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    • This is a Non-Federal dataset covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. See Terms

    Redlining Maps from the Home Owners Loan Corporation, 1937

    Metadata Updated: January 24, 2023

    Most of the text in this description originally appeared on the Mapping Inequality Website. Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers,

    "HOLC staff members, using data and evaluations organized by local real estate professionals--lenders, developers, and real estate appraisers--in each city, assigned grades to residential neighborhoods that reflected their "mortgage security" that would then be visualized on color-coded maps. Neighborhoods receiving the highest grade of "A"--colored green on the maps--were deemed minimal risks for banks and other mortgage lenders when they were determining who should received loans and which areas in the city were safe investments. Those receiving the lowest grade of "D," colored red, were considered "hazardous."

    Conservative, responsible lenders, in HOLC judgment, would "refuse to make loans in these areas [or] only on a conservative basis." HOLC created area descriptions to help to organize the data they used to assign the grades. Among that information was the neighborhood's quality of housing, the recent history of sale and rent values, and, crucially, the racial and ethnic identity and class of residents that served as the basis of the neighborhood's grade. These maps and their accompanying documentation helped set the rules for nearly a century of real estate practice. "

    HOLC agents grading cities through this program largely "adopted a consistently white, elite standpoint or perspective. HOLC assumed and insisted that the residency of African Americans and immigrants, as well as working-class whites, compromised the values of homes and the security of mortgages. In this they followed the guidelines set forth by Frederick Babcock, the central figure in early twentieth-century real estate appraisal standards, in his Underwriting Manual: "The infiltration of inharmonious racial groups ... tend to lower the levels of land values and to lessen the desirability of residential areas."

    These grades were a tool for redlining: making it difficult or impossible for people in certain areas to access mortgage financing and thus become homeowners. Redlining directed both public and private capital to native-born white families and away from African American and immigrant families. As homeownership was arguably the most significant means of intergenerational wealth building in the United States in the twentieth century, these redlining practices from eight decades ago had long-term effects in creating wealth inequalities that we still see today. Mapping Inequality, we hope, will allow and encourage you to grapple with this history of government policies contributing to inequality."

    Data was copied from the Mapping Inequality Website for communities in Western Pennsylvania where data was available. These communities include Altoona, Erie, Johnstown, Pittsburgh, and New Castle. Data included original and georectified images, scans of the neighborhood descriptions, and digital map layers. Data here was downloaded on June 9, 2020.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. Non-Federal: This dataset is covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. See Terms License: No license information was provided.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date January 24, 2023
    Metadata Updated Date January 24, 2023

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from WPRDC data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date January 24, 2023
    Metadata Updated Date January 24, 2023
    Publisher Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center
    Maintainer
    Identifier 904294e5-ba3f-47f0-9e68-e7ede3ba6b33
    Data Last Modified 2021-02-04T19:38:21.239996
    Category Housing & Properties
    Public Access Level public
    Metadata Context http://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version http://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby http://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id 6d8c1575-a5de-47b0-8215-2d30f927cb1f
    Harvest Source Id 2b953a26-28c2-4190-ad6c-d0fdc8d2786d
    Harvest Source Title WPRDC data.json
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 84d35dc8f937eb3993a370bdf03135a639dc765f
    Source Schema Version 1.1

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