Definitely Declining,” and red for “Hazardous.” NCRC has taken these maps and compared the grading from 80 years ago with more current economic and demographic status of neighborhoods as low-to-moderate income (LMI), middle-to-upper income (MUI), or majority-minority. To a startling degree, the results reveal a persistent pattern of both economic and racial residential exclusion. They provide evidence that the segregated and exclusionary structures of the past still exist in many U.S. cities. In 1933, the HOLC was established to assist homeowners who were in default on their mortgages and in foreclosure. The HOLC was one of many “New Deal” programs––policies intended to relieve the worst effects of the Great Depression––leading the way in establishing the modern government-backed mortgage system. In the case of the HOLC, stabilization of the nation’s mortgage lending system was the primary goal.