New Evidence on Redlining by Federal Housing Programs in the 1930s

We show that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), from its inception in 1930s, did not insure mortgages low income urban neighborhoods where vast majority of Black Americans lived. This pattern emerged before Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) drafted infamous maps. In contrast, HOLC itself broadly loaned to core and homeowners. conclude mechanisms through which HOLC's maps could have affected geographic scope mortgage lending were likely quite limited. The FHA instead evaluated using block-level information developed 1930s other data, rather than on basis