The Societal Impacts of Redlining Are Still Seen Today

Martin grew up in Colorado Springs in the 1940s and, despite the existence of integrated schools and largely integrated neighborhoods, Martin was allowed to swim only once a week in the community pool and the water was changed before white people swam again. She remembers being told she couldn’t ride in elevators or eat at restaurants and, as a kid, was segregated to movie theater balconies where she’d throw popcorn on the white people in the seats below.

“You could do certain things, but other things weren’t allowed. And there were no signs like there were in the South. It’s just a tacit understanding that you could go here, you could do this and you couldn’t do that,” Martin says. The real estate agent’s discrimination fit with the Colorado Springs she knew.

“It made me angry because of the old adage: taxation without representation. ... I expect [that] I pay taxes [so] everything should be open to me that’s open to anyone else. But no, I was not at all surprised,” Martin says.

Real estate loan and rental discrimination based on race, sex or national origin was outlawed years later by the 1968 Fair Housing Act. That included outlawing redlining — shading predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods red on maps, indicating they are risky areas for banks to approve home loans.

The legacy of racist housing policies continues to impact cities across the country, including Colorado Springs, and contributes to the ever-widening wealth gap between white and non-white families. According to a 2019 Census Bureau report, the median wealth of white households was $139,300 compared to $12,780 for Black households and $19,990 for Latino households. Owning a home heavily influences a family’s net worth — the report also found that across races, a homeowner’s median net worth is 80 times more than a renter’s.

Redlining has had a lasting impact on Colorado Springs neighborhoods and on the wealth of Black families. Today, historically redlined neighborhoods in the city continue to do worse economically and are currently more at risk for housing instability and homelessness due to the impacts of COVID-19 than predominantly white neighborhoods that were rated “better” in the 1930s. And Black people continue to fall behind other racial groups when it comes to homeownership. In the second quarter of 2020, 76 percent of homeowners nationwide were white, 51.4 percent were Latino and 47 percent were Black, according to the Census Bureau.