HOLC graded Neighborhoods of Lexington
In the 1930s the federal government's Home Owners' Loan Corporation collaborated with local real estate professionals on the ground to create area descriptions. Each neighborhood area was then assigned a grade corresponding to its relative mortgage security and color coded (A green, B blue, C yellow, D red.) A being the most secure and safe investment while D was considered hazardous.
Grades were determined by considering quality of housing, recent history of sale and rent values, and the racial and ethnic identity and class of residents. Terms often found in identifying the surrounding populations included infiltration, subversive, undesirable, inharmonious, and lower grade. The grades themselves are a tool for redlining.
Redlining would thus make it incredibly challenging for people living among the lower graded areas to obtain loans and eventually homeowners. As homeownership was at the time a considerable path to build wealth through the generations, this placed those among the lower graded areas at a distinct disadvantage for decades to come. Redlining was also a tool utilized by local cities and communities to annex communities from accessing varieties of public services.
This map is meant as an exploratory tool to determine what/if any legacy remains today with regards to redlined neighborhoods of Lexington in the 1930s and their access (within 0.5 miles) to public parks.
Map data obtained from Mapping Inequality, and Open Street Map Query using QGIS 3.16 for parks (7 August 2021)
Map authored by RC Ramsey
See other projects at: RC Ramsey
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