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Redlining shaped Madison neighborhoods

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Redlining shaped Madison neighborhoods

By Virginia Scholtz
Northside News

Minorities had problems finding housing and getting a mortgage partly as a legacy of the financial practice known as “redlining.” Redlining meant that investors drew maps to show what areas of a city would best qualify for financial investment and home loans. It was begun during the depression of the 1930s. The idea was to determine where to invest money that would bring the best return, the biggest bang for the buck.

Areas coded in red were considered the most risky investments; in these redlined areas, mortgages were expensive and hard to come by. It led to under-development of utilities and lax paving of streets in some areas of Madison.

In the years after World War II, many rural whites and some southern blacks moved into Madison. The majority white population hoped for housing away from the noise of manufacturing and the rumble of trains and jet airplanes. Areas near industry were shunned by whites. That made it easier for poor people, often African Americans, to move into those neighborhoods. However, redlining made it hard to finance a house or to get money to spend on neighborhood amenities.

In our state, most rural areas were populated by European-Americans. The postwar immigration to Madison meant that people of diverse races encountered one another for the first time. Most people preferred to stick with their own kind. This aversion to people of another race further heightened the problems brought about by redlining. The biggest problem was prejudice toward any unknown group of people: African American, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and other unfamiliar ethnicities.

Redlining became illegal with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act April 11, 1968. The act prohibited housing discrimination. Title VIII, the Fair Housing Act made it unlawful 

“To refuse to sell or rent…a dwelling to any person because of his/her race, color, religion or national origin.”

“To discriminate against any person…because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling.”

“To represent to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale, or rental when such dwelling is in fact so available.”

It also barred intimidation, coercion and other interference with a person’s right to live in and enjoy their housing rights.

Many Madison neighbors still struggle to overcome the legacy of redlining and the estrangement between ethnic groups that goes with it. 

Sources:“The Legacy of Redlining in Madison, Wisconsin” Jacob Gold, Sophia Merry, Peter Newman, Geography 565 Fall 2019 (minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/80355/Gold%20Merry%20Newman.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)

Fair Housing Act, Statute 82, sec. 804 [42 U.S.C. 3602]  (justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-2)