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Housing Segregation In Chicago, Illinois During The 1900s

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How did housing segregation and redlining between races in Chicago, Illinois during the 1900s contribute to the current racial wealth gap in modern-day Chicago? Since the early 1900s, racial disparities have been a prevalent issue, and segregation in transportation, restaurants, and more were extremely common places for racism to take form. However, one of the only sectors that was rarely impacted by racial segregation was housing. Integrated neighborhoods, where Black and white people would live together, were especially common amongst low-income families due to the lack of public and private transportation options – forcing Black and white families to live together in neighborhoods near large industries and cities. This, however, changed …show more content…

The first to do so was Baltimore, who in 1910, chose to formalize legislation that prohibited Black people from purchasing residences in majority-white neighborhoods and vice versa. In response to this injustice, President Lyndon B. Johnson ratified the Fair Housing Act in 1968, declaring it unlawful for real estate agents to discriminate on the account of race, religion, or nationality. Despite the FHA’s legalization, the racial wealth gap remains a current and significant concern in the African-American community due to the expanding racial wealth gap supported by Redlining’s legacy. Redlining and housing segregation continue to be interwoven with the racial wealth gap due to the low homeownership rates amongst the minority community, deflated home prices of residences in redlined areas – where most Black people reside –, and the lack of funding for education and resources in majority-Black neighborhoods. Chicago was among the numerous cities that were heavily impacted by the housing segregation crisis and continues to face the devastating effects, one of the many being the racial income disparities. Presently, Chicago remains one of the

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The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) introduced long-term mortgage and guaranteed to lenders with low interest rate and extended payment period. The number of Americans who could purchase homes increased and Jackson pointed out how the American way of life transformed, which is to buy a home than to rent. It is said that “today, renters account for one-third of all households, suburbs house far more people than cities, and affordability has supplanted physical deficiency as the primary housing problem (Schwartz 2015, 17).” However, the HOLC and FHA excluded the black population such that the HOLC appraisal and rating system assessed neighborhoods with black inhabitants to be hazardous and the FHA concerned about white-black separation in terms of the investment values (201, 208). FHA helped the building industry to turn against the minority and inner-city housing market and its policies supported the income and racial segregation of suburbia (213).

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When the government and private banks failed, racial violence began when mobs destroyed black family homes and beat them up on streets. Eventually, black people fled their neighborhood, and made Chicago become the “Second Ghetto”. In the article, Coates talks about the story of Clyde Ross, a black man who fled worsening conditions in Mississippi to find jobs in Chicago. As many Americans dreamed of owning a home, Ross worked hard in order to earn money and support his family. However, the only way for black people to own a house in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century was to buy a house from predatory contract sellers, who charged huge rates with few legal protections for buyers.

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FHA that made RRCs an important condition of mortgage insurance continued to enact their policies to segregate white families to new and exclusive suburbs. Even after the courts prohibited explicit racial zoning, FHA believed that African American families threaten home value and their insurability. “the FHA took the position that the presence of African Americans in nearby neighborhoods was nonetheless a consideration that could threaten FHA insurability” (quoted in Making Ferguson, pp. 16). The effects of their actions of racial segregation persists even today in most neighborhoods. (Making Ferguson, pp.

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With many unable to purchase homes, the 1933 Home Owners’ Loan Corporation purchased mortgages and issued new ones with extended repayment periods. To assess the risks of buying such mortgages, the HOLC would not only look at the wealth of the neighborhood but also made decisions of aid based on racial biases; Black Americans were seen to be high risk. Additionally, President Roosevelt’s 1934 Federal Housing Administration issued a requirement that only encouraged banks to make loans to suburbs due to the “risks” associated with “adverse influences,… including prevention of the infiltration of… lower class occupancy, and inharmonious racial groups (65).” Though the specific language of the requirement changed to “compatibility among the neighborhood occupants” in 1952, the racist nature of the policy stood with a white man being blacklisted from FHA insurance just six years later for renting his mortgaged home to a Black man. In the building of suburban districts during and after World War II, the FHA would refuse to subsidize developments that were racially integrated or had African Americans in nearby neighborhoods that threatened the uniform racial composition.

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It also played a crucial role in stabilizing and stimulating the housing market, facilitating homeownership for a wider demographic. It persists today with lower down payment requirements and credit score flexibility. Even though the act did expand homeownership, it perpetuated racial discrimination. Encouraged redlining, redlining denied loans and mortgage backing to black communities, contributing to long-lasting wealth disparities. The Housing Act of 1937 did little to address the housing needs of the poor, including many African Americans living in the slums.

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Redlinings high prices would force blacks back into the poor and segregated sections of Chicago where the houses were cheap but poorly maintained and unsanitary(also known as the black belt). Lowering the price and jacking up interest rates was the sole idea of redlining because it was successful at making the prices unattainable but seem possible to the families. During this time period, some whites would go to an extreme to get rid of blacks that were not wanted in the community or just an area. There was a racial related bombing or arson every 20 days as attempts to get the negroes out of these white towns or as attempts to just straight up kill a “Negro”. Some black families started moving up in the world and started to accumulate wealth to the point where they could afford these high cost houses, the blacks were slowly moving up in the workforce.

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