Philadelphia's redlining legacy persists

State of play: More white people are moving into formerly redlined zones in Philly, FiveThirtyEight and ABC News reports.

• As these areas gentrify, property values increase, and lower-income people, many of whom are Black, can't afford to stay.
• Philadelphia is among seven cities that account for almost half of all gentrification in the country, according to a 2019 study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Catch up fast: In the 1930s, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded neighborhoods with high Black populations as "hazardous" or at a high risk of defaulting on mortgage loans — marking them with red ink on their maps.

• Philadelphia's legacy of redlining — the practice of banks denying loans to buyers in Black neighborhoods — reinforced de facto segregation despite the Northeast never having legal segregation.
• Anti-discrimination laws like the Fair Housing Act of 1968 helped, but disparities remain widespread.

Of note: Residential segregation correlates with differences in income, poverty, education and health care.

Between the lines: Black homeownership has been declining in Philly over the past 30 years.

• And it doesn't help that Black Philadelphians still have a harder time securing loans compared to their white counterparts.

Even if Black Philadelphians secure a loan, they're forced to compete with cash buyers, largely investors.

• Cash transactions have been dominating the housing market across North and West Philadelphia, where large populations of Black and Hispanic non-white people live.