The Geography of Dispossession: Race, Bankruptcy, and Foreclosure in a Deep South US County

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scant attention has been paid to the racial impacts of bankruptcy and foreclosure in the United States. This article examines the links between bankruptcy, housing loss, and “risk responsibilization,” a neoliberal process in which consumers rather than lending institutions are held responsible for debt management. We used data sequencing, and Geographic Information Systems Mapping (GIS) to analyse 1,057 cases of home foreclosure and related bankruptcies from 2016 to 2019 in a Deep South US County. We found housing vulnerability to be a racialized process, with Black homeowners more likely to face foreclosure and less likely to receive a fresh start through bankruptcy. In foreclosure, Black-owned homes were more likely to convert to rental property. The study provides sequential and spatial evidence of connections between risk responsibilization, systemic racism, and housing loss in the geography of dispossession.