Undesign the Redline

“Color-coded city maps were only one product of the HOLC’s* City Survey program, instituted in 1935 in the consolidation phase [of the Home Owners’ Loan Act, passed in June 1933]. Under the program, the HOLC’s Mortgagee Rehabilitation Division (MRD) hired field agents and sent them to major metropolitan areas to collect data and assess each neighborhood.

“This is where the interweaving of bigotry and white supremacy mindsets — conscious and unconscious — becomes apparent. These field agents’ perceptions in effect structured the modern-day racially segregated city. Their assessments are rife with agents’ unfounded assumptions, racial prejudices, and religious and cultural biases, all of which had short- and long-term consequences. This reliance on and acceptance of field agents’ perceptions meant their biases permeated HOLC ’s operations, creating what today is called systemic discrimination, reinforcing racial segregation and prompting redlining to take root. Furthermore, it led to generations of denying services — and the opportunity to build wealth — based on race, ethnicity and other attributes.” – Misty Thomas-Trout, Atlas of Dayton Herald.

*HOLC is Home Owners Loan Corporation, a New Deal federal program begun in 1933 that was meant to refinance home mortgages in default and expand home buying opportunities.