What is Redlining?
In 1930’s the federal government created programs to make housing prices lower for people in the lower social classes to be able to afford. One the programs was the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation which was created to encourage home ownership by making home loans and mortgages affordable. These programs however where not in the best interests of neighborhoods that were mainly occupied by African Americans and different minority groups as they where considered “high risk”.
Redlining was when mortgage lenders and banks would discriminate these communities by denning to provide services to people in those communities. This services would include loans, insurance and mortgages and even if they would provide this services, it would come at an unfair cost like abusive loan terms for borrowers, outright deception, and penalties for prepaying loans. The term redlining came about in reference to the use of red marks on maps that loan corporations would use to show mixed-race or African American neighborhoods. In the maps blue or green meant the arear was safe for loans, yellow was also considered for loans and red was considered high risk.
*** Another way to think about redlining is that it was the “legal way” as per the government’s rule to residentially segregate people of color ***
A futrther more detailed explanation of the history of redlining is contained on the video below:
The City of Tacoma and redlining
Tacoma is a city located Washington and it too was greatly affected and changed by the events of redlining.
As time
passed from 1930, the demographics of Tacoma changed since people of color especially African Americans
where slowly
migrating since it was had to live some arears because of redlining. This led people of color to eventually
settle in
Downtown Tacoma which was known as the HillTop.
This migration is shown illustrated on the interactive
map below:
**The map might be slow depending on your network as it has a lot of data to load in**
As time passed and as redlining continued in Tacoma many longlasting changes other than the demographics occured on the city, especially the redlined areas. Redlined arears like the Hilltop where neglected by the government systemically and physically. This ultimately led to increased crime-rate on the affected neighborhoods which led to increased police violence, less environmental quality, less access to better or less institutional resources and an increased economic/financial disparity in the affected areas.
Now that I know all of this information, what can I do to contribute in solving the problem?
Good question but before I answer that question you first have to understand what is being done already to solve this problem. Understand that this problem is not only in Tacoma, it is everywhere in America. This means that people have come up with solutions to the problem. Some of this solutions are but are not limited to:
:- Investing some money that will be used to assist people in down payments and closing cost. This will make it possible for people in the affected areas to be able to afford housing. More information can be found on: Downpayment Assistance Program (DAP)
:- Coming up with a government Act that will make it possible for residents to acquire abandoned houses. Eligible people are people who earned less than the median income of the last five years. Statistics show that people who where "redlined" have shown to have income that is below the median income.
:- Using a method known as Greenling, which is reserving neighborhood solely to build new and renovated homes, which will be affordable for people in affected areas. This has been shown to be a powerfull solution where it has helped to revive multiple affected areas. More information can be found on: Greenlining is Remedy for Redlining
:- Government leaders and local organiztions in Tacoma have come up with a solution of their own which the Tacoma 2025 Plan. It is a plan to improve the quality of living in the affected areas. Livability, education, economy and also incuding residence more in the say of future development plans will be done inorder to bring equity and equality of every form to Tacoma. More information can be found on: Tacoma 2025 Vision
To finally answer your question, you have already done something, you have read through my website and thus making you consious of the problem. All of the above solutions use science in it's own respective way, whether by a field of study (Greenlining) or through methods within science like use of data, research and the scientific method. With that, one thing you can do to help in this problem, is to use your knowledge and information of other solutions, to come up with solutions of your own. Who knows, you might come up with something that is more effective.
resources to get engaged with the cause
Below are links to resources that will help get your voice heard:
Pierce County Community Engagement Task Force -> www.pccetf.org
Tacoma City direct website -> www.cityoftacoma.org
The Mayor's office location and contact -> www.cityoftacoma.org/Mayor's Office
**More resources and updates will be added as time goes on**
Reference and Credits found in -> link