Redlining, Racism And Its Impact On Des Moines *
* And what can be done about it?
Eric Burmeister PCBA May 20, 2021 P olk C ounty H ousing T rust F und • What we do? – Funding – Research and Planning – Advocacy and Policy THE UNDESIGN EXHIBIT The Current State of Des Moines MLK Hickman
Where African Americans Live University
One Economy: State of Black Polk County 2020 www.undesigndsm.com HUD Affirmatively Furthering Fair housing Data and Mapping Tool Current Property Condition
Neighborhood Revitalization Report 2018 www.undesigndsm.com Current Property Values
Neighborhood Revitalization Report 2018 www.undesigndsm.com The Current State of Des Moines
Current Neighborhood Condition
Neighborhood Revitalization Report 2018 www.undesigndsm.com What Question needs to be answered in 2021?
As a society we have acknowledged that racial segregation poor public policy. We have acknowledged that the results have damaged economic opportunities and building of wealth through housing for black households. What we have yet to settle is whether the current situation is the result of private action (de facto segregation ) or of government sponsored policies (de jure segregation ). That distinction will decide whether there is a judicial remedy available to the victims. Welcome to Con Law I meets Real Estate!
Richard Rothstein, Distinguished Fellow, Economic Policy Institute Constitutional Framework
Government sponsored residential racial segregation is a violation of the Fifth, Thirteen and Fourteenth Amendments.
The question of whether segregation is the product of government policies or personal choice has been raised in desegregation cases (especially school district desegregation decisions) beginning in the 1970s.
“The Constitution simply does not allow federal courts to attempt to change that situation (segregation of Detroit public schools) unless and until it is shown that the State, or its political subdivisions, have contributed to cause the situation to exist.” Milliken v. Bradley , 418 U.S. 717 (1974). Justice Potter Stewart writing for the Court. America’s History with Segregation
America has promoted the notion of white supremacy since the country’s inception. Beginning with 250 years of slavery the country forced a segregation of races both geographically and economically. The end of the Civil War did not change those segregationist attitudes. From Jim Crow laws separating whites from blacks in public accommodations to anti- miscegenation laws, America sought every avenue to make sure races did not mix.
Housing was no different. What is Redlining?
Simply , it is government picking geographic winners and losers. It is making a determination of which neighborhoods (and therefore individuals) will receive government assistance in financing the purchase of houses. It is accomplished through federal loan guarantees to banks. How did it work? • New Deal Era and the creation of the social safety net and wealth building programs • Congress wanted to “bake in” to these programs systemic ways to cut out people of color from benefitting. • Redlining is how Jim Crow was brought into the structures of Home Ownership • Starting in the 1930s, 239 Cities in the US had Redlining Maps created • Invention of the 30 year mortgage – The federal government was insuring home loans, and were essentially creating the American Dream of home ownership (but only for white families) www.undesigndsm.com Redlining Map
• These redlining maps were essentially risk management maps for loans • How to read: – Green= best, lowest risk – Blue= good, lower risk – Yellow= declining, higher risk – Red= hazardous, highest risk • Cut off investment to the red regions- starting with home loans, then business loans, insurance and bank branch locations.
www.undesigndsm.com Redlining Map
• Red areas were primarily based on race and ethnicity of residents. • Each map came with area descriptions- used language such as “ infiltration of hazardous populations ” • Green Areas: Not just where white people lived, but also where there were racial covenants that said “this is a white’s only neighborhood” or restrictive • Government said that restrictions were good deeds that said you can’t sell a because limiting hazardous infiltration was how house to a black family. you would secure your real estate values. www.undesigndsm.com Des Moines Redline Map No Redlining Map?
• Even if your city or town didn’t have a map, they still had the “underwriting manual” • This told lenders to look out for “hazardous populations ” and to prefer areas with “restrictions on infiltration” • This also influenced the real estate private industry. This was practiced from 1920, which precedes redlining, and leads through really the 1968 fair housing act, many say the practice continues in real estate. www.undesigndsm.com Early Private Action • This story doesn’t just start in the 1930s during the New Deal and the creation of Redlining • Goes back into the 1800s with slavery • 1830s Native American Genocide & American Progress • Scientific racism arises in the 1840s Eugenics movement • 1865: Racial terrorism rises in the South with the KKK, thousands are being murdered, and millions are fleeing North. • In 1851 in Iowa, the Iowa legislature enacted the 1851 Exclusionary Law which permitted no free “negro or mulatto” to settle in the state. The individual was required to prove by court of law their freedom and was required to put up a bond to the United States government for their good behavior and moral character, which would be forfeited upon crime or misdemeanor. www.undesigndsm.com Racially Restrictive Covenants and Segregated • Between 1910-1920 the African American population in Polk Neighborhoods County increased approximately 62% – 3,591 in 1910 to 5,837 in 1920 • Racially Restrictive Covenants and Deeds at a local level – Showed Federal Government the effectiveness of segregation by racial restrictions on property and development • Private Action vs Federal Action www.undesigndsm.com By 1950 segregation of African Americans into certain neighborhoods was almost complete
www.undesigndsm.com Urban Renewal, Discrimination and Slum Clearance
• Slum clearance and urban renewal were proposed as solutions to the growing “slum problem” – activists call “negro removal” because 72% of people displaced are people of color. • ~1288 Families were displaced • One family stated “We were paid only $5,500 for our three-bed room house and now are forced to buy a two-bedroom house, not as good, for $9,500.”
www.undesigndsm.com 1950 1960
Timeline of 1970 Freeway Construction
www.undesigndsm.com River Hills Urban Renewal
www.undesigndsm.com Relocation of River Hills Residents Center Street
www.undesigndsm.com The Rise of the White Suburbs
• White Flight : Afraid of devaluing properties, white families with the means to move leave the inner ring neighborhoods out to newly developed suburban communities. • FHA Requirement of White Only Subdivisions • Builders of suburbs received federal loans on the explicit condition that homes would not be sold to black homebuyers. • At the same time, public housing being built in cities became increasingly concentrated with poor families of color. www.undesigndsm.com City of Des Moines Commission on Human Rights:1961
www.undesigndsm.com
Special Thanks to:
Lauren Johnson, PCHTF
Kendyl Larson, PCHTF
Braden Crooks, Designing the WE