During the Great Depression, many lost their homes through foreclosure and couldn’t afford to pay rent, ushering in a national housing crisis. To combat this catastrophe, the Roosevelt administration created programs, including federally-funded public housing through the New Deal. These programs primarily benefited white families, with limited, few offerings in segregated areas for black families.

The next step for white families was to take advantage of federally-supported home loans through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). “The government thought about public housing as a step up for families. you're working hard so you're able to save, and hopefully, you know you live in public housing for one or two years and you will then be able to move into your next step.” - Mary Pattillo, East Lake Meadows.

The HOLC was established in 1933, refinancing more than a million homes in its first three years, almost exclusively for white families. To assess loan eligibility, the HOLC recruited mortgage lenders, developers, and real estate appraisers to create maps that color-coded credit-worthiness based on the racial make-up of neighborhoods. These maps outlined neighborhoods with black families in red, designating these areas as ineligible for these federal programs. This process was called redlining and ultimately encouraged racially-segregated neighborhoods.

Although HOLC is often cited as the originator of redlining, it certainly was not the last. Between 1934 and 1962, redlining and housing discrimination persisted with the federal government-backing $120 billion of home loans with more than 98% going to white homebuyers.

“The cumulative effect of all of this is that you wind up with two entirely different relationships to this country. One is the lineage of the New Deal through post World War II, through the reforms in the economy, suburbanization and housing that has created this ideal in America... And the other, is a population that has by and large been denied access to those things.” - Jelani Cobb, East Lake Meadows.