The legacy of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and the political ecology of urban trees and air pollution in the United States

Namin, Sima; Xu, Wei; Zhou, Yuhong; Beyer, Kirsten

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112758

Cited by 87 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…We explore the legacy of housing discrimination in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, however, racist housing policies are not exclusive to Milwaukee. National studies have shown the legacy of HOLC redlining on current neighborhood-level socio-economic and health outcomes in cities across the country ( Hoffman et al, 2020 ; Namin et al, 2020 ; Richardson et al, 2020 ). This study utilizes Milwaukee's story to elucidate tools to evaluate the health effects of sustained housing disinvestment over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several recent studies have explored the legacy of HOLC residential security maps on present-day health outcomes and social determinants of health ( Hoffman et al, 2020 ; Jacoby et al, 2018 ; Krieger, Van Wye, et al, 2020 ; Krieger, Wright, et al, 2020 ; McClure et al, 2019 ; Namin et al, 2020 ; Nardone et al, 2020 ). HOLC ‘redlining’ has been associated with pre-term birth ( Krieger, Van Wye, et al, 2020 ), later stage cancer diagnosis ( Krieger, Wright, et al, 2020 ), higher rates of emergency department visits for asthma ( Nardone et al, 2020 ), and poorer self-reported health ( McClure et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…HOLC ‘redlining’ has been associated with pre-term birth ( Krieger, Van Wye, et al, 2020 ), later stage cancer diagnosis ( Krieger, Wright, et al, 2020 ), higher rates of emergency department visits for asthma ( Nardone et al, 2020 ), and poorer self-reported health ( McClure et al, 2019 ). HOLC ‘redlining’ has also been associated with neighborhood determinants of health, including alcohol outlet clusters ( Trangenstein et al, 2020 ), urban violence ( Jacoby et al, 2018 ), less tree canopy and more airborne hazards ( Namin et al, 2020 ), and higher intra-urban heat ( Hoffman et al, 2020 ). McClure et al ( McClure et al, 2019 ) is the only other study that we are aware of that has evaluated HOLC ‘redlining’ in relation to current housing instability (i.e., post Great Recession foreclosure rates) and health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The legacy of structural racism: Associations between historic redlining, current mortgage lending, and health

Lynch

Malcoe

Laurent

et al. 2021

SSM - Population Health

134

122

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Structural racism, which is embedded in past and present operations of the U.S. housing market, is a fundamental cause of racial health inequities. We conducted an ecologic study to 1) examine historic redlining in relation to current neighborhood lending discrimination and three key indicators of societal health (mental health, physical health, and infant mortality rate (IMR)) and 2) investigate sustained lending disinvestment as a determinant of current neighborhood health in one of the most hypersegregated metropolitan areas in the United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We calculated weighted historic redlining scores from the proportion of 1930s Home Owners' Loan Corporation residential security grades contained within 2010 census tract boundaries. We combined two lending indicators from 2018 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data to capture current neighborhood lending discrimination: low lending occurrence and high cost loans (measured via loan rate spread). Using historic redlining score and current lending discrimination, we created a 4-level hierarchical measure of lending trajectory. In Milwaukee neighborhoods, greater historic redlining was associated with current lending discrimination (OR = 1.73, 95%CI: 1.16, 2.58) and increased prevalence of poor physical health (β = 1.34, 95%CI: 0.40, 2.28) and poor mental health (β = 1.26, 95%CI: 0.51, 2.01). Historic redlining was not associated with neighborhood IMR (β = −0.48, 95%CI: −2.12, 1.15). A graded association was observed between lending trajectory and health: neighborhoods with high sustained disinvestment had worse physical and mental health than neighborhoods with high investment (poor physical health: β = 5.33, 95%CI: 3.05, 7.61; poor mental health: β = 4.32, 95%CI: 2.44, 6.20). IMR was highest in ‘disinvested’ neighborhoods (β = 5.87, 95%CI: 0.52, 11.22). Our findings illustrate ongoing legacies of government sponsored historic redlining. Structural racism, as manifested in historic and current forms of lending disinvestment, predicts poor health in Milwaukee's hypersegregated neighborhoods. We endorse equity focused policies that dismantle and repair the ways racism is entrenched in America's social fabric.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The legacy of structural racism: Associations between historic redlining, current mortgage lending, and health

Lynch

Malcoe

Laurent

et al. 2021

SSM - Population Health

134

122

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Though HOLC did not always lend in accordance with Security Map risk grades, HOLC lending did reinforce pre-existing racial segregation; moreover, the legacy of HOLC risk grades are associated with current patterns of neighborhood racial residential segregation, poverty, income inequality, tree canopy coverage, higher ambient temperatures, diesel particulate emissions, and diminished home value appreciation [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. As the practice of redlining segregated and deprived certain communities of investment and opportunities for wealth accumulation through homeownership, it is possible that such policies structured these neighborhoods in ways that affect current health outcomes [17,[19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Funding: Rmf Was Supported By the Nationalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between historical redlining and birth outcomes from 2006 through 2015 in California

et al. 2020

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“…HOLC Security Maps provide a unique tool through which to assess the legacy of segregation policies with geographic specificity; racist policies throughout U.S. history have structured the built environment and thus continue to influence local ecology in ways that contribute to racial health inequities (Schell et al 2020). Studies have found associations between historical redlining, decreased tree canopy coverage (Hoffman et al 2020;Locke et al 2020;Namin et al 2020), increased coverage of land by impervious surfaces, and worsened air pollution in urban areas across the United States (Hoffman et al 2020). We build on this prior work by using satellite imagery to capture greenspace and propensity score restriction and matching to limit estimated associations to the area of support-specifically the subset of communities where redlined and non-redlined communities can serve as credible comparison populations for one another-and to reduce confounding bias.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redlines and Greenspace: The Relationship between Historical Redlining and 2010 Greenspace across the United States

Nardone

Rudolph

Morello‐Frosch

et al. 2021

Environ Health Perspect

190

120

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INTRODUCTION: Redlining, a racist mortgage appraisal practice of the 1930s, established and exacerbated racial residential segregation boundaries in the United States. Investment risk grades assigned >80 y ago through security maps from the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) are associated with current sociodemographics and adverse health outcomes. We assessed whether historical HOLC investment grades are associated with 2010 greenspace, a health-promoting neighborhood resource. OBJECTIVES: We compared 2010 normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) across previous HOLC neighborhood grades using propensity score restriction and matching. METHODS: Security map shapefiles were downloaded from the Mapping Inequality Project. Neighborhood investment risk grades included A (best, green), B (blue), C (yellow), and D (hazardous, red, i.e., redlined). We used 2010 satellite imagery to calculate the average NDVI for each HOLC neighborhood. Our main outcomes were 2010 annual average NDVI and summer NDVI. We assigned areal-apportioned 1940 census measures to each HOLC neighborhood. We used propensity score restriction, matching, and targeted maximum likelihood estimation to limit model extrapolation, reduce confounding, and estimate the association between HOLC grade and NDVI for the following comparisons: Grades B vs. A, C vs. B, and D vs. C. RESULTS: Across 102 urban areas (4,141 HOLC polygons), annual average ± standard deviation ðSDÞ 2010 NDVI was 0.47 ( ± 0:09), 0.43 ( ± 0:09), 0.39 ( ± 0:09), and 0.36 ( ± 0:10) in Grades A-D, respectively. In analyses adjusted for current ecoregion and census region, 1940s census measures, and 1940s population density, annual average NDVI values in 2010 were estimated at −0:039

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The legacy of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and the political ecology of urban trees and air pollution in the United States

Cited by 87 publications

References 78 publications

The legacy of structural racism: Associations between historic redlining, current mortgage lending, and health

The legacy of structural racism: Associations between historic redlining, current mortgage lending, and health

Associations between historical redlining and birth outcomes from 2006 through 2015 in California

Redlines and Greenspace: The Relationship between Historical Redlining and 2010 Greenspace across the United States

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