3 Residential Segregation and Its Legacy

How segregation took shape

Residential segregation is the unequal separation of people among neighborhoods, often by race, ethnicity, or income. In the United States, it was shaped not only by individual choices but also by laws, public programs, and private practices that restricted where people could live and where investment flowed. These forces reinforced one another over time, affecting access to housing, wealth, schools, jobs, and other opportunities.

Migration and direct restrictions

During the Great Migration, millions of Black Americans moved from the rural South to cities elsewhere in the country. Many encountered violence, discriminatory real-estate practices, and restrictive covenants that confined them to particular neighborhoods. Some cities also enacted racial zoning, explicitly assigning areas by race.

In Buchanan v. Warley (1917), the Supreme Court struck down a Louisville ordinance that restricted people from occupying homes on blocks based on the occupants’ race. The ruling did not end segregation: restrictive covenants, lending practices, land-use rules, and other means continued to restrict access to neighborhoods.

Federal programs, lending, and displacement

In the 1930s, federal housing and lending programs helped determine which neighborhoods were considered safe investments. Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps graded neighborhoods by perceived mortgage risk. Areas with Black residents and other communities of color were often assigned the lowest grades, reflecting and formalizing racist assumptions already present in housing markets.

Federal mortgage-insurance practices also restricted access to loans in many Black neighborhoods. After the war, housing and suburban programs often gave white households greater access to homeownership and new suburban developments. Redlining was one part of a broader system, not a single policy that explains every neighborhood’s history.

Public housing was often built and operated along racial lines. Urban-renewal projects displaced many Black residents from neighborhoods targeted for redevelopment; relocation frequently sent people into already segregated areas. Highways and other infrastructure sometimes cut through established communities and weakened connections to jobs and services.

Zoning and access to opportunity

Zoning determines what can be built and where. It can protect health and safety, but some zoning rules also restrict access to high-opportunity communities. Examples include allowing only detached, single-family homes, requiring large lots, and setting minimum home sizes. Such rules limit the construction of apartments and other relatively lower-cost homes.

When these restrictions are concentrated in communities with strong schools, jobs, transit, or public services, they can make those opportunities harder to reach for lower-income households and contribute to separation by race and income. For example, a suburb may have good access to jobs and well-resourced schools, but zoning that permits only large-lot houses can leave few homes affordable to renters or first-time buyers. A rule need not mention race to preserve economic and racial exclusion when housing costs and past discrimination have already limited who can buy there. Research finds an association between restrictive zoning, reduced affordable-housing access, and segregation, though local effects vary.

Housing discrimination and legal protection

Discrimination can persist in individual housing transactions. A landlord or real-estate agent might provide different information to prospective renters, steer people toward or away from particular neighborhoods, or unfairly deny housing.

The Fair Housing Act, enacted in 1968, prohibits housing discrimination based on protected characteristics including race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Its passage established an important legal protection, but it did not automatically undo existing patterns or eliminate all discriminatory practices.

The enduring effects of segregation

Segregation shapes opportunity through both household resources and neighborhood conditions. When discrimination limits access to homeownership, families can lose opportunities to build and pass on wealth. When neighborhoods receive less investment or have fewer services, residents may face additional barriers to education, employment, transportation, and good health.

These outcomes are not inevitable features of particular communities; they reflect the effects of policy and investment decisions over time. Understanding this history helps explain why apparently neutral rules can have unequal consequences. It also cautions against attributing segregation to personal preference alone: housing choices are made within markets and systems shaped by past and present constraints.

• exclusionary zoning