Who Received Loans? Home Owners\u27 Loan Corporation Lending and Discrimination in Philadelphia in the 1930\u27s

The lending record of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) has received little attention compared with HOLC’s residential security maps. Specifically, the extent to which HOLC practiced racial and ethnic discrimination in the process of making and servicing more than a million loans to homeowners during the Depression has not been carefully examined. Using primary sources including HOLC publications, newspaper articles, 1930 census data, and mortgage records from Philadelphia, this research shows that HOLC did make loans to African Americans, Jews, and immigrants. Evidence suggests, however, that HOLC supported racial segregation in the process of reselling properties acquired through foreclosure

Residential Security Maps and Neighborhood Appraisals. The Homeowners\u27 Loan Corporation and the Case of Philadelphia

At the request of the Home Loan Bank Board, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) created color-coded maps for cities across the country between 1935 and 1940 that indicated risk levels for long-term real estate investment. Involvement in this City Survey Program marked a departure from the original mission of HOLC to provide new mortgages on an emergency basis to homeowners at risk of losing their homes during the Depression. This article considers why HOLC made these maps, how HOLC created them, and what the basis was for the grades on the maps. Geographic information systems and spatial regression models are used to show that racial composition was a significant predictor of map grades, controlling for housing characteristics

Erasing Red Lines: Part 1 - Geographies of Discrimination

Since at least the 1930s, the City of Buffalo, New York has been spatially and socially divided. While certain mixed use and residential communities across the map have shown remarkable resilience—and thrived—during the City’s history of deindustrialization and population loss, many communities of color on Buffalo’s East and West Sides have experienced persistent and increasing levels of distress. This series of brief reports examines those patterns and engages with strategies for reinvesting in chronically distressed communities. This report is Part 1 of a threepart series that examines the roots and spatial patterns of economic distress in the City of Buffalo, NY, and engages with strategies for reinvestment in the City’s chronically distressed neighborhoods. The series is adapted from a collection of peer-reviewed articles and books listed in the “Further Reading” section at the end of each report. Part 1 of the series briefly and selectively introduces readers to the history and empirical evidence of urban decline in the postindustrial United States generally, and in the City of Buffalo specifically. The report provides background definitions, highlights spatial patterns, and summarizes findings from data analyses

Residential Security Maps and Neighborhood Appraisals. The Homeowners\u27 Loan Corporation and the Case of Philadelphia

At the request of the Home Loan Bank Board, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) created color-coded maps for cities across the country between 1935 and 1940 that indicated risk levels for long-term real estate investment. Involvement in this City Survey Program marked a departure from the original mission of HOLC to provide new mortgages on an emergency basis to homeowners at risk of losing their homes during the Depression. This article considers why HOLC made these maps, how HOLC created them, and what the basis was for the grades on the maps. Geographic information systems and spatial regression models are used to show that racial composition was a significant predictor of map grades, controlling for housing characteristics

The federal response to home mortgage distress: lessons from the Great Depression

This article examines the federal response to mortgage distress during the Great Depression: It documents features of the housing cycle of the 1920s and early 1930s, focusing on the growth of mortgage debt and the subsequent sharp increase in mortgage defaults and foreclosures during the Depression. It summarizes the major federal initiatives to reduce foreclosures and reform mortgage market practices, focusing especially on the activities of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), which acquired and refinanced one million delinquent mortgages between 1933 and 1936. Because the conditions under which the HOLC operated were unusual, the author cautions against drawing strong policy lessons from the HOLC's activities. Nonetheless, similarities between the Great Depression and the recent episode suggest that a review of the historical experience can provide insights about alternative policies to relieve mortgage distress.Home Mortgage Disclosure Act ; Mortgage loans ; Depressions

Letter from Home Owners\u27 Loan Corporation to Governor Langer, 1934

Letter from Daniel McNamara Jr. of the Home Owners\u27 Loan Corporation to Governor William Langer on January 4, 1934. McNamara outlined the goals of the HOLC, formed to aid owners to save their homes. McNamara also urged the Governor to make HOLC bonds legal investments in North Dakota.https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1011/thumbnail.jp