Did you know that neighborhoods with warmer temperature climates tend to be more racist? Reading this piece of information immediately caught our eyes.
In a study of 108 urban areas nationwide, the formerly redlined neighborhoods of nearly every city studied were hotter than the non-redlined neighborhoods, some by nearly 13 degrees.
Redlining refers to the federal government’s practice in the 1930s of rating neighborhoods to help mortgage lenders determine which areas of a city were considered risky. The federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation made maps and shaded neighborhoods red that it deemed “hazardous.”
The “risk” was largely determined by simply having African Americans or immigrants within the community. We were shocked.
You can still feel those effects — literally. Nearly 90 years after those maps were created, redlined neighborhoods are hotter than the highest-rated neighborhoods by an average of almost 5 degrees.
HOME Inc. hopes to disband this narrow-mindedness climate and move to promote a more inclusive community.