Chattanooga Historic Red Lining

The Federal government's Home Owners' Loan Corporation between 1935 and 1940, used data and evaluations organized by local real estate professionals--lenders, developers, and real estate appraisers--in each city, assigned grades to residential neighborhoods that reflected their "mortgage security" that would then be visualized on color-coded maps. Neighborhoods receiving the highest grade of "A"--colored green on the maps--were deemed minimal risks for banks and other mortgage lenders when they were determining who should received loans and which areas in the city were safe investments. Those receiving the lowest grade of "D," colored red, were considered "hazardous."

Conservative, responsible lenders, in HOLC judgment, would "refuse to make loans in these areas [or] only on a conservative basis." HOLC created area descriptions to help to organize the data they used to assign the grades. Among that information was the neighborhood's quality of housing, the recent history of sale and rent values, and, crucially, the racial and ethnic identity and class of residents that served as the basis of the neighborhood's grade. These maps and their accompanying documentation helped set the rules for nearly a century of real estate practice that has systematically disenfranchised communities of color.

联邦政府住宅贷款公司于1935年至1940年间，利用由当地房地产专业人士（包括贷款人、开发商和房地产评估师）组织的数据和评估，对每个城市的住宅区进行评级，这些评级反映了其作为“抵押安全性”的等级，随后这些等级会在色彩编码的地图上进行可视化呈现。地图上被赋予最高等级“A”（绿色）的住宅区被视为银行和其他抵押贷款机构在决定谁应获得贷款以及哪些地区是安全的投资时，风险最小的区域。那些获得最低等级“D”（红色）的区域则被视为“危险”区域。在联邦政府住宅贷款公司的判断中，保守且负责任的贷款人会“拒绝在这些区域发放贷款，或者在保守的基础上发放贷款”。联邦政府住宅贷款公司创建了区域描述，以帮助组织他们用于分配等级的数据。其中包含的信息包括住宅区的住房质量、近期销售和租金价值的历史，以及至关重要的居民种族、民族身份和社会阶级，这些构成了住宅区等级的基础。这些地图及其相应的文件帮助确立了近一个世纪的房地产实践规则，这些规则系统地剥夺了有色人种社区的权益。