Redlining and Housing During The Great Depression

Redlining During The Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal promoted homeownership by aiding federal backing of loans, but due to the FHA( Federal Housing Administration) limited assistance to prospective white buyers.

Loan Restrictions Enforce Segregation

In 1940, the FHA denied insurance to a private builder in Detroit because he wanted to build a housing development near a predominantly African American neighborhood. The builder responded by constructing a half-mile-long concrete wall.

The FHA refused to insure prospective mortgages to white buyers in neighborhoods where Black families could afford to buy without government aid because now there was the threat of integration.

Segregation Tactics

Like the Detroit contractor, many developers used barriers to separate their housing developments from predominantly African American neighborhoods. The FHA's discriminatory practices helped keep African Americans in neighborhoods with significantly less education and job opportunities than the white neighborhoods.