Housing in Black and White: Patterns of Segregation in American Housing Markets

摘要

Although the 1960's produced changes that should have improved neighborhood integration dramatically, the author of this report concludes that, in fact, most housing markets experienced increased segregation. Despite fair housing laws, improvements in the income and education of blacks, and lessening prejudice, in 1974 higher concentrations of blacks lived in inner cities, only 12 percent of whites and 14 percent of blacks lived in residentially integrated neighborhoods, and the proportion of segregated neighborhoods grew. the report presents statistics that describe the segregation of urban households in 1960 and 1970; explores some of the factors that contribute to segregation by race; examines the characteristics of racially mixed neighborhoods in Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh; and projects trends related to neighborhood segregation. The author contends that the trends observed could not be attributed solely to differences in income, and cites several factors as having special importance: established housing patterns, subtle market discrimination, the difficulty of enforcing the early Federal housing laws and ordinances, and private prejudice that causes whites to move out of a neighborhood as blacks move in. Only a further increase in racial tolerance, she believes, will alter this pattern significantly. Appendixes to the report show the regional distribution of urban blacks and whites by proportion of blacks in a tract, actual and expected measures of segregation for individual SMSA's, and the impact of Spanish - American households on black - white measures of segregation by race. Twenty tables, 19 figures, and 27 references are also provided.