Enterprise: Community Developments: New Study Shows How the 1930s Redlining Maps Still Hurt Minorities

A new study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), which compares discriminatory maps drawn in the 1930s with current neighborhood income and race data, shows that the economic and racial segregation created by the 1930s Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) residential security “redlining” maps persists in many cities. It shows that of the neighborhoods deemed “hazardous” by HOLC maps in the 1930s, 74 percent are currently low-to-moderate income and 64 percent are minority neighborhoods. The study also points out that 91 percent of areas classified as “best” in the HOLC maps are middle-to-upper-income today, and 85 percent of these areas are still predominantly white. The findings show that policies that influence access to credit can have a lasting impact on housing patterns, the economic health of neighborhoods and wealth inequality for decades. (NCRC, March 27)

An article in CityLab looks at a study that documents the negative mental health effects of gentrification on people displaced from neighborhoods in New York City. Using hospital records and national census surveys for 12,882 residents, researchers found that displaced residents most often moved to lower-income neighborhoods, and once displaced, their rate of hospitalization for mental illness doubled compared to those who remained. The study is one of the first in the U.S. to quantify the mental health consequences of gentrification. (CityLab, March 27)