Historical Redlining and Contemporary Racial Disparities in Neighborhood Life Expectancy

Abstract

While evidence suggests a durable relationship between redlining and population health, we currently lack an empirical account of how this historical act of racialized violence produced contemporary inequities. In this paper, we use a mediation framework to evaluate how redlining grades influenced later life expectancy and the degree to which contemporary racial disparities in life expectancy between Black working-class neighborhoods and White professional-class neighborhoods can be explained by past Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) mapping. Life expectancy gaps between differently graded tracts are driven by economic isolation and disparate property valuation which developed within these areas in subsequent decades. Still, only a small percent of a total disparity between contemporary Black and White neighborhoods is explained by HOLC grades. We discuss the role of HOLC maps in analyses of structural racism and health, positioning them as only one feature of a larger public–private project conflating race with financial risk. Policy implications include not only targeting resources to formerly redlined neighborhoods but also the larger project of dismantling racist theories of value that are deeply embedded in the political economy of place.

Associations of Historical Redlining With BMI and Waist Circumference in Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults

“…The maps were part of long-standing efforts involving public–private decision making that leveraged people of color as collateral to benefit wealth creation for White people. 12 Over time, efforts to exclude people of color from wealth evolved to appear race neutral. 13 For example, zoning laws changed from excluding undesirables to excluding building developments such as apartment buildings and public transit that would make suburban communities more affordable and accessible to people of color.…”

Structural Racism, Historical Redlining, and Incidence of Kidney Failure in US Cities, 2012–2019

“…Current neighborhoods are the product of discriminatory policies: Recent work suggests that compared with neighborhoods that were not historically redlined, historically redlined neighborhoods presently have lower median household incomes, less healthy food environments, higher proportions of population in poverty, and have higher proportions of people of color. [11][12][13]19,31,50 Such conditions may directly affect racial health inequities through several pathways including exposure to racism, limited access to health-promoting resources, and limited access to quality health care. 1,11 Our sensitivity analyses also indicate that neighborhood-level poverty and racial segregation-which cannot be disentangled from the legacy of racist policies such as historical redlining-are strongly associated with higher rates of kidney failure incidence.…”

Associations among Historical Neighborhood Disinvestment, Hazardous Air Pollutants, and Current Adult Asthma Prevalence

“…Because HOLC maps are only one example of a changing body of policies and practices from the New Deal era, differences in present day health from city to city are likely influenced by local or regional policies in intervening post-HOLC decades. 8 …”