New Study Examines the Impact of Historical Redlining on Residents’ Mental Health

A study published this month in Social Science & Medicine explores the impact of historic redlining practices on the contemporary housing market and how the housing market affects prevalence of poor mental health in neighborhoods. The authors examined features of today’s housing markets, including property values, home loan denial rates, and homeownership rates, in 12,047 census tracts in the U.S., and found significant indirect effects of redlining on contemporary prevalence of poor mental health. The findings suggest that properties in neighborhoods historically graded “A” are valued more today and contribute to higher contributions of wealth than in neighborhoods that received lower grades, and this exacerbates disadvantage in neighborhoods graded as “hazardous,” with downstream consequences for mental health. The indirect effect of redlining via property values was also found to be conditional on neighborhood racial makeup. The benefit to property values and its subsequent impact on residents’ mental health is greater in neighborhoods where Black residents are underrepresented.

This analysis builds on existing research linking historical redlining practices to contemporary economic, social, health, and mental health outcomes. Neighborhoods appraised by the Homeowners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s and 1940s and graded as “hazardous” for investment and lending have higher rates of poor health and mental health outcomes compared to neighborhoods that received a favorable grade. There is little research that looks at the factors that might mediate relationships between structural racism’s indicators and health, and the authors of this study assessed whether the features of contemporary housing markets explain the established association between redlining patterns and neighborhood prevalence of poor mental health. The study also examines whether the effects of redlining on mental health differ based on the relative population of Black residents in a neighborhood. The study used data from the American Community Survey, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Database, and Center for Disease Control PLACES Project to examine features of contemporary housing markets as possible mediators of historical redlining patterns and prevalence of poor mental health.

The results of the study align with earlier research showing that redlined neighborhoods continue to have lower homeownership rates, lower property values, and higher rates of home loan denial than neighborhoods that were graded more favorably. Residents of historically redlined neighborhoods have higher rates of poor mental health and other negative health outcomes, which reinforce the long-term consequences of structural racism in housing markets on public health. Features of contemporary housing markets function as pathways connecting historical redlining to poor mental health outcomes, and these pathways are conditional on racial composition. The authors recommend that property appraisal processes be restructured to ensure that racial composition is not factored into valuation and recommend policy interventions that target investments in historically redlined areas in ways that prioritize existing residents and prevent displacement.

Read the article here.