How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering
RICHMOND, VA -- "In the 20th century, local and federal officials, usually white, enacted policies that reinforced racial segregation in cities and diverted investment away from minority neighborhoods in ways that created large disparities in the urban heat environment.
The consequences are being felt today.
...In the 1930s, the federal government created maps of hundreds of cities, rating the riskiness of different neighborhoods for real estate investment by grading them 'best,' 'still desirable,' 'declining' or “hazardous.” Race played a defining role: Black and immigrant neighborhoods were typically rated 'hazardous' and outlined in red, denoting a perilous place to lend money. For decades, people in redlined areas were denied access to federally backed mortgages and other credit, fueling a cycle of disinvestment."
-- Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, New York Times