Redlining: Institutional Racism In Lending
- Following the Depression, federally insured mortgages from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) made homeownership possible for middle- and working-class white people.
- White policymakers believed that integrated and majority-Black neighborhoods would decline in value, and denied mortgage subsidies and insurance to homes in these neighborhoods. Through the practice of “redlining,” less than 2% of homes insured by the FHA nationally between 1946 and 1959 were available to people of color.
- The boundaries determined in the 1930s created patterns of unequal public and private investment that still impact Durham neighborhoods today.
Home Owners’ Loan Corporation Map of Durham, 1939
In 1937, the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) created a color-coded map of Durham, rating neighborhoods by level of risk for lending. Green was the safest, followed by blue, then yellow, then red as the riskiest. The presence of Black people, immigrants, and poor people of any race were considered the biggest risk factors. If you lived in one of the red areas, it was nearly impossible to get a federally insured mortgage.
Click to view an interactive version of this map, including all of the area descriptions
Data sources: Dividing Durham: HOLC’s Survey of the Bull City, Main Street Carolina, Carolina Digital Library and Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Durham Department of Public Works, Insets of area descriptions for Forest Hills (A-5) and Hayti (D-6)
“If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally leads to instability and a reduction in values.”
– FHA Underwriting Manual, 1935
- Following the Depression, federally insured mortgages from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) made homeownership possible for middle- and working-class white people.
- White policymakers believed that integrated and majority-Black neighborhoods would decline in value, and denied mortgage subsidies and insurance to homes in these neighborhoods. Through the practice of “redlining,” less than 2% of homes insured by the FHA nationally between 1946 and 1959 were available to people of color.
- The boundaries determined in the 1930s created patterns of unequal public and private investment that still impact Durham neighborhoods today.
Home Owners’ Loan Corporation Map of Durham, 1939
In 1937, the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) created a color-coded map of Durham, rating neighborhoods by level of risk for lending. Green was the safest, followed by blue, then yellow, then red as the riskiest. The presence of Black people, immigrants, and poor people of any race were considered the biggest risk factors. If you lived in one of the red areas, it was nearly impossible to get a federally insured mortgage.
Click to view an interactive version of this map, including all of the area descriptions
Data sources: Dividing Durham: HOLC’s Survey of the Bull City, Main Street Carolina, Carolina Digital Library and Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Durham Department of Public Works, Insets of area descriptions for Forest Hills (A-5) and Hayti (D-6)
“If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally leads to instability and a reduction in values.”
– FHA Underwriting Manual, 1935