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In the early 20th century, the federal government engaged in housing “redlining” a practice that conditioned access to federally backed home loans on the perceived economic health of a neighborhood and used demographic factors such as race in those decisions.
Redlining is a term derived from maps drawn by the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s, which color-coded neighborhoods, using red to denote areas that were perceived to be “hazardous” for lending. This practice of redlining had an effect on access to credit and where people could live and, because where families live determines what public schools their children attend, meant families living in “hazardous” areas were often zoned to underperforming schools.