Milwaukee: The Divided City
"Why is Milwaukee considered one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States?"
The Downhill Spiral
Government Policies
Based on information gathered up to this point, one could easily blame racism as the leading cause of segregation in cities like Milwaukee. However, digging a little deeper into the United States' past, it seems that Government might have played an active role in creating segregated cities as well. Government legislation passed during the Great Depression era may have helped to create a legacy of segregation for succeeding generations, regardless if it still exists today. Ohio State University Professor of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, John Powell, summarizes this idea, "At one point we had explicit laws that says whites are on top, and Blacks are on bottom. Today, we have many of the same practices without the explicit language, and those practices are largely inscribed in geography." [8]
In 1933, as a way to stimulate the housing market, the Government created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). This insured loans so that banks would feel more secure loaning money to home buyers and allowed for long-term mortgages with fixed payments. This made homeownership more affordable, since up until this point only extremely wealthy people were able to buy homes. While this seemed like a good way to accelerate the economy and provide everyone with an equal opportunity to purchase housing, it actually barred off minorities from the housing market. Of the $120 billion the Government backed in loans, more than 98% of the loans went to white home buyers, less than 1% went to African Americans. So why were whites awarded so much more in loans? Well since the Government was backing the loans that the bank was lending, they wanted to be sure that the houses and homes would not depreciate. This led to the development of the appraisal industry where neighborhoods were assigned "grades". A (Green) was given to homogeneous neighborhoods, B (Blue) were still considered desirable, C (Yellow) was considered to be declining, and D (Red) was deemed "hazardous" and fully declined. This grading scale also led to a system of Redlining. Redlining marked neighborhoods not worthy of investments. Any neighborhood that had black residents or was gaining black residents was deemed unworthy of investment based on this evaluating system. This led to the rapid decline of certain areas of cities, specifically those that were composed of minority groups. [8]
The map on the right shows the impact of redlining. The Whites, represented by the grey areas are highly segregated from the Blacks, represented by the black area. Redlining would have discouraged integration and would have led to such severe segregation which still exists today. Since these areas, specifically the black area, would have been deemed "fully declined" by the appraisal system the HOLC, no further investments would have been made in this area, and thus, would contribute to the downward spiral of that neighborhood.
The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
Hope for the housing market came when the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) replaced the HOLC. The FHA was designed to further support home purchases. It allowed people to qualify for loans with less than a 10% down payment. This made it significantly cheaper to buy instead of rent. However, the FHA adopted the appraisal methods of the HOLC. It determined neighborhoods where loans could be made, often times restricting these neighborhoods to those composed of mainly white, upper-middle class. Therefore, rather than improving the housing market for all, it led to uneven development and hastened the decay of cities. [8]
These Government "benefits" seemed to act as affirmative action for the white population, rather than improving conditions for all populations. So whether cities became segregated as a result of white flight, government intervention of the housing market, or a combination of both, each also accelerated the "Downward Spiral" in segregated portions of the cities. These reasons could be used to explain Milwaukee's north side, and why today, over 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement Milwaukee is considered one of the most segregated cities in the United States.