UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge

This research project examines the role of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) “redlining” maps in shaping today’s spatial structure along race and economic class lines, compared with the development of places not categorized by HOLC. It is well documented that redlining, the practice of designating marginalized neighborhoods as being risky for mortgage lending, is associated with today’s geography of inequality, but many locations were not ranked by HOLC. Because many parts of contemporary Los Angeles were unranked, this region provides a useful case study of the differences and similarities between the HOLC-graded and - ungraded spaces. The research draws on multiple data sources to compare outcomes along several dimensions. The analysis finds support for the redlining-legacy hypothesis. The comparison of graded and ungraded areas finds noticeable differences in land use and in homeownership, but similarities in racial/ethnic and socioeconomic segregation. The finding that geographic disparities and hierarchical stratification exist in both the graded and ungraded areas indicates that there are fundamental societal factors and dynamics beside redlining that geographically stratify the urban landscape.