Full Citation

Title: Associations among Historical Neighborhood Disinvestment, Hazardous Air Pollutants, and Current Adult Asthma Prevalence

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN: 15529924

DOI: 10.1289/EHP11371

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID: 36946585

Abstract: Structural racism manifests through systematic neighborhood disin-vestment in local infrastructure where racial and ethnic minorities re-side,1leading to a disproportionate burden of environmental pollutionand associated respiratory health hazards.2A former federal agency,the Home Owners’Loan Corporation (HOLC, established in 1933),codified neighborhood disinvestment across the United States. Usinga grading system, HOLC appraisers assessed perceived mortgage se-curity risk of a neighborhood’s residents defaulting on their homeloans.3Riskier grades were consistently assigned to neighborhoodswith high concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities, whomfinan-cial institutions perceived as“undesirable”recipients of home loans.3The legacy of this system is often referred to as“redlining,”atermbased on the red color assigned to the highest-risk neighborhoods onmaps used by agencies and organizations involved in real estate lawsand lending. We hypothesized that neighborhoods with historically(c. 1933) higher-risk HOLC grades have worse contemporary respira-tory health than neighborhoods with lower-risk HOLC grades.Current residents of historically disinvested neighborhoods mayexperience an increased prevalence of asthma through past land-use patterns that led to worse environmental quality, such as lessgreen space or higher air pollution.

Url: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/epdf/10.1289/EHP11371

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Campbell, Erin J.; Sims, Kendra D.; Hill, Elaine L.; Willis, Mary D.

Periodical (Full): Environmental health perspectives

Issue: 3

Volume: 131

Pages: 1-4

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Housing and Segregation, Race and Ethnicity

Countries: