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Day 9: Redlining
Today's challenge invites us to build upon our knowledge of the ways in which racism exists in institutions and systems by exploring how the history of redlining reinforced racism and shaped the real estate system and home ownership in the U.S. - one of the key pathways to building wealth in our country. Redlining was a policy that restricted investments in neighborhoods that were labeled as "too risky" for investors to get involved in. The majority of redlined neighborhoods had a larger-than-average population of "non-white Americans." Our current housing system was built on the foundations that redlining had left in place. After decades of underinvestment in nonwhite neighborhoods, those areas are still seen as risky for investors today. As a result, it makes it challenging for residents to move elsewhere and thus, perpetuates segregated neighborhoods. While racial discrimination in housing has been prohibited on the books through the Fair Housing Act of 1968, prospective homeowners continue to face discrimination and the remnants of these racist policies - from redlining to home valuation, to building wealth through home ownership.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE:

IF YOU HAVE:
Watch the Daily Show's Trevor Noah break down how racism in America's housing system has created wealth and income inequalities.
In 1939, the government-sponsored Home Owners Loan Corporation produced a map of Los Angeles that would crystalize discriminatory lending practices and reinforce racial and class bias in home ownership. These maps demonstrated redlining policies within South LA, during the late 1940s. Read this article to understand how these maps perpetuated redlining.
This groundbreaking SPARC report details how people of color are excluded from equal access to housing, community supports, and opportunities for economic mobility. Don't have 30 minutes? In lieu of reading the entire study, we point you to the executive summary on page 4 for key findings of the report.
On September 15th, 2020, the City of Glendale took a powerful step forward by passing a Sundown Town Resolution that acknowledged and apologized for the City's history of racism as a former Sundown Town. City staff's accompanying report to council, "Acknowledgment of the City of Glendale's Historical Contributions to Racism" documented a history of redlining and subsequent harm not widely known. Since the passage, residents of Glendale and Burbank have shared their housing covenants that still contain language forbidding non-Caucasian people from purchasing, renting, or inhabiting their homes, along with a flyer asking homeowners to simply disregard any language that violates the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
735 East Lexington Drive
Glendale, CA 91206
Phone: 1-(818) 242-4155
YWCA is on a mission to eliminate racism and empower women