Connecting past to present: Examining different approaches to linking historical redlining to present day health inequities.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Noelke C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9119533 | biostudies-literature | 2022
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Connecting past to present: Examining different approaches to linking historical redlining to present day health inequities.
Noelke Clemens C Outrich Michael M Baek Mikyung M Reece Jason J Osypuk Theresa L TL McArdle Nancy N Ressler Robert W RW Acevedo-Garcia Dolores D
PloS one 20220519 5
In the 1930's, the Home Owner Loan Corporation (HOLC) drafted maps to quantify variation in real estate credit risk across US city neighborhoods. The letter grades and associated risk ratings assigned to neighborhoods discriminated against those with black, lower class, or immigrant residents and benefitted affluent white neighborhoods. An emerging literature has begun linking current individual and community health effects to government redlining, but each study faces the same measurement probl ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Communities of color in the United States are systematically exposed to higher levels of air pollution. We explore here how redlining, a discriminatory mortgage appraisal practice from the 1930s by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), relates to present-day intraurban air pollution disparities in 202 U.S. cities. In each city, we integrated three sources of data: (1) detailed HOLC security maps of investment risk grades [A ("best"), B, C, and D ("hazardous", i.e., redlined)], (2) year-2010 estimates of NO2 and PM2.5 air pollution levels, and (3) demographic information from the 2010 U.S. census. We find that pollution levels have a consistent and nearly monotonic association with HOLC grade, with especially pronounced (>50%) increments in NO2 levels between the most (grade A) and least (grade D) preferentially graded neighborhoods. On a national basis, intraurban disparities for NO2 and PM2.5 are substantially larger by historical HOLC grade than they are by race and ethnicity. However, within each HOLC grade, racial and ethnic air pollution exposure disparities persist, indicating that redlining was only one of the many racially discriminatory policies that impacted communities. Our findings illustrate how redlining, a nearly 80-year-old racially discriminatory policy, continues to shape systemic environmental exposure disparities in the United States.
| S-EPMC9009174 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeRedlining was a discriminatory housing policy in the United States that began in 1933 and denoted neighborhoods with high proportions of Black individuals as "undesirable" and a high risk for lending, which therefore excluded people from obtaining traditional insured mortgages to purchase a home. Simultaneously, realtors discouraged Black individuals from purchasing homes in predominantly non-Black neighborhoods. This resulted in decreased home ownership and wealth accumulation among Black individuals and neighborhoods with high proportions of Black individuals. This study investigated rates of visual impairment and blindness (VIB) in neighborhoods that at one time were graded for redlining.DesignSecondary data analysis of American Community Survey data and historical grades for redlining.ParticipantsUnited States census tracts (CTs) from 2010 with historical grades for redlining.MethodsOne-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test, chi-square test, and logistic regression modeling.Main outcome measuresThe main outcome was CT percentage of residents reporting VIB and the association with historical grades for redlining. Grades were converted to numeric values (1 to 4, with higher values indicating worse grade) and aggregated over a CT based on the distribution of grades within to obtain a redlining score. Logistic regression was used to model the effect of redlining on the probability of having VIB.ResultsEleven thousand six hundred sixty-eight CTs were analyzed. Logistic regression found that a 1-unit increase in average redlining score was associated with a 13.4% increased odds of VIB after controlling for CT measures of age, sex, people of color (any non-White race), state, and population size (odds ratio [OR], 1.134; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.131-1.138; P < 0.001). Similar results were observed for an additional model that adjusted for the estimated percentage of Black residents within a CT (OR, 1.180; 95% CI, 1.177-1.183; P < 0.001).ConclusionsHistorical government-sanctioned residential segregation through redlining was found to be associated with higher proportions of people living with VIB in these neighborhoods today. Understanding how neighborhood segregation impacts eye health is important for planning improved mechanisms of eye care delivery to mitigate health disparities.Financial disclosure(s)Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.
| S-EPMC10069292 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Historical, institutional racism within the housing market may have impacted present-day disparities in heat vulnerability. We quantified associations between historically redlined areas with present-day property and housing characteristics that may enhance heat vulnerability in Philadelphia, PA. We used color-coded Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps and tax assessment data to randomly select 100 present-day (2018-2019) residential properties in each HOLC grade area (A = Best; B, C, and D = Most hazardous; N = 400 total). We conducted virtual inventories of the properties using aerial and streetview imagery for land cover and housing characteristics (dark roof color, flat roof shape, low or no mature tree canopy, no recently planted street trees) that may enhance heat vulnerability. We used modified Poisson regression models to estimate associations of HOLC grades with the property characteristics, unadjusted and adjusted for historical and contemporary measures of the neighborhood sociodemographic environment. Compared to grade A areas, higher proportions of properties in grade B, C, and D areas had dark roofs, low/no mature tree canopy, and no street trees. Adjusting for historical sociodemographics attenuated associations, with only associations with low or no tree canopy remaining elevated. Adjusting for present-day concentrated racial and socioeconomic deprivation did not substantially impact overall findings. In Philadelphia, PA, HOLC maps serve as spatial representations of present-day housing and land cover heat vulnerability characteristics. Further analyses incorporating longitudinal data on urban redevelopment, reinvestment, and neighborhood change are needed to more fully represent complex relationships among historical racism, residential segregation, and heat vulnerability.
| S-EPMC8866576 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Firearm violence is a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and racial health disparities in the United States. Previous studies have identified associations between historically racist housing discrimination (i.e., redlining practices) and firearm violence; however, these studies generally have been limited to a single city and have yet to provide sufficient evidence through which to determine the extent and dynamics of the impact of this relationship across the country. The aim of our study was (1) to estimate the association of historical redlining on both violent and firearm death across the country in nested models; and (2) to examine spatial non-stationarity to determine whether the impact of historical redlining on violent and firearm death was the same across the U.S. We used multilevel Bayesian conditional autoregressive Poisson models to determine the relationship between redlining as illustrated through Home Owners' Loan Corporation maps and 2019 violent and firearm deaths at the ZIP code-level nested within 21 cities across the U.S. We found that at the ZIP code level, there was a dose-responsive relationship between HOLC grading and the incidence of present-day firearm deaths. In general, redlined ZIP codes had higher relative incidence of firearm deaths. Associations were not stable across cities. For example, associations were relatively stronger in Baltimore, MD and weaker in Los Angeles, CA. This research reinforces the findings of previous studies examining the impact of redlining on firearm death across the extent of the entire country in 21 cities and claim that HOLC grades are associated with present-day violence.
| S-EPMC10155117 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn the 1930s, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation categorized neighborhoods by investment grade along racially discriminatory lines, a process known as redlining. Although other authors have found associations between Home Owners' Loan Corporation categories and current impacts on racial segregation, analysis of current health impacts rarely use these maps.ObjectiveTo study whether historical redlining in Baltimore is associated with health impacts today.ApproachFifty-four present-day planning board-defined community statistical areas are assigned historical Home Owners' Loan Corporation categories by area predominance. Categories are red ("hazardous"), yellow ("definitely declining") with blue/green ("still desirable"/"best") as the reference category. Community statistical area life expectancy is regressed against Home Owners' Loan Corporation category, controlling for median household income and proportion of African American residents.ConclusionRed categorization is associated with 4.01 year reduction (95% CI: 1.47, 6.55) and yellow categorization is associated with 5.36 year reduction (95% CI: 3.02, 7.69) in community statistical area life expectancy at baseline. When controlling for median household income and proportion of African American residents, red is associated with 5.23 year reduction (95% CI: 3.49, 6.98) and yellow with 4.93 year reduction (95% CI: 3.22, 6.23). Results add support that historical redlining is associated with health today.
| S-EPMC8769359 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this data article, we present a dataset that includes past causalities and categories to connect similar past and present causalities. First, we collect past causalities by referencing certain well-known Japanese high-school textbooks. Subsequently, we select 138 causalities that are useful for analogizing from the causalities to considering solutions for confront present social issues. To enhance the analogy, we describe each causality in three contexts: background including problems, solution methods, and their results. We define 13 categories based on the selected causalities and Encyclopedia of Historiography. The past causalities belong to more than one category. In addition, to train machine learning models including classifier, we collect 900 past events from Wikipedia, and assign one or more categories to the past event data. We perform statistical analyses to understand the quality of the dataset. The proposed applications of the dataset include training machine learning models such as classifiers for past causalities and information retrieval for ranking present social issues according to the similarities between the present and past causalities.
| S-EPMC7013155 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesTo identify the most pervasive environmental exposures driving environmental disparities today associated with historical redlining in Detroit.MethodsWe overlaid Detroit's 1939 Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) shapefile from the Mapping Inequality project onto the EPA EJScreen and the DOT National Transportation Noise maps to analyze differences in current demographic and environmental indicators between historically redlined (D-grade) and non-redlined neighborhoods using simple linear regression and a boosted classification tree algorithm.ResultsHistorically redlined neighborhoods in Detroit experienced significantly higher environmental hazards than non-redlined neighborhoods in the form of 12.1% (95% CI: 7.2-17.1%) higher levels of diesel particulate matter (PM), 32.2% (95% CI: 3.3-69.3%) larger traffic volumes, and 65.7% (95% CI: 8.6-152.8%) higher exposure to hazardous road noise (LEQ(24h) >70 dBA). Historically redlined neighborhoods were situated near 1.7-times (95% CI: 1.4-2.1) more hazardous waste sites and twice as many (95% CI: 1.5-2.7) risk management plan (RMP) sites than non-redlined neighborhoods. The lifetime cancer risk from inhalation of air toxics was 4.4% (95% CI: 2.9-6.6%) higher in historically redlined communities, and the risk of adverse respiratory health outcomes from air toxics was 3.9% (95% CI: 2.1-5.6%) higher. All factors considered together, among the environmental hazards considered, the most pervasive hazards in historically redlined communities are proximity to RMP sites, hazardous road noise, diesel PM, and cancer risk from air pollution.ConclusionsHistorically redlined neighborhoods may have a disproportionately higher risk of developing cancer and adverse respiratory health outcomes from air toxics. Policies targeting air and noise pollution from transportation sources, particularly from sources of diesel exhaust, in historically redlined neighborhoods may ameliorate some of the impacts of structural environmental racism from historical redlining in Detroit.
| S-EPMC11222141 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To stabilize the housing market during the great depression, the government-sanctioned Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) created color coded maps of nearly 200 United States cities according to lending risk. These maps were largely driven by racial segregation, with the worst graded neighborhoods colored in red, later termed redlined neighborhoods. We sought to investigate the association between historical redlining, and trends in environmental disparities across the US over the past few decades. We characterized environmental exposures including air pollutants (e.g., NO2 and fine particulate matter), vegetation, noise, and light at night, proximity hazardous emission sources (e.g., hazardous water facilities, wastewater discharge indicator) and other environmental and social indicators harnessed from various sources across HOLC graded neighborhoods and extrapolated census tracts (A [lowest risk neighborhoods] to D [highest risk neighborhoods]). Lower graded areas (C and D) had consistently higher exposures to worse environmental factors. Additionally, there were consistent relative disparities in the exposures to PM2.5 (1981-2018) and NO2 (2005-2019), without significant improvement in the gap compared with HOLC grade A neighborhoods. Our findings illustrate that historical redlining, a form of residential segregation largely based on racial discrimination is associated with environmental injustice over the past 2-4 decades.
| S-EPMC10427113 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We are at an exciting moment in time with the advancement of many vaccines, including a shigella vaccine for the world. It is instructive to look at the long road that some vaccines have traveled to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of those who were pioneers, appreciate the evolution of scientific and applied technology, and inform the future history of a vaccine that would have great potential for global health. To achieve this valuable retrospective, a narrative historical literature review was undertaken utilizing PubMed and Embase databases with relevant search terms. Retrieved articles were reviewed and information was organized into historical themes, landmark discoveries, and important vaccine development parallels. The literature reviewed was synthesized into major eras of shigella vaccine development from pathogen discovery and first attempts to empirical approaches of killed whole-cell and live-attenuated approaches, and a modern era that applied recombinant DNA engineering and structural vaccinology. The history of shigella vaccine development has largely followed the evolutionary path of vaccine development over the last 120 years, but with important lessons learned that should be considered as we embark on the future chapters of bringing to the world a safe and effective vaccine for global health.
| S-EPMC9145194 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveExamine the association between historic residential redlining and present-day racial/ethnic composition of neighborhoods, racial/ethnic differences in social determinant of health domains, and risk of home evictions and food insecurity.Research design and methodsWe examined data on 12,334 (for eviction sample), and 8996 (for food insecurity sample), census tracts in 213 counties across 37 states in the USA with data on exposure to historic redlining. First, we examined relationships between Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlining grades (A="Best", B="Still Desirable", C="Definitely Declining", D="Hazardous") and present-day racial/ethnic composition and racial/ethnic differences in social determinant of health domains of neighborhoods. Second, we examined whether historic redlining is associated with present-day home eviction rates (measured across eviction filings rates, and eviction judgment rates for 12,334 census tracts in 2018) and food insecurity (measured across low supermarket access, low supermarket access and income, low supermarket access and low car ownership for 8996 census tracts in 2019). Multivariable regression models were adjusted for census tract population, urban/rural designation, and county level fixed effects.ResultsRelative to areas with a historic HOLC grading of "A (Best)", areas with a "D (Hazardous)" grading had a 2.59 (95%CI=1.99-3.19; p-value<0.01) higher rate of eviction filings, and a 1.03 (95%CI=0.80-1.27; p-value<0.01) higher rate of eviction judgments. Compared to areas with a historic HOLC grading of "A (Best)", areas rated with a "D (Hazardous)" had a 16.20 (95%CI=15.02-17.79; p-value<0.01) higher rate of food insecurity based on supermarket access and income, and a 6.15 (95%CI =5.53-6.76; p-value<0.01) higher rate of food insecurity based on supermarket access and car ownership.ConclusionsHistoric residential redlining is significantly associated with present-day home evictions and food insecurity, highlighting persistent associations between structural racism and present-day social determinants of health.
| S-EPMC10255945 | biostudies-literature