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Gentrification:

Redlining
Many of the Urban cities that have been gentrified today are communities victim of redlining in the 1930s. During this period, an increased number of Americans were able to afford housing as the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) introduced the concept of administering loans. These loans, however, were not equally distributed among varying racial and ethnic groups. One's racial/ ethnic identification on the application would heavily influence whether or not their loan would be denied or approved. Majority of the individuals who experienced a greater amount of loan rejection were African Americans and immigrants. Additionally, Loan Corporations created residential security maps that divided regions into sections based on the likelihood of loan approval. Regions were categorized by color, green being the area with the most desirable investments which mostly consisted of businessmen, blue being good neighborhoods with white collar families, yellow being a less progressive area made up of working-class families, and red being the hazardous and least desirable neighborhoods made up of lower class Whites and African Americans. This mapping system allowed for the progression of suburban areas while areas that were categorized as redline communities dropped in value. In 1968, the fair housing act was passed in order to combat the effects of redlining, however, this act did not completely make up for its effects as its repercussions linger on to this day. Today most of these red zone communities are now low income neighborhoods that are victim to gentrification. For instance 87% of the once redline areas in San Francisco and San Jose are now subject to gentrification. Additionally 47% of the most exclusive areas in San Francisco and 59% in San Jose are composed of regions that were once classified as green and blue neighborhoods. These current statistics are only a glimpse into the lingering effects of redlining in the U.S.

The segregation that was a essentially a byproduct of the residential security map system has affected the wealth, education, health, and policing of red zone communities. The discrimination against African Americans by the HOLC when distributing loans allowed for white families to take advantage of the economic benefits that came with home ownership. The 98% of the loans distributed by the federal housing administration over a 30 year time period was in the possession of white Americans. To this day this struggle for a black individual to receive a mortgage approval is still ongoing.

The low income communities that came out of the redline zones are today also experiencing repercussions in their public school systems. As public schools are funded by the neighborhood in which they reside, majority of the schools in these low income communities are not able to provide as much financially as schools in white neighborhoods. This lack of funding is one of the main reasons why these schools do not receive the same resources as those in neighborhoods that pay higher property taxes.

The lack of progression in redline neighborhoods additionally led to severe disparities creating what are commonly known as medical deserts leading to a decline in the standard of livings for residents in these area. The majority of individuals who are living in these conditions today are people of color, lacking in resources, such as convenient, healthy grocery stores, clean air and water, and up to date infrastructure. These conditions are also what cause people of color to be more prone to experience medical issues.

Lastly, there is a strong correlation between low-income neighborhoods and over-policing due to redlining. As crime violence in red neighborhoods increased, a prominent stereotype formed for members within that community, which when used is commonly known as spatial profiling. Residents would be over-policed and monitored based solely on the perceptions of where they lived.

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