Redlining
A historical, federally sanctioned practice (begun by HOLC in the 1930s) of denying mortgages and investment to neighborhoods marked 'hazardous'—usually based on race. Today's most polluted zip codes correlate strongly with the old redlined maps.
Related terms
Home Owners' Loan Corporation A New Deal-era federal agency that produced the original color-coded redlining maps still used today to study how discriminatory housing policy shaped industrial siting. Industrial Siting The decision-making process that determines where new factories, refineries, landfills, or hazardous facilities get built. Historically these decisions concentrated polluters in low-income and minority neighborhoods. Environmental Justice The principle that all people, regardless of race or income, deserve equal protection from environmental hazards and equal access to a healthy environment. Disadvantaged Community A community designated by federal or state government as bearing a heavy combination of environmental, economic, and health burdens, qualifying it for targeted investment under programs like Justice40.