From 1934 to 1968 the Federal Housing Administration Redlined neighborhoods throughout the United States. A discriminatory pattern of disinvestment and obstructive lending practices, redlining systematically segregated people of color. The FHA determined what areas would receive investments by banks, insurance companies, savings and loan associations, and other financial services companies and who would live there. Areas that were to receive preferential lending practices were marked in green, intermediate areas were marked in blue and yellow, and those deemed unfit were marked in red. White middle-class and low-middle class families were often guaranteed loans and encouraged to buy houses in the suburbs. Wheres people of color were denied certain housing and loans, leaving them with meager options often in urban housing projects. The belief was that if African American families bought homes in or near the suburbs property values would decline. The neighborhoods deemed unfit were left underdeveloped, and those within them had limited access to healthcare, markets, and more. Underdeveloped housing created a variety of problems that led to the decline of these areas and contributed to higher levels of crime. The practice of redlining has been isolated from other forms of structural racism and is often viewed as a thing of the past, disconnected from modern-day racism.
Redlining housing directly impacted the 1992 L.A. riots as it had shaped the demographics of the city. This is significant as it directly plays into the areas protected by police and those abandoned, left to burn. Many of the buildings that were burned and/or looted were in underdeveloped neighborhoods in which there was a stronger African American and Latin American presence, an example of the effects of redlining. Still, years after the riots the cities that were destroyed have received little help in rebuilding left to fall further into economic despair.
-- Mia Buak
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