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Depends on what you mean by redlining. Did the HOLC draw maps with red lines on them around neighborhoods where they thought mortgage loans were going to go ba
by rufus_foreman 4y ago
Depends on what you mean by redlining.
Did the HOLC draw maps with red lines on them around neighborhoods where they thought mortgage loans were going to go bad? Yes.
Were those maps used to deny loans in the areas with red lines around them? Certainly not by the HOLC, and almost certainly not by the FHA or private lenders.
Was there racial discrimination by the HOLC? Maybe. Less than with other mortgage lenders of the day.
Was there racial discrimination by the FHA? Yes. Mostly block by block based on census data and New Deal projects that collected data. They did make their own maps, but that's hard to research since those maps were mostly destroyed in the 1960's. The ones that survive don't match the HOLC maps. There's some overlap.
Were there racial covenants? Until 1948, yes, that's not redlining though.
Do the maps made by the HOLC in the 1930's explain violent crime in Chicago in the 2020's? No. Not at all.
- tptacek 4y ago"Was there racial discrimination by the HOLC? Maybe." Yeah. Ok. They literally cited the presence of racial covenants in neighborhoods as a reason to rate them more highly. There are HOLC maps that reference neighborhoods as "threatened by negro encroachment". How do you expect anyone to take you seriously with this stuff?
- rufus_foreman 4y agoCite your sources, what neighborhoods and did or did not the HOLC make loans in those neighborhoods?
- tptacek 4y agoNah, I don't think I'm going to continue trying to re-establish whether redlining was racist or not with someone who just said they're not sure the Home Owners' Loan Corp was itself racist. I've, you know, been on message boards before; I know how this conversation ends: with some weird appeal to phrenology, most likely. You can of course content yourself with your victory on this thread. It'll be valuable currency in your effort to convince the world that redlining was overblown, and likely of little long term impact on American cities.