Prelude to the Subprime Crash: Beecher, Michigan, and the Origins of the Suburban Crisis

Highsmith, Andrew R.

doi:10.1017/s0898030612000218

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The work of Henthorn (2005) and Highsmith (2009aHighsmith ( , 2009bHighsmith ( , 2011Highsmith ( , 2012Highsmith ( , 2013 has been valuable in providing a social-historical view into the reasons behind racially motivated housing abandonment in Flint. The current study has built on this understanding -and research on racism and housing more generally -by lending a spatial lens to the effects of demographic change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racist housing practices as a precursor to uneven neighborhood change in a post-industrial city

Sadler

Lafreniere

2016

Housing Studies

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a department of Family Medicine, Michigan state university, Flint, Mi, usA; b department of social sciences, Michigan technological university, Houghton, Mi, usA ABSTRACT Racial dynamics and discrimination have been extremely important in influencing decline in the American Rust Belt. The mid-twentieth century departure of white and middle-class populations from cities was precipitated by a breakdown of discriminatory housing practices. This study examines the relationship among housing condition, vacancies, poverty, and demographics in Flint, Michigan, from 1950 to 2010. Historical census data from the National Historical GIS and housing condition data from the City of Flint government are aggregated to neighborhoods defined by economic condition factor (n = 102). Results of rank-difference correlation and geographically weighted regression indicate that, across neighborhoods with the greatest decline in housing condition, the strongest correlate was most often the increase in vacancy rates driven initially by racially motivated suburbanization -suggesting that demographic change alone is not primarily responsible for neighborhood decline. This research is important to understanding the long-term and ongoing consequences of mid-twentieth century racist housing practices, particularly as it relates to the implications of maintaining legacy infrastructure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racist housing practices as a precursor to uneven neighborhood change in a post-industrial city

Sadler

Lafreniere

2016

Housing Studies

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“…Following redlining's prohibition, blockbusting was used to maintain segregation. Real estate agents and the mortgage industry colluded to create panic selling in previously all-white neighborhoods, convincing white residents to sell low and re-selling these homes at a premium to African American and other minority families (Highsmith, 2012). Blockbusting reproduced the segregated neighborhoods common to the redlining era, leading to massive disinvestment in previously middle-class neighborhoods (Sadler & Lafreniere, 2017).…”

Section: Redlining and Blockbustingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequitable Housing Practices and Youth Internalizing Symptoms: Mediation Via Perceptions of Neighborhood Cohesion

Sadler

Felton

Rabinowitz

et al. 2022

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Disordered urban environments negatively impact mental health symptoms and disorders. While many aspects of the built environment have been studied, one influence may come from inequitable, discriminatory housing practices such as redlining, blockbusting, and gentrification. The patterns of disinvestment and reinvestment that follow may be an underlying mechanism predicting poor mental health. In this study, we examine pathways between such practices and internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depression) among a sample of African American youth in Baltimore, Maryland, considering moderation and mediation pathways including neighborhood social cohesion and sex. In our direct models, the inequitable housing practices were not significant predictors of social cohesion. In our sex moderation model, however, we find negative influences on social cohesion: for girls from gentrification, and for boys from blockbusting. Our moderated mediation model shows that girls in gentrifying neighborhoods who experience lower social cohesion have higher levels of internalizing symptoms. Likewise for boys, living in a formerly blockbusted neighborhood generates poorer social cohesion, which in turn drives higher rates of internalizing symptoms. A key implication of this work is that, in addition to standard measures of the contemporary built environment, considering other invisible patterns related to discriminatory and inequitable housing practices is important in understanding the types of neighborhoods where anxiety and depression are more prevalent. And while some recent work has discussed the importance of considering phenomena like redlining in considering long-term trajectories of neighborhoods, other patterns such as blockbusting and gentrification may be equally important.

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“…Months before the term Great Recession became common, the Washington Post characterized the Washington suburb studied here as the “epicenter” of a foreclosure crisis sweeping the capitol’s outlying suburbs (Brulliard, 2008). In the United States, more than nine million properties went into foreclosure between 2007 and 2010, and by 2012, another three million had suffered this fate (Highsmith, 2012). The proliferation of subprime mortgages is generally acknowledged as the first step toward the “market meltdown” that signaled the start of the Great Recession in Fall 2008.…”

Section: Subprime Sufferingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Wouldn’t You Walk Away?” Foreclosures and Homeowner Understandings

Cleaveland

Shutika

2018

Families in Society

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Social work scholarship on neoliberalism—the dominant ideology and policies shaping access to housing, jobs, healthcare, and education—is in its infancy. This study examines the ground-level impact of the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered the Great Recession in 2008, examining how homeowners interpreted the changes to their neighborhood as they witnessed a remarkably high rate of foreclosures during the economic collapse of 2008-2010. Residents of a suburban community were unaware of the lending and banking practices that transformed their neighborhoods, though these policies arguably depreciated house values and a sense of well-being. Not knowing the culpability of predatory lenders in the crisis, some residents turned to an anti-immigrant social movement to preserve their community.

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Prelude to the Subprime Crash: Beecher, Michigan, and the Origins of the Suburban Crisis

Cited by 7 publications

References 26 publications

Racist housing practices as a precursor to uneven neighborhood change in a post-industrial city

Racist housing practices as a precursor to uneven neighborhood change in a post-industrial city

Inequitable Housing Practices and Youth Internalizing Symptoms: Mediation Via Perceptions of Neighborhood Cohesion

“Wouldn’t You Walk Away?” Foreclosures and Homeowner Understandings

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