Housing

About

The Housing dimension is constructed using two indicators: the Home-Mortgage Loan Denial Gap and the Homeownership Gap, which capture racial disparities in access to housing finance and homeownership. These indicators reflect unequal treatment within housing and lending markets that has persisted despite formal anti-discrimination policies. Housing is a critical pathway through which racial inequality is produced and maintained, shaping residential stability, wealth accumulation, and long-term socioeconomic opportunity across places.

Why is the Housing Important to the Structural Racism and Discrimination (SRD) Index?

Housing is a central mechanism through which structural racism and discrimination shape long-term racial inequality1,2,3. Discriminatory lending practices, unequal access to mortgage credit, and barriers to homeownership have historically limited wealth accumulation for Black households while reinforcing racial gaps in housing stability and quality4,5,6. These disparities are not explained by individual characteristics alone, but reflect systemic differences in access to financial institutions and housing markets5.

Housing inequality also interacts with other dimensions of structural racism captured in the SRD Index. Lower rates of homeownership and higher mortgage denial rates are closely linked to residential segregation, concentrated poverty, reduced access to quality schools and services, and heightened exposure to environmental and health risks7,8,9. As a result, housing serves as a foundational pathway through which discrimination becomes embedded in place-based and intergenerational inequalities.

How is the Housing Calculated?

The Housing dimension is calculated using two indicators: Home-Mortgage Loan Denial Gap and Homeownership Gap. Each indicator is first computed as a housing gap measure and then standardized to ensure comparability across counties.

STEP 1: Indicator standardization

The home-mortgage loan denial gap and homeownership gap indicators are converted into Z scores after adjusting for outliers using top and bottom coding, following the SRD Index methodology.

STEP 2: Reversing the Z-Scores

The Z-scores for both indicators were not reversed. A higher Z-scores for the home mortgage loan denial gap and the homeownership gap contributes to a higher value or score of the SRD index.

STEP 3: Dimension score calculation

The Housing Z score is calculated by taking the average of the two indicator Z scores:

Housing Z score = (Z3 + Z4) / 2

where Z3 represents home-mortgage loan denial gap and Z4 represents homeownership gap

STEP 4: Ranking

The Housing Z scores are then converted into rank scores, where a higher score indicates a greater impact of racism and discrimination within this dimension.

References

  1. Gee, G. C., & Hicken, M. T. (2021). Structural racism: the rules and relations of inequity. Ethnicity & disease, 31(Suppl 1), 293.
  2. Blankenship, K. M., Rosenberg, A., Schlesinger, P., Groves, A. K., & Keene, D. E. (2023). Structural racism, the social determination of health, and health inequities: the intersecting impacts of housing and mass incarceration. American Journal of Public Health, 113(S1), S58-S64.
  3. Dickerson, A. M. (2020). Systemic racism and housing. Emory LJ, 70, 1535.
  4. Williams, A. P. (2015). Lending discrimination, the foreclosure crisis and the perpetuation of racial and ethnic disparities in homeownership in the US. Wm. & Mary Bus. L. Rev., 6, 601.
  5. Dymski, G. A. (2006). Discrimination in the credit and housing markets: findings and challenges. In Handbook on the Economics of Discrimination. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  6. Shapiro, T. M. (2006). Race, homeownership and wealth. Wash. UJL & Pol’y, 20, 53.
  7. Rauh, V. A., Landrigan, P. J., & Claudio, L. (2008). Housing and health: intersection of poverty and environmental exposures. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136(1), 276-288.
  8. Anderson, L. M., Charles, J. S., Fullilove, M. T., Scrimshaw, S. C., Fielding, J. E., Normand, J., & Task Force on Community Preventive Services. (2003). Providing affordable family housing and reducing residential segregation by income: a systematic review. American journal of preventive medicine, 24(3), 47-67.
  9. Orfield, M. (2005). Land use and housing policies to reduce concentrated poverty and racial segregation. Fordham Urb. LJ, 33, 877.