Although you two, Wilma and Fred, probably know this well, everyone on the list may not be aware of how much of the "credit" for white flight and abandonment of cities needs to be given to the FHA. It used to be difficult to get long-term financing to buy houses, and there were many time in the early 20th century when people simply couldn't get mortgages. The Federal government came up with FHA mortgages to solve this problem, but for many years, the underwriting process was heavy on noting neighborhood characteristics and adamant about excluding "mixed" areas. Even areas with more than one religion were considered "mixed" and therefore excluded - I remember reading a history with quotes about turning down a loan because of a "creeping Jewish influence" in the neighborhood. So in a place like what we now call University City, as soon as the population became diverse, no one could get these long-term, low-rate FHA mortgages - OR loans to repair properties. While white homeowners had an option - to move to the suburbs, where they could get FHA mortgages in new suburban (white) housing developments - black homeowners didn't have that option.
I'm not making any excuses for white flight, but this predicament does add another layer to the reasons for it. If the next generation wanted to stay in the old neighborhood, live near the parents, and buy a house of their own, a mortgage wasn't available. (But they COULD get an FHA mortgage in the suburbs...) If their parents died and left them the house but they needed to fix it up, they couldn't get a loan to do that. (But they COULD keep it, in deteriorating condition, and rent it to someone who couldn't buy, while they bought a brand-new place across the city line...) Whether it's redlining, white flight or inequity based on race which makes a listserv reader angry here, we owe all of these problems to our Federal government. Melani Lamond ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
