DE FACTO REDLINING A GEOGRAPHIC VIEW

Redlining is the practice of withholding mortgage credit from an entire neighborhood with the ultimate result that the neighborhood succumbs to deterioration. Social response to prevent disinvestment in urban neighborhoods has been through legal and legislative efforts. The efficacy of these actions remains in doubt. A theory of redlining is presented which focuses on factors that loan committees of financial institutions use when considering loan applications. These factors operate at different geographical scales and include creditworthiness of the applicant, value of the property for sale, quality and stability of neighborhood, and secondary mortgage market potential of the loan in the national market. De facto redlining is the consequence of a chain of decisions involving the housing market and mortgage institutions which may or may not be apparent to those involved. If creditworthiness and soundness of property are spatially correlated with race, housing age, or other inappropriate variables, a dynamic is created that geographically concentrates approved loans in certain neighborhoods to the detriment of others. The spatial variation of conventional mortgage loans in Ann Arbor and Flint, Michigan are evaluated for evidence of de facto redlining through the use of a path analysis of census tract data.