Racial Residential Segregation in Greater Boston

Part 1 of the Environmental Racism in Greater Boston Series

Boston skyline
Boston skyline
Boston redlining map.
Boston redlining map.


Restrictive Covenants

1843 - 1948

Race-based 'restrictive covenants' were contracts between sellers and buyers of a property that forbade the sale or lease of the property to non-White people. It is unknown just how common race-based restrictive covenants were in the Boston area. To find this out, one would have to sift through hundreds of thousands of housing deeds from the early 20th century. While no one has done this in Boston, researchers have explored race-based restrictive covenants in other cities, including  Philadelphia ,  Minneapolis , and  Seattle .   

 Interestingly, Brookline, MA is often mistakenly named as the location of the first-documented racially restrictive covenant in 1843, including in the original text of this page. You can read more about this common misattribution from the  Brookline Historical Society . 

Race-based restrictive covenants, whether common or not, were outlawed in Massachusetts with the passing of the 1946 Massachusetts Fair Housing Law. The Fair Housing Law banned housing discrimination on the base of race, color, national origin, ancestry, and religious creed. Housing discrimination was defined as: discriminatory statements, different contract terms/conditions, steering, harassment, intimidation, or denial of services.

At the federal level, the legal process for housing justice was much slower. In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled in Shelley vs. Kraemer that while state-enforced race-based restrictive covenants were unconstitutional, private contracts (without state enforcement) were still allowed. It wasn't until the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act that housing discrimination, defined broadly as in the earlier Massachusetts law, became illegal.

It is important to note, however, that while housing discrimination on the basis of race became illegal, many structural changes continued to disproportionately harm working class communities of color. Under the guise of supposedly 'race-neutral' progress, racial residential segregation continued, and continues today.

Aerial view of a Massachusetts suburb.
Boston Globe headlines from the early 1970's detailing community battles over blockbusting.

A sign protesting urban renewal in Boston's South End states, "How about it, Mr. Logue? Do we stay or do we go?"


Discrimination Today

1970s - Present

Passed in 1968, the Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits housing discrimination by landlords, real estate companies, or other entities (including municipalities) on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin. Sex and familial status were added as protected classes later, in 1988. Despite this landmark legislation, many policies continue to have disparate impact on communities of color, and discrimination is still common in the housing market today.

Zoning Policies

As suburbs increased in size and population around the US in the postwar years, towns used strict zoning laws to prevent increasing population density, protect green space, and separate residential areas from industry and commercial areas. Through restrictive zoning laws, suburban areas were able to prevent the construction of low-income housing and multi-family homes. The result is that suburbs remained mostly White, middle- and upper-class.

Examples of the effect of such zoning policies in Massachusetts are described in greater detail by the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston. See:  minimum lot-size requirements ,  limited allowance or complete restriction of multi-family home construction , and  age-restricted housing .

More on Zoning Laws

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) created a Zoning Atlas, which collects information about zoning rules in greater Boston. This rich information can be downloaded for free! Explore the Zoning Atlas by clicking on the link below.

Housing Discrimination in Massachusetts Today

Discriminatory lending and renting practices still play an important role in enforcing racial residential segregation today. In a 2020 report titled  Qualified Renters Need Not Apply,  the Boston Foundation outlined how widespread racial discrimination is in the Boston housing market. Using undercover "testers" posing as renters, researchers discovered discrimination based on voucher status in 86% of tests. Even among market-rate testers (those who were not applying with housing vouchers), racial disparities were stark: while White testers without vouchers were able to set up apartment viewings 80% of the time, Black testers were only able to set up viewings 48% of the time.

Results from the Boston Foundation's 2020 investigation into housing discrimination in Boston. "Did not contact" indicates that the housing provider never replied to the tester, while "ghosted" indicates that the housing provider cut off contact abruptly after initial contact was established. Source:  Qualified Renters Need Not Apply  (2020).

The findings of this report indicate that despite having legislation in place to protect renters and homeowners from discrimination, Massachusetts still has a long way to go.

Housing discrimination goes beyond interpersonal discrimination between renters and voucher holders. Even when applications are considered by a computer, not a human, discrimination can occur. This discrimination is due to  bias baked in to the algorithm itself , a bias that is particularly difficult to study given  the proprietary nature of many of the algorithms  used to make such decisions.

Today, as always, communities are fighting back against housing discrimination. In greater Boston, several grassroots organizations have come together as the  Boston Tenant Coalition  to advance fair housing and racial justice.



Timeline

Mid-1800s

Earliest documented race-based restrictive covenants

1933

Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) established as part of the HOLC Act.

1934

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) created as part of the National Housing Act to regulate terms and interest rates of federally-backed loans.

1937

 Housing Act of 1937  (Wagner-Seagall Act) passes, requiring that for each new public housing unit created, one of substandard quality must be removed. Decision-making is left to local authorities, allowing communities to refuse public housing in their neighborhoods, increasing segregation.

1946

 Massachusetts Fair Housing Law  bans housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, and religious creed, more than 20 years before its federal counterpart.

1948

In  Shelley v. Kraemer , the U.S. Supreme Court rules that while private parties can both agree to a race-based restrictive covenant, it is unconstitutional for the state to enforce such covenants.

1949

Federal Housing Act passes, which would fund hundreds of urban renewal and 'slum clearance' projects.

1956

Federal Aid Highway Act passes, funding the construction of highways across the nation, often at the direct expense and destruction of communities of color.

1968

Federal Fair Housing Act passes, banning housing discrimination nationally.

1986

 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program  created, providing tax breaks for developers of low-income housing. The ‘Qualified Census Tract Bonus’ gave a larger tax credit for developing in already low-income areas or those in ‘Difficult Development Areas’. The result was that low-income housing became concentrated and segregated from the areas with good schools, jobs, and resources.

1988

 NAACP sues the Boston Housing Authority (BHA)    for keeping public housing segregated through site-specific waitlists that discouraged people of color from applying to public housing in White neighborhoods.

2006

Data Collection Bill passes, requiring state and federal public housing to collect demographic data from tenants.


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Resources

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Further Reading / Listening

Interactive Web Resources

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Reports

Results from the Boston Foundation's 2020 investigation into housing discrimination in Boston. "Did not contact" indicates that the housing provider never replied to the tester, while "ghosted" indicates that the housing provider cut off contact abruptly after initial contact was established. Source:  Qualified Renters Need Not Apply  (2020).