An official website of the Repairing historic and ongoing harm
Minnesota and the seven-county region have a long and ongoing history of discrimination and displacement of Black, American Indian, and other communities of color. American Indian communities have been forcibly removed from this region’s land through genocide, broken treaties, and other exclusionary policies. Violent removal by the U.S. government displaced American Indian Tribes across the nation, state, and region. This resulted in harmful impacts and erasure still present today.
A large cause of displacement has been the use of housing policies and practices by local governments, residents, and institutions as formal and informal methods to keep communities white and/or homogeneous and create economic opportunities for white residents while perpetuating exclusion of communities of color. Throughout the 20th century, racial or ethnic restrictions on housing deeds, redlining, discriminatory lending practices, and destruction of communities due to highway construction were among the practices, policies, and urban planning decisions that prevented Black, Indigenous, and people of color from purchasing homes, building generational wealth, and living in areas of investment.
Historically, communities throughout the region were redlined, which prevented access to homeownership finance and generational wealth-building opportunities for nonwhite residents. This furthered neighborhood segregation. Many inequitable economic, social, environmental, geographic, and health impacts of redlining are still evident today.
Median home values differ in redlined and greenlined areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul
Source: Redlined and greenlined areas map: University of Richmond Digital Scholarship Lab, Mapping Inequity project. "Greenlined” areas refer to the areas given the “best” (Grade A) rating by the Homeowner Loan Corporation (HOLC), and “redlined” areas refer to the areas given the “hazardous” (Grade D) rating by HOLC. The parcel data comes from the Metro Regional Parcel dataset which is updated quarterly from the seven-county parcel data. In Saint Paul, the 2023 median home value for greenlined areas (Grade A) is $468,202.59, and the median home value for redlined areas (Grade D) is $257,743.82. In Minneapolis, the median home value for greenlined areas (Grade A) is $573,101.50, and the median home value for redlined areas (Grade D) is $262,576.35 for 2023.
Today, formerly redlined areas often still have lower home values,84 lower rates of tree cover,85 reduced access to green space,86 and higher amounts of air pollution.87 People of color continue to suffer from the compounded effects of exclusion that are visible through interrelated health and wealth disparities. For example, exclusionary policies and disinvestment, like redlining, have led to the individuals living in those areas having higher rates of asthma,88 disparities in life expectancy,89 and increased exposure to extreme heat – having an especially harmful impact on communities of color.90
Due to the racial wealth gap in the region, Black, American Indian, and people of color face greater barriers in moving into in-demand neighborhoods with high quality schools, increased access to amenities, higher property values, and spaces that promote healthy living. Although redlining maps focus on areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, similar disparities can be seen in suburban areas due to the history of racial covenants across the region.91 Racial covenants were clauses placed in property deeds to prevent people from buying, occupying, and renting property.92 This method of discrimination contributed to the generational wealth gap and benefited white households.
The construction of highways in the region, notably I-94 and I-35, disproportionately and intentionally destroyed cultural connections, communities, and homes. The destruction of these communities was a mass displacement event, forcing households to relocate, severing well-established connections in the community, and reducing access to homeownership opportunities.
Racial covenants are no longer enforceable. Redlining is now prohibited. And highways have been constructed. However, the legacy of these racist policies has lasted decades, perpetuating exclusion and discrimination for generations of residents. As a result of these housing and planning policies, Minnesota residents of color continue to face pressures of displacement in the form of gentrification. The cumulative impacts for the region’s Black and American Indian households will need to be intentionally addressed to reduce inequities present today.
84. Brookings. (September 2021). Rashawn, R., Perry, A., Harshbarger, D., Elizondo, S., and Alexander Gibbons. Homeownership, racial segregation, and policy solutions to racial wealth equity. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/homeownership-racial-segregation-and-policies-for-racial-wealth-equity/
85. University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. (n.d.). Hoffman, J.S. Hotter, Wetter, sneezier, & wheezier: Present-day environmental disparity among HOLC neighborhoods. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/environment
86. Eatchel, R. (Oct. 31, 2023). Beyond the lines: Comparing redlining’s and greenlining’s lasting legacy in the Twin Cities land values, urban heat islands, and environmental quality. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/77c9c60210c345239ddfb86522202f47
87. Lane, H., Morello-Frosch, R., Marshall, J., and Joshua Apte. (2022). Historical redlining Is associated with present-day air pollution disparities in U.S. cities. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c01012
88. University of Richmond’s Mapping inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. (n.d.). Meier, H. Redlining and health. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/health
89. National Center for Health Statistics. Life expectancy at birth for U.S. states and census tracts, 2010-2015. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-visualization/life-expectancy/index.html
90. Our Minnesota Climate. Disproportionate heat risks for communities of color. https://climate.state.mn.us/disproportionate-heat-risks
91. University of Minnesota Libraries. (2022). Mapping prejudice. Racial covenants across the region. https://mappingprejudice.umn.edu/racial-covenants/maps-data
92. Eatchel, R. (Oct. 31, 2023). https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/77c9c60210c345239ddfb86522202f47
