Buying into segregation: How a nation of renters became segregated homeowners

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: Housing Processes

Abstract

Racial segregation has fundamentally reshaped metropolitan regions in the U.S.. In the narrative of how this came to be, many point to the role of various governmental policies that encouraged homeownership (HOLC, FHA, VA), which systematically privileged White homebuyers. Others point to factors like blockbusting and restrictive deed covenants, which directly intervened in the racial composition of neighborhoods. But all of these are policies and practices that only apply to homeowners, not renters. This study empirically examines the interacting contribution of shifting tenure and racial settlement, at a time when the country was transitioning from majority renter to majority owner. It additionally shows how this urban restructuring played out across geographies, at a time when the U.S. was also becoming majority suburban. I find that the story of racial segregation is incomplete without the parallel story of emerging tenure segregation.

Author

• H. Jacob Carlson, Kean University