Federal Housing Administration Policies and Redlining (1934–1970)

1. HOLC begins creating “Residential Security” maps

   Jan 1, 1933Labels: Home Owners'

   As part of New Deal efforts to stabilize housing markets during the Great Depression, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) produced color-coded neighborhood “Residential Security” maps. These maps graded areas for perceived lending risk and later became closely associated with “redlining,” the practice of denying or limiting credit in certain neighborhoods. The mapping work helped turn local racial and class bias into a standardized system used by many lenders and appraisers.

   • FRASER NARA
   • NatGeo

2. National Housing Act creates the FHA

   Jun 27, 1934Labels: Federal Housing

   President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Housing Act, creating the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The FHA’s mortgage insurance helped standardize long-term home loans and expand access to credit, giving the federal government major influence over how neighborhoods were financed. That influence would later reinforce segregation when underwriting guidance treated racial mixing as a financial risk.

   • NARA FHA
   • Congress CRS

3. FHA issues underwriting manual with segregation criteria

   Feb 1, 1938Labels: FHA Underwriting

   The FHA published its Underwriting Manual to guide how staff evaluated whether mortgages qualified for FHA insurance. The manual explicitly treated neighborhood “stability” as tied to keeping the same “racial classes,” encouraging segregation as a way to protect property values. This guidance helped steer federally backed mortgage credit toward white neighborhoods and away from racially mixed or non-white neighborhoods.

   • HUD USER
   • BillRights

4. FHA moves under the Federal Loan Agency

   Jul 1, 1939Labels: Federal Loan

   A federal reorganization moved the FHA into the Federal Loan Agency. While this change did not end discriminatory underwriting practices, it shows how mortgage insurance became part of a larger federal lending and finance structure. That structure increased the reach and staying power of federally supported housing finance rules.

   • NARA FHA

5. FHA removes explicit “racial groups” language from manual

   Jan 1, 1948Labels: Federal Housing

   After World War II, the FHA began revising its printed guidance, including dropping some explicit references to “inharmonious racial groups” from underwriting criteria. However, changing published standards did not automatically change on-the-ground practices by appraisers, lenders, and real estate professionals. Segregation and unequal credit access often continued through routine decisions and local market norms.

   • HUD USER
   • Essay PDF

6. Supreme Court limits enforcement of restrictive covenants

   May 3, 1948Labels: Shelley v

   In Shelley v. Kraemer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state courts could not enforce racially restrictive housing covenants. This decision made covenants harder to use in practice, but it did not automatically undo segregation patterns already built into lending and real estate markets. Discriminatory financing could still occur through appraisal and underwriting practices.

   • Justia
   • Shelley

7. Housing Act of 1949 expands federal role in cities

   Jul 15, 1949Labels: Housing Act

   President Harry S. Truman signed the Housing Act of 1949, establishing a national goal of “a decent home” and boosting federal support for slum clearance and redevelopment (urban renewal). These programs often reshaped urban neighborhoods through demolition and rebuilding, frequently displacing Black residents while access to suburban homeownership remained unequal. The result was often a widening gap between suburban wealth building and urban disinvestment.

   • Truman Lib
   • HousingAct49

8. FHA stops advocating restrictive covenants (policy shift)

   Jan 1, 1950Labels: Federal Housing

   By the early 1950s, the FHA no longer promoted racially restrictive covenants as a recommended tool for “stability.” This was an important policy shift on paper, but it came after years in which federally supported mortgage finance helped build segregated housing patterns. Many minority families still faced barriers to FHA-backed homeownership through other mechanisms such as neighborhood “risk” ratings and discriminatory practices in the private market.

   • Essay PDF

9. Civil Rights Act of 1957 creates a federal fact-finding commission

   Sep 9, 1957Labels: U S

   The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as an independent, bipartisan fact-finding agency. Its investigations and reports helped document discrimination, including in areas affecting housing and access to opportunity. This added federal capacity to study civil rights problems even when enforcement tools were limited.

   • USCCR

10. Kennedy issues Executive Order 11063 on housing discrimination

    Nov 20, 1962Labels: Executive Order

    President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 11063, which barred discrimination in certain housing connected to federal assistance. The order aimed to keep federal money from supporting segregated housing practices. Its impact was constrained because it applied mainly to federally assisted housing and depended heavily on administrative enforcement.

    • NARA EO11063
    • Presidency

11. Department of Housing and Urban Development becomes a cabinet agency

    Sep 9, 1965Labels: Department of

    Congress created the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), bringing major housing programs— including the FHA—under a cabinet-level department. This reorganization centralized federal housing policy and enforcement responsibilities. It also set the stage for later federal actions on fair housing by giving housing programs a dedicated department to oversee them.

    • Congress gov
    • NARA HUD

12. Kerner Commission highlights segregation and unequal housing

    Feb 29, 1968Labels: Kerner Commission

    The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) released its final report after major urban uprisings in 1967. The report warned the United States was becoming “separate and unequal,” pointing to segregation and unequal opportunity as central problems. This public diagnosis reinforced the idea that housing policy and neighborhood conditions were not just local issues, but national civil rights concerns.

    • Berkeley
    • HNN

13. Fair Housing Act bans housing discrimination nationwide

    Apr 11, 1968Labels: Fair Housing

    President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, including Title VIII, commonly called the Fair Housing Act. The law made it illegal to refuse to sell or rent, or to discriminate in terms, because of race, color, religion, or national origin. It marked a major federal break from earlier eras when housing markets and federal policy often tolerated or reinforced segregation, though enforcement and outcomes would remain uneven.

    • HUD User
    • CivilRights68

14. HUD documentation marks the end of the 1934–1970 FHA era

    Jan 1, 1970Labels: FHA archival

    By 1970, federal record-keeping for the FHA’s early era is commonly grouped as covering 1930–1970, reflecting a long period when federal housing finance practices shaped neighborhood investment patterns. This archival boundary highlights that the core redlining and segregation-linked policy era is treated as a distinct historical phase. Later fair housing enforcement would develop in a landscape already structured by decades of unequal credit access.

    • NARA FHA