The Struggle Against Redlining in Washington, DC, 1970-1995
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Community Development, Research, and Reinvestment: The Struggle against Redlining in Washington, DC, 1970-1995 A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts James M. Lloyd December 2012 © 2012 James M. Lloyd. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Community Development, Research, and Reinvestment: The Struggle against Redlining in Washington, DC, 1970-1995 by JAMES M. LLOYD has been approved for the Department of Geography and the College of Arts and Sciences by Geoffrey L. Buckley Professor of Geography Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 Abstract LLOYD, JAMES M., M.A., December 2012, Geography Community Development, Research, and Reinvestment: The Struggle against Redlining in Washington, DC, 1970-1995 Director of Thesis: Geoffrey L. Buckley Using archival data and oral histories, I describe the community reinvestment movement in Washington, DC from 1970 until 1985. Though the movement began as isolated private advocacy in the early 1970s, it helped pass key pieces of federal legislation, such as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Additionally, DC’s reinvestment movement is unusual in that the city government used an interstate banking law to force reinvestment. Furthermore, I describe class-based barriers to reinvestment within the African American community and the community development and reinvestment struggle of the Adams Morgan Organization in the late ‘70s. I conclude with a discussion of how advocacy and research led to reinvestment because of successful venue-shopping and scale-jumping. This work fills specific gaps in the literature, to include DC’s role in the writing of CRA and HMDA, qualitative evidence of the effects of redlining, the use of interstate banking laws for reinvestment, and class issues within the African American community in the context of reinvestment. 4 This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Professor Robert Michael Lloyd, 1938-1994. 5 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Geoffrey L. Buckley, for his valuable guidance and assistance in finding a topic, executing the thesis, and navigating graduate school. Additionally, I would like to thank the members of my committee: Associate Professor Yeong-Hyun Kim for her assistance throughout the proposal and defense process; and Associate Professor Harold Perkins who provided extensive advice regarding theory and was very flexible in allowing me to use course assignments to aid in thesis writing. I would like to thank my respondents: Dr. Frank Smith, Professor Robert Stumberg, Esq., Mr. Gerard Dunphy, and Mr. James Vitarello, Esq.; their contributions were invaluable. Additionally, I would like to thank the kind staffs of the Washingtoniana Collection at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library of Washington, DC, Alden Library at Ohio University, and the National Archives, in addition to their respective parent institutions. For providing me accommodations during my fieldwork, I would like to thank Mr. Franz Hardin Misch and Mrs. Mary Gregg Misch of Arlington, VA and Mr. William Charles Schubert of Washington, DC. And for their continued support of research on the geographies of Baltimore and Washington, I would like to thank Dr. J. Morgan Grove of the US Forest Service and Dean Ali Whitmer of Georgetown University. I would like to thank the faculty and staff at the Ohio University Department of Geography for enabling graduate students to complete master’s degrees in an appropriate period of time without undue financial stress. Compared to other departments at other 6 institutions, Ohio’s Geography Department is extraordinary in its approach. Furthermore, I would like to thank the State of Ohio and Ohio University for funding the teaching assistantship that gave me the wherewithal to pursue graduate work. Additional thanks go to those whose friendship provided valued support throughout the research and writing process: Ms. Angela Hood, Ms. Jessica Bilecki, and Mr. Andrew Fink. The greatest thanks, however, go to my mother, Dr. Theodora Lee Gregg, whose extensive assistance allowed me to finish this degree in accelerated fashion. Furthermore, her experience in higher education and advice provided therefrom gave me a distinct advantage in negotiating graduate school. 7 Table of Contents Page Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 3! Dedication ....................................................................................................................... 4! Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... 5! List of Figures ................................................................................................................. 8! List of Acronyms and Abbreviations .............................................................................. 9! Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 10! Chapter 2: Background and Literature Review ............................................................ 13! Redlining ............................................................................................................. 13! Reinvestment and Community Development ...................................................... 21! Redlining and Capitalism .................................................................................... 38! Gentrification ....................................................................................................... 44! Gaps ..................................................................................................................... 46! Chapter 3: Methods and Data ....................................................................................... 48! Research Questions ............................................................................................. 48! Archival Research ............................................................................................... 48! Oral Histories ...................................................................................................... 55! Timeline and Analysis ......................................................................................... 65! Chapter 4: Results and Discussion ................................................................................ 68! Context ................................................................................................................ 68! Evidence of Redlining ......................................................................................... 70! Researchers and Public Advocacy: Reinvestment in the 1970s .......................... 75! Politics of Scale and Venue Shopping ................................................................. 92! Money Talks: Interstate Banking and Reinvestment, 1982-1988 ..................... 108! Appraisal and Enforcement: Reinvestment from 1988 to 1995 ........................ 114! Federal Impact on DC in the Early ‘90s ............................................................ 124! Gentrification and Community Development ................................................... 126! Housing Counseling .......................................................................................... 133! Adams-Morgan Organization, Perpetual, and Gentrification ............................ 137! Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................ 150! Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 160! 8 List of Figures Page Figure 1. Map of District of Columbia ......................................................................... 52 Figure 2. Distribution of Mortgage Loans, 1973. ......................................................... 82 Figure 3. Front cover of 1975 DC PIRG report on redlining in Washington, DC ....... 84 Figure 4. Industrial Bank on U Street NW. Photo by author, January 2012 .............. 106 Figure 5. The Reverend Baysie Gallimore moves back into his Seaton Street home 143 Figure 6. Flow Chart – Non-profit advocacy leads indirectly to reinvestment .......... 151 9 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations Acronym Meaning ACORN Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now ACTION-Housing Allegheny Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods- Housing AEDC Anacostia Economic Development Corporation AMO Adams-Morgan Organization AMTPA Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act CBCC Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council CCC Center for Community Change CDC Community Development Corporation CRA Community Reinvestment Act CRMI Commission on Residential Mortgage Investment DC District of Columbia DC PIRG District of Columbia Public Interest Research Group DIDMCA Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act DOJ US Department of Justice ECOA Equal Credit Opportunity Act FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FFIEC Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council FHA Federal Housing Administration FHLB Federal Home Loan Bank FHLBB Federal Home Loan Bank Board FIRREA Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act FNU First Name Unknown GAO US Government Accountability Office HMDA Home Mortgage Disclosure Act HOLC Home Owners Loan