Powerpoint accompanying a panel discussion on new research, commissioned by Cuyahoga PlaceMatters in partnership with The Kirwin Institute, that highlights the importance of historic real estate policies and their implications for Cuyahoga County's contemporary development issues, featuring Freddy L. Collier, Jr., Director of City Planning, City of Cleveland; Jason Reece, Director of Research, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University; and Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D., Co-Founder & Executive Director, National Collaborative for Health Equity. Rick Jackson of WCPN's Morning Edition moderated.

1. HISTORY MATTERS:
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF POLICY, RACE AND REAL ESTATE
IN TODAY’S GEOGRAPHY OF HEALTH EQUITY AND OPPORTUNITY
IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Presentation and Panel Discussion: The City Club of Cleveland
February 18th 2015 – Cleveland, OH
Jason Reece – Reece.35@osu.edu
Director of Research, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity
Lecturer, City & Regional Planning Program, Knowlton School of Architecture
The Ohio State University
In Collaboration with PlaceMatters Cuyahoga County.

2. HISTORY MATTERS: WHY LOOK
BACK BEFORE LOOKING
FORWARD?
“History doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme.” - Mark
Twain
Cleveland 1952 & 2014; From the Institute for Quality Communities: http://iqc.ou.edu/2014/12/12/60yrsmidwest/

3. HISTORY MATTERS: WHY LOOK
BACK BEFORE LOOKING
FORWARD?Legacy Concerns:
 The legacy and long term impacts of
development history on the built
environment and social fabric
Life Course Perspective:
 If we can look at a person’s health
through a longitudinal lens (the life
course perspective) – then why not
look at a neighborhoods through the
same lens of time?
Place Matters:
 How did places become opportunity
rich or opportunity poor?
Policy Matters:
 How did historical policy shape the
community we see today?

4. PLACE MATTERS: THE IMPORTANCE
OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
Understanding today’s
environmental landscape and
built environment requires
historical context
There were a number of
development practices and
policies which have shaped our
current built environment and
human settlement patterns
Today’s built environment is not
a “natural landscape” but is
influenced deeply by these
development practices
4

5. RACE MATTERS: UNDERSTANDING
OUR CONFLICTED HISTORY OF RACE,
CLASS & REAL ESTATE
Racial and social exclusion, and
exploitation were primary driving
forces in 20th century urban
development
When we look at today’s landscape
of inequality, we must understand
the historical drivers which created
this landscape
These factors have strongly
influenced current conditions are
have direct policy implications for
today
5

6. HISTORICAL DRIVERS OF RACIAL
SEGREGATION AND OPPORTUNITY
ISOLATION FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR
6
Racial
Segregation &
Opportunity
Isolation
Zoning & Land
Use Practices
Redlining &
Investment
Practices
Urban Renewal,
Public Housing &
Federal Highway
Policies
Explicit Racial
Discrimination &
Intimidation
Practices

7. FIRST RACIAL ZONING ORDINANCE IN
1910/1911 (BALTIMORE): USED PUBLIC HEALTH
LANGUAGE AS JUSTIFICATION)
"Blacks should be quarantined in
isolated slums in order to reduce the
incidents of civil disturbance, to
prevent the spread of communicable
disease into the nearby White
neighborhoods, and to protect
property values among the White
majority."
 Baltimore Mayor Bary Mahool, 1910
7

8. RACIAL ZONING,
EXPULSIVE ZONING,
EXCLUSIONARY ZONING
Zoning used to prevent certain populations
from living in a community
 Protect economic interests of communities
Great Migration and Urbanization
 Cleveland’s African American population grows
from 8,500 to 72,000 between 1910 and 1930
Racial Zoning was struck down in 1917, but the
racist character persisted
 Aggressive use of racially/ethnically restrictive
covenants
 Expulsive zoning: Undesirable land uses targeted to
low income and or racial/ethnic communities
 Use of zoning to restrict specific housing types
Village of Euclid, Ohio v Ambler Realty Co
 Zoning Practices Spread
Missouri Racial Zoning Campaign
Advertisement
8

9. RACIAL COVENANTS
Covenant is a contract imposed on
the deed of a buyer of property
Mutual agreements between
property owners that prevented sale
to certain people based on race
Became common after 1926-
Corrigan vs Buckley- Affirmed the
right of private individuals to
impose covenants
Reflected the rise of the KKK and
the suburban boom of the 1920s
Maintained racial segregation
9

10. COVENANTS IN OHIO & CLEVELAND
Covenants were prolific throughout
Ohio’s major urban areas
 A study of Columbus developments from
1921 to 1935 found 67 of 101 (or 67% of
all) subdivisions platted & developed
during this time to included restrictive
convents
In Cleveland, According to an
NAACP branch report:
 By 1914 Cleveland housing exhibited “a
noticeable tendency toward inserting
clauses in real estate deeds restricting
the transfer of the property to colored
people, Jews, and foreigners generally.”
 Source: African Americans and the Color 10

11. COVENANTS IN CLEVELAND
Case Study: Shaker Heights & Forest Hill
 “surroundings ... where your neighbors are
inevitably people of tastes in common with yours
.... The careful restrictions placed on Forest Hill
today will never be lowered.”
 Advertisement by Abeyton Realty, developer of the Forest Hill
allotment in Cleveland Heights1929
Covenants in Shaker Heights and Forest Hill often did
not specify racial restrictions, but required the consent
of the developer and neighbors to sell
Shaker Heights neighborhood associations and
developers aggressively pushed convents
 “ever-present menace to every resident of
Shaker Village and throughout Cleveland....
Unless a street is 100% signed up for
restrictions, ... the danger of an undesirable
neighbor is an ever-present one.”
 Shaker Heights Protective Association 1925
Deferring Dreams: Racial and Religious Covenants in Shaker
Heights,
Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland, 1925 to 1970. By
Marian Morton
11

12. A NUMBER OF FEDERAL POLICIES
WOULD RADICALLY RESHAPE
URBAN AMERICAThe Build Out of Suburbia
The FHA and the creation of the standard
mortgage 1934
The GI Bill 1944
Federal Highway Act 1953
Infrastructure Subsidizes for New Suburbs
The Demolition of Urban Areas
Urban Renewal 1949
High rise public housing
Berman v Parker (1954): Justification of
using eminent domain for blight
removal
Federal Highway Act 1953
12

13. SUBURBAN GROWTH & RACE
New developments restricted to
communities of color & African
American communities redlined
In the prime suburb-shaping years
(1930-1960)
 Less than one-percent of all African Americans
were able to obtain a mortgage
 In Cleveland African Americans were primarily
excluded to Hough, Glenville, Mount Pleasant and
Central during this time
Formation of “White” America
 Suburbia becomes the first space in which White
ethnic identities dissolve
“If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is
necessary that properties shall continue
to be occupied by the same social and
racial classes. A change in social or
racial occupancy generally contributes
to instability and a decline in values.”
–Excerpt from the 1947 FHA
underwriting manual
13

14. CRISIS, RESILIENCY & PROGRESS
FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
Hough Civil Disorder
Bombings Targeting Integrationists
Federal Fair Housing Act
School Desegregation Efforts
Ludlow Community Association
Heights Community Congress
Advocacy Planning Era
Rise of the CDC Sector
Land Bank
Cuyahoga Plan of Ohio
Protestors seek to block Stephen Howe
School Construction in 1964.

15. REDLINED: SANCTIONED
DISINVESTMENT
Redlining, Race &
Cleveland’s
Development

16. REDLINING: 1930’S TO 1970
The FHA explicitly practiced a policy of “redlining” when
determining which neighborhoods to approve mortgages
in. Redlining is the practice of denying or limiting financial
services to certain neighborhoods based on racial or ethnic
composition without regard to the residents’ qualifications
or creditworthiness. The term “redlining” refers to the
practice of using a red line on a map to delineate the area
where financial institutions would not invest.
- The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston
This American Life, Nov 22, 2013
- “House Rules” (listen to 20:17-25:00) 16

17. 17

18. HOLC NEIGHBORHOOD
ASSESSMENTS
18

19. 1940 HOLCMap
SecurityRatings
A
B
C
D
Industrial
19

20. UNDERSTANDING THE
IMPACT ON
NEIGHBORHOODS & RACIAL
EQUITY
Redlining
Disinvestment
Housing Decline
Predatory Lending
Property Value Loss
Asset Wealth Loss,
Dwindling Tax Base
Foreclosure &
Vacancy
Crime & Safety,
Health Problems
“Million Dollar Blocks”
Infant Mortality, LBW
Asthma
Lead
Diabetes
Racial Wealth Gap
City Services and Maintenance 20

21. Where do African Americans
live in Cleveland Today?
1940 HOLCMap
SecurityRatings
A
B
C
D
Industrial
2011 Population
%African American
61%- 100%
41%- 60%
21%- 40%
11%- 20%
0%- 10%
21

22. Which
Neighborhoods
Received the Most
High-Cost Mortgage
Loans?
High-Cost Loan Rate
60.1%- 81.4%
40.1%- 60%
20.1%- 40%
0%- 20%
1940 HOLCMap
SecurityRatings
A
B
C
D
Industrial
22
15.4%
24.0%
35.2%
54.1%
14.7%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
A B C D Not Rated in 1940
Housing Indicators by 1940 HOLC Rating
High-Cost Rate Foreclosure Rate Vacancy Rate

23. Total Release (lbs)
930,240 - 3,387,639
435,528 - 930,239
88,419 - 435,527
0 - 88,418
1940 HOLCMap
SecurityRatings
A
B
C
D
Industrial
Where is Toxic Release
Concentrated in
Cleveland?
23

24. REDLINING & LEAD
POISONING

25. Infant Deaths/ 1000
29.3 - 95.7
15.1 - 29.2
6.0 - 15.0
0.0 - 5.9
1940 HOLCMap
SecurityRatings
A
B
C
D
Industrial
Which
Neighborhoods
Experience the
Highest Rates of
Infant Mortality?
25
0.0000
2.0000
4.0000
6.0000
8.0000
10.0000
12.0000
14.0000
[A-green] [A/B] [B-blue] [B/C] [C-yellow] [C/D] [D-red] Not Rated
Infant Mortality Rate Neonatal Mortality Rate Post-Neonatal Mortality Rate

26. REDLINING & INFANT MORTALITY
HOT SPOTS (DENSEST
CONCENTRATIONS OF INFANT
DEATHS)

27. WHAT SHOULD WE LEARN FROM
THIS HISTORY
Values influence policy. Value infused policies shape systems, which
either help to produce prosperity for all or create barriers to opportunity
for some.
Historical policies have long-term, residual implications that need to be
taken into account when designing solutions for today.
There is nothing “natural” about today’s challenges, nor are they
unsolvable. Significant change can begin through coordinated efforts
focused on fidelity to principles of equity and inclusion.
27

28. THANK YOU &
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
KIRWANINSTITUTE.OSU.EDU
Kirwan Institute & OSU City &
Regional Planning Team
Jason Reece, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race &
Ethnicity
Matt Martin, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race &
Ethnicity
Joshua Bates, City & Regional Planning Program, KSA
Amanda Golden, City & Regional Planning Program, KSA
Kelsey, Mailman, City & Regional Planning Program, KSA
Ronni Nimps, City & Regional Planning Program, KSA
The Cuyahoga County
PlaceMatters Team
Michele Benko, Program Manager, Wellness and Prevention, Cuyahoga County
Board of Health
Sandra Byrd Chappelle, Founder and Principal, Strategic Solutions Partners,
LLC
Gregory L. Brown, Executive Director, PolicyBridge, Inc.
Daniel Calloway
Shakyra Diaz, Policy Manager, ACLU of Ohio
Marka Fields, Chief City Planner, City of Cleveland
Kim Foreman, Interim Executive Director, Environmental Health Watch
Vedette Gavin, Director of Community Engagement,, Case Center for
Reducing Health Disparities
Martha Halko, Deputy Director, Prevention and Wellness, Cuyahoga County
Board of Health
Sabrina L. Roberts
http://kirwan.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=23e4692987af425897779dd90bab2c5a&webmap=1bdbc65d84ef4457a3