Housing Discrimination Research Articles

THE MANY LIVES OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY

THE MANY LIVES OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY

Satellite observations of NO2 indicate legacy impacts of redlining in U.S. Midwestern cities

Redlining was a practice of financial discrimination in the mid-20th century in which banks refused loans or increased interest rates based on the grade of an applicant’s neighborhood as designated by the federally sponsored Home Owner’s Lending Commission (HOLC). The HOLC primarily graded neighborhoods from “A” (best) to “D” (hazardous) based on characteristics including the racial demographics and economic status of the residents, with neighborhoods with higher percentages of non-white and/or recent immigrant residents given lower grades; this and similar discriminatory practices can be traced to modern-day economic and environmental inequalities between neighborhoods. The legacy of redlining and related housing discrimination on modern-day urban air quality, which presents a significant threat to public health, remains an important issue in addressing environmental injustice in U.S. cities. In our study, we used remotely sensed estimates of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2) collected with the TROPOMI satellite sensor, and shapefiles of redlined neighborhoods, to determine whether air quality varies among historic HOLC grades in 11 U.S. Midwestern metropolitan areas. This approach allowed us to test these tools for within-city analysis of NO2 for which high spatial and temporal resolution measurements are not often available, despite their importance for monitoring impacts on human health. We found that NO2 levels were as much as 16% higher in neighborhoods that were graded “D” compared to those graded “A” (as in Chicago), with the mean difference across all cities an increase of 7.3% ± 5.9%. These results present evidence of persistent modern-day inequality in urban air quality associated with historic discriminatory policies and should be used as an argument for government action improving air quality in neighborhoods that were poorly graded by the HOLC.

The inclusion paradox of local deliberation: the case of Holland, Michigan’s LGBTQ+ non-discrimination controversy

ABSTRACT In this essay, I analyze a protracted public controversy about whether Holland, Michigan should adopt an ordinance banning discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. I argue that the controversy reveals what I am terming the inclusion paradox of local deliberation. Ordinance supporters’ efforts to foster ethos within the status quo’s political processes and identify with opponents worked to legitimize the very logics and assumptions that enable exclusion. I illustrate the inclusion paradox in how supporters build identification, what arguments they made, where they advanced their claims, and the fact that they did participate in the controversy. As such, the essay provides insights for rhetoric and argumentation scholars as well as advocates about how local rhetorics can enable or undermine inclusion and justice.

Redlining, racism and food access in US urban cores.

In the 1930s, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) graded the mortgage security of urban US neighborhoods. In doing so, the HOLC engaged in the practice, imbued with racism and xenophobia, of “redlining” neighborhoods deemed “hazardous” for lenders. Redlining has caused persistent social, political and economic problems for communities of color. Linkages between redlining and contemporary food access remain unexamined, even though food access is essential to well-being. To investigate this, we used a census tract-level measure of low-income and low grocery store food access from the US Department of Agriculture Food Access Research Atlas, redlining data from Mapping Inequality Project, and demographic data from the American Community Survey. We employed generalized estimating equations with robust covariance estimates to analyze data pertaining to 10,459 census tracts in 202 US cities. Tracts that the HOLC graded as “C” (“decline in desirability”) and “D” (“hazardous”) had reduced contemporary food access compared to those graded “A” (“best”). Increases in contemporary census tract proportions of Black, Hispanic, or other racial/ethnic minority residents, as well as disabled residents, were associated with reduced food access. Increases in contemporary proportions of residents age 75 years and older or those without a car were associated with better food access. Tracts that underwent housing redevelopment since being graded had better food access, while those undergoing gentrification had reduced food access. Results suggest that issues of redlining, housing discrimination, racism, ableism, displacement, and food inaccessibility are deeply intertwined.

“You Are Not the Tenant I am Looking For”

Research suggests that formerly incarcerated individuals, and individuals belonging to racial minority groups, experience stigma and housing discrimination. The current study explored landlords’ attitudes and differential communications toward formerly incarcerated individuals – particularly wrongfully convicted individuals – of varying races. Using data from an experimental audit study, we examined the content of landlords’ email responses to rental inquiries from fictitious convicted and wrongfully convicted individuals, and members of the general public (i.e., control), who were either Black, Indigenous, or White. A content analysis revealed three main themes: 1) responding with courtesy; 2) probing for additional information; and 3) willingness to set up a viewing. Logistic regressions revealed that landlords were more likely to justify the rental’s unavailability, inquire about the renter’s financial stability and references, and to say they would follow up later when corresponding with convicted and wrongfully convicted individuals compared to control. Landlords were also more likely to ask White renters about their criminal history compared to Black and Indigenous renters. Surprisingly, individuals belonging to racial minority groups were not disadvantaged further in this data. The findings are discussed in the context of post-incarceration support.

Applying Theoretical Perspectives and Activism to Understand and Combat Mental Health Stigma

Mental health-related stigma results in individual, communal, and societal consequences such as stereotypical thoughts, prejudiced feelings and attitudes, discriminatory behaviours, social injustice, and inequity toward individuals with mental health issues. As a result, individuals living with mental illness often experience decreased self-esteem, loss of identity, isolation, exacerbated mental illness, internalized self-stigma, housing and employment discrimination, academic challenges, and barriers in various aspects of life. Research indicated that stigma continues to persist despite increased knowledge about mental health, expanded treatment options, and an abundance of mental health promotion and stigma reduction programs. Thus, we must further examine mental health-related stigma from various theoretical conceptualizations to understand its persistence. This paper applied two theoretical frameworks: Social Learning Theory and Sociological Imagination Theory to better understand mental health stigma. It argues that activism aids in reducing mental health stigma. This paper also suggests that program developers of future mental health stigma reduction efforts should apply activism into their initiatives to promote social justice and equity for people living with mental disorders.

Housing Discrimination and the Toxics Exposure Gap in the United States: Evidence from the Rental Market

Abstract Local pollution exposures have a disproportionate impact on minority households, but the root causes remain unclear. This study conducts a correspondence experiment on a major online housing platform to test whether housing discrimination constrains minority access to housing options in markets with significant sources of airborne chemical toxics. We find that renters with African American or Hispanic/Latinx names are 41% less likely than renters with white names to receive responses for properties in low-exposure locations. We find no evidence of discriminatory constraints in high-exposure locations, indicating that discrimination increases relative access to housing choices at elevated exposure risk.

Forging an Anti-Racist Praxis: Housing Discrimination against Ottoman Greek Immigrants in Early-Twentieth-Century Portland and Seattle

Whiteness provides its possessors with the privilege of homeownership without racial restrictions and obstructs black, brown, and Indigenous people. I examine that privilege for the Ottoman Greeks, an early-twentieth-century Southeastern European immigrant cohort to the United States. To conduct the examination, I analyze data from the Dictionary of Races or Peoples, the Segregated Seattle Project, and the Portland Restrictive Covenant Project. Racial formation theory and the concept of racial fluidity provide the framework for this study’s three main findings.1 First, housing discrimination impacted Ottoman Greeks less than other racialized groups. Second, Ottoman Greeks experienced this discrimination as racially fluid Greeks or Turks. Finally, Ottoman Greek housing discrimination occurred in elite white communities of Portland and Seattle. My findings illustrate an alternate knowledge of whiteness that, when harnessed by descendants of early-twentieth-century immigrants, can potentially lead them toward anti-racist political advocacy and activism.

Sorting or Steering: The Effects of Housing Discrimination on Neighborhood Choice

Growing evidence indicates that neighborhoods affect human capital accumulation, raising concern that the exclusionary effects of housing discrimination could contribute to persistent inequality in the United States. Using data from HUD’s most recent Housing Discrimination Study and microlevel data on neighborhood attributes in 28 US cities, we find that minorities are steered toward neighborhoods with less economic opportunity and greater exposures to crime and pollution. Holding preferences and income constant, discriminatory steering alone can explain a disproportionate number of minority households found in high-poverty neighborhoods in the United States and the higher exposure of African American mothers to toxic pollutants.

Integrating mental health and substance use treatment with HIV care for people experiencing homelessness

Homelessness is common in high-income and middle-income countries, with an estimated 580 000 people in the USA experiencing homelessness on any given night. 1 Henry M de Sousa T Roddey C Gayen S Bednar TJ The 2020 annual homeless assessment report (AHAR) to congress: part 1. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2020-AHAR-Part-1.pdfDate: January, 2021 Date accessed: May 24, 2022 Google Scholar People living with HIV have an increased risk of experiencing homelessness: from 2009 to 2015, 8·3% of people living with HIV in the USA reported an episode of homelessness in the previous year, compared with 0·2% of the general population annually. 2 Padilla M Frazier EL Carree T Shouse RL Fagan J Mental health, substance use and HIV risk behaviors among HIV-positive adults who experienced homelessness in the United States—Medical Monitoring Project, 2009–2015. AIDS Care. 2020; 32: 594-599 Crossref PubMed Scopus (12) Google Scholar This overrepresentation is due to many factors; for example, people living with HIV—particularly those with multiple marginalised identities—face discrimination in housing and employment markets, and both HIV infection and homelessness share common risk factors. People who use drugs, those living with mental health problems, and members of ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual minority communities have an increased risk of both HIV and homelessness. 3 Folsom DP Hawthorne W Lindamer L et al. Prevalence and risk factors for homelessness and utilization of mental health services among 10,340 patients with serious mental illness in a large public mental health system. Am J Psychiatry. 2005; 162: 370-376 Crossref PubMed Scopus (388) Google Scholar , 4 US Centers for Disease Control and PreventionHIV in the United States and dependent areas. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.htmlDate: 2021 Date accessed: May 24, 2022 Google Scholar The underlying drivers of homelessness are structural, including the scarcity of affordable housing, income inequality, and racism. However, individual factors such as mental health and substance use problems are common precipitants, because people with these conditions face barriers to income and housing. Moreover, homelessness increases the severity of these conditions and decreases access to treatments. 5 Gutwinski S Schreiter S Deutscher K Fazel S The prevalence of mental disorders among homeless people in high-income countries: an updated systematic review and meta-regression analysis. PLoS Med. 2021; 18e1003750 Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar Integrating HIV and substance misuse services: a person-centred approach grounded in human rightsIntegrating HIV-related care with treatment for substance use disorder provides an opportunity to better meet the needs of people living with these conditions. People with substance use disorder are rendered especially vulnerable by prevailing policies, structural inequalities, and stigmatisation. In this Series paper we analyse existing literature and empirical evidence from scoping reviews on integration designs for the treatment of HIV and substance use disorder, to understand barriers to and facilitators of care integration and to map ways forward. Full-Text PDF

“What is Our City Doing for Us?”: Placing Collective Care into Atlanta’s Post‐Public Housing Movements

AbstractThroughout the 20th century, housing movements in Atlanta were anchored by public housing tenant associations and a politics that materially and spatially addressed intersectional issues of discrimination in employment, welfare, education, and housing. I argue the strategies and outcomes of these movements collectivised, embedded, and placed Anneli Anttonen and Jorma Sipilä’s “care capital”—or an expansion of resources for care—in bell hooks’ “homeplaces”, for those marginalised both in social welfare policies and urban politics. Following the loss of over 7,000 public housing units in Atlanta, tenant associations’ care politics and the residents served were displaced and disembedded from the revitalised city. Using archival data, semi‐structured individual and group interviews, and observation of tenant organising meetings, this work examines how care politics are materially and spatially situated across housing movement geographies through Black resistance strategies to collectivise and embed care capital for a broader public.

Black Women Activists: Embracing the Struggle for Intertwined Freedoms on Multiple Fronts

AbstractDorothy Cobble's magnificent, sweeping saga of the 100 plus year struggle for “full rights feminism” introduces us to myriad activists who sought common ground in the expansion of civil, political, economic and social rights as the key for raising the standard for working women, and by extension for all of humanity. However, as Cobble notes, some full-rights activists did not measure up to the potential of this feminism. The juxtaposition of the activism of Black full-rights feminists helps expose this fault line of unexamined deep-seated racism, ethnocentrism, and stereotypical thinking that undermined the potential of full-rights feminism. Questions of economic and political democracy shaped the organizing efforts of Black full-rights feminists against disfranchisement, lynching, discrimination in housing, education and employment, and exclusion and segregation from public accommodations. In their transnational work, they supported policies and practices structured by Cold War imperatives, American racism and imperialism, and tensions between democracy and incipient autocracy in the emerging African nations. Cobble's book demonstrates the crucial ways that Black activists working together and with white allies pushed for the expansive promise of full-rights feminism, encompassing both political and economic rights and race and gender justice.

Local Leaders' Perceptions of Housing Access and Segregation in their Communities

Research on housing discrimination and segregation usually focuses on federal‐level actions, yet access to housing is determined locally. Local government leaders influence whether or not their communities provide housing to meet all residents' needs. This study uses a statewide survey of local leaders from 240 different municipalities in one Southeastern state to better understand their perceptions of local housing opportunities. The findings, which present areas for future research, suggest that the perceptions of some local leaders may be shaped by the housing needs of an idealized community. Additionally, the needs of some residents may be less visible to local leaders.

Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio

Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio

Spatial Variations in Exclusionary Criteria from Online Rental Advertisements

Although the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the rental housing market on the basis of race, color, or religion, there exist ample opportunities for landlords to restrict their rental units to individuals with various backgrounds using exclusionary screening practices. These criteria, such as minimum credit scores, criminal history, source of income, or prior evictions, for instance, are often correlated with race and thus hold the potential to perpetuate spatial patterns of racial and income segregation. In this article, we analyzed online rental listings from Zillow and Craigslist in a case study of Charlotte, North Carolina, to examine the proliferation and spatial variation in exclusionary criteria by neighborhood race and income. Overall, we found criminal background, credit score, housing voucher, eviction, and minimum income restrictions to be greater in poorer and minority neighborhoods. When distinguishing by platform, however, we found the presence of corporate landlords, who did not advertise on Craigslist, to be a significant driver of these results. Corporate landlords represented nearly 60 percent of advertisements on Zillow and were more common in poorer and minority neighborhoods; they also systematically included nearly all restrictions. Craigslist, by contrast, had fewer criteria that correlated with race and income. Key Words: housing discrimination, natural language processing, online rental listings, spatial analysis, Web scraping.

Racialized Homelessness: A Review of Historical and Contemporary Causes of Racial Disparities in Homelessness

People of color or mixed race account for more than half of all people experiencing homelessness, despite comprising less than a quarter of the total population in the United States. What are the primary drivers of this severe racial concentration of homelessness? Through a literature review of historical and contemporary research, this article highlights the extensive history of homelessness among Black, Latinx, and Native American communities and finds evidence for racialized pathways into homelessness. The literature points to three primary systems of stratification that drive racial disparities in homelessness: racial economic inequality, housing discrimination and residential segregation, and the homeless response system. These findings suggest that homelessness is tightly interwoven with institutions and social systems that maintain racial hierarchy. Structural policies that address socioeconomic and racial inequality are more likely than current approaches to make substantial progress in reducing racial disparities in homelessness.

A global cautionary tale: discrimination and violence against trans women worsen despite investments in public resources and improvements in health insurance access and utilization of health care

BackgroundTo determine if improvements in social determinants of health for trans women and decreases in transphobic discrimination and violence occurred over three study periods during which extensive local programs were implemented to specifically address longstanding inequities suffered by the transgender community.MethodsInterviewer-administered surveys from repeated cross-sectional Transwomen Empowered to Advance Community Health (TEACH) studies in 2010, 2013 and 2016-2017 in San Francisco collected experiences with transphobia violence and discrimination. Respondent-driven sampling was used to obtain a sample of participants who identified as a trans woman.ResultsViolence due to gender identity was prevalent; in each study period, verbal abuse or harassment was reported by over 83% of participants, and physical abuse or harassment was reported by over 56%. Adverse social determinants of health including homelessness, living below the poverty limit, methamphetamine use, depression, PTSD, and anxiety all significantly increased from 2010 to 2016. When testing for trends, housing discrimination and physical violence were both more likely in 2016-2017 compared to the two earlier study periods. Housing discrimination (aOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.00-1.98) and physical violence due to gender identity/presentation (aOR 1.39, 95% CI 1.00-1.92) both significantly increased from 2010 to 2016.ConclusionOur findings are particularly alarming during a period when significant public health resources and community-based initiatives specifically for trans women were implemented and could have reasonably led us to expect improvements. Despite these efforts, physical violence and housing discrimination among trans women worsened during the study periods. To ensure future improvements, research and interventions need to shift the focus and burden from trans people to cisgender people who are the perpetuators of anti-trans sentiment, stigma, discrimination and victimization.

Multidimensional Discrimination in the Online Rental Housing Market: Implications for Families With Young Children

ABSTRACT A half century after passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, studies continue to document racial discrimination in the housing market, which serves to reproduce racial inequality and residential segregation. Building on this work, we examine housing discrimination experienced by individuals belonging to multiple disadvantaged groups. Employing an online field experiment in 31 U.S. cities over 20 months, we investigate patterns of discrimination against female rental housing applicants at the intersections of race, ethnicity, family structure, and Section 8 housing voucher receipt. Consistent with prior work, we find discrimination against Black women and Section 8 recipients. We also find that only Black women and Latinas are penalized for being parents and for being single mothers to young children. Finally, examining the relevant policy landscape, we find evidence that state and local laws barring discrimination against Section 8 recipients may not be sufficient to protect voucher holders and their families and may instead prompt landlords to engage in subtler forms of discrimination (i.e., increased nonresponse). These findings reveal a dynamic pattern of multidimensional discrimination and support arguments for an intersectional approach to understanding and combatting inequality.

Moving Toward an Inclusive Housing Policy?: Migrants’ Access to Subsidized Housing in Urban China

ABSTRACT China is rapidly urbanizing, with hundreds of millions of migrants leaving villages for cities. Under the discriminatory Household Registration (Hukou) System, migrants have been denied urban welfare benefits. The Chinese government has been promoting inclusive urbanization with significant policy changes in recent decades, yet its impact on migrants is not clear. This article examines whether housing is becoming more inclusive to migrants in Chinese cities. A review of recent policy changes at both central and local levels shows that although central housing policy is becoming more inclusive of migrants, local governments have largely remained exclusionary and exercise selective inclusion—allowing only migrants who meet additional, strict requirements to access subsidized housing. The empirical analyses, using two waves of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey, reveal that few migrants have access to subsidized housing despite the policy changes. Institutional barriers continue to exclude migrants from subsidized housing, although many barriers have become less important over time. It is clear that housing discrimination persists, and housing inclusion remains a distant dream for most migrants in China. This research highlights exclusion based on an important but uncommon birth-ascribed status defined by the government and provides a multiscalar perspective on the inclusion of domestic migrants.

Persistence of mortgage lending bias in the United States: 80 years after the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation security maps

ABSTRACT Housing discrimination and racial segregation have a long history in the United States. The 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) “residential security maps,” recently digitized, have become a popular visualization of Depression era mortgage lending risk patterns across American cities. Numerous housing policies have since been instituted, including the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), but mortgage lending bias persists. The degree to which detailed spatial patterns of bias have persisted or changed along with urban change is not well understood. We compare historic HOLC grades and contemporary levels of mortgage lending bias using spatially detailed HMDA data. We further examine the relationship between HOLC risk grades and contemporary racial and ethnic settlement patterns. Results suggest that historical mortgage lending risk categorizations and settlement patterns are associated with contemporary mortgage lending bias and racial and ethnic settlement patterns. Concerted and deliberate efforts will be needed to change these patterns.