WEEK SIX: FEDERAL POLICY & THE CITY/SUBURBAN DIVIDE

How did federal policy contribute to the city/suburban divide?

Federal mortgage programs, suburban housing finance, highway construction, and redevelopment policies encouraged population and investment to move toward suburbs while contributing to disinvestment, displacement, and segregation in many central-city neighborhoods.

What was urban renewal?

Federally supported redevelopment in which local governments acquired and cleared areas designated as “slums” or “blighted,” often displacing low-income and minority residents for new development.

What was the FHA, and how did it encourage suburbanization?

The Federal Housing Administration insured mortgages, reducing lenders' risk and making homeownership easier to finance. Its policies heavily supported new single-family development, particularly in suburban areas.

What was the HOLC?

The Home Owners' Loan Corporation was a New Deal agency created to stabilize homeownership and mortgage markets. Its neighborhood assessments became associated with residential risk classifications and redlining.

What was redlining?

The practice of classifying certain neighborhoods as hazardous for investment and restricting access to mortgages and credit there. Race, ethnicity, class, and neighborhood characteristics influenced these assessments.

What were the HOLC A–D neighborhood ratings?

Neighborhoods were classified from A (“Best,” green) and B (“Still Desirable,” blue) to C (“Definitely Declining,” yellow) and D (“Hazardous,” red). Minority and immigrant presence could negatively influence assessments.

How can redlining become a self-reinforcing process?

A neighborhood is labeled risky → lenders withhold credit and investment → property maintenance and investment decline → values and conditions deteriorate → the resulting decline appears to validate the original designation.

What is Wilder's central argument about Brooklyn?

Brooklyn's racial geography and the emergence of concentrated Black neighborhoods were not simply natural market outcomes. Government housing policies, financial institutions, real-estate interests, and racial discrimination actively helped produce them.

How did federal highway policy contribute to suburbanization and urban decline?

Federal highway investment made suburban commuting easier while highway construction often demolished or divided existing urban neighborhoods and encouraged residents and businesses to move outward.