THE GEOGRAPHY OF OPPORTUNITY IN MASSACHUSETTS

What Does It Mean and How Did We Get Here?February 26, 2009

Harvard Law School

Cambridge, MA

Andrew Grant-Thomas

Deputy Director

The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity

The Ohio State University

Grant-Thomas.1@osu.edu

Presented by The Boston Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society and the Racial Justice Program of the American Civil Liberties Union

Comprehensive Opportunity Map: Greater Boston

Winchester

English

Section 3Two Schools, Two Sets of

Opportunity

English High School Neighborhoods: Families

w/ Kids in Poverty 24% Schools: Math Proficiency

Rate 37% Schools: Reading

Proficiency Rate 31% Schools: Economically

Disadvantaged Students 69%

96% Non-White

Winchester High School

Neighborhood: Families w/ Kids in Poverty 4%

Schools: Math Proficiency Rate 96%

Schools: Reading Proficiency Rate 96%

Schools: Economically Disadvantaged Students 1.6%

5% of students Non-White

Access to Opportunity: Race

55

Whoa!

Three Big WHY’s

1. Why racial segregation?

2. Why segregation of opportunity?

3. Why the correspondence between racial and opportunity segregation?

Section 1

1. Is It about Racial Differences in Income?

2006: White households had a median income of $51,700; Black households, $32,100.

BUT affordability alone does a poor job in explaining segregation

in 80% of the metro’s cities and towns, African-American and Latino homebuyers are purchasing at less than half the rate we would expect based on affordability alone. Source: David J. Harris and Nancy McArdle, More than Money: The Spatial

Mismatch Between Where Homeowners of Color in Metro Boston Can Afford to Live and Where They Actually Reside

2. Differences in Racial “Tastes” for Residential Diversity

(Preferences)? Blacks and Hispanics most

prefer neighborhoods that are fully integrated, with a 50-50 ratio of whites to their own racial or ethnic

In contrast, whites’ preferences for integration wane as integration approaches the 50-50 ratio.

White support for Hispanic integration is comparatively strong

• White support for integration declines sharply as the black population approaches 30 percent, and more precipitously as neighborhoods become fully integrated with blacks.

Source: Tara D. Jackson, The Imprint of Preferences and Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: A Window into Contemporary Residential Segregation Patterns in the Greater Boston Area

What Drives Fears of Greater Diversity?

For African Americans History of racial antagonism and conflict Not mainly about strong allegiance to

black neighborhoods Or about wanting kids to go to “black

schools”

For Whites Traditional racial prejudices and a desire

to isolate themselves from Blacks? Because of negative associations —crime

and poor schools—with neighborhoods where Blacks live?

3. Is It about Housing Market Discrimination?

• 2005-6: Banks and mortgage offices. Home buyers of color disadvantaged in nine of the twenty matched paired tests conducted (45%)

Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston Testing

• 2004-5: Real estate offices of large chain realtors in 14 cities and towns across the greater Boston region. Differences in treatment disadvantaged homebuyers of color in 17 of the 36 tests (47%)

• 2001: Greater Boston rental market. Families with children, African-Americans and Section 8 subsidy holders all discriminated against in at least half of their attempts to find housing.

Discrimination in Greater Boston: Mortgage

Lending

An African American tester with a good credit score of 670 visited a bank to inquire about a mortgage. She was told that the closing fee would be $8,000 to $9,000, although other tests in this investigation indicated that average closing fee was $2,000-$3,000. The bank representative also told her that her credit score of 670 was below average; other tests indicated that credit score of 670 was well above average. Finally, the bank representative told her that the bank usually dealt with commercial lending, and did not really provide residential mortgages. In contrast, the white tester with a credit score of 640 who visited the same bank was told by two different loan officers that the bank provided home mortgage loans, and was not told that her credit score was below average.

Discrimination in Greater Boston: Mortgage

Lending

A Latino tester with a credit score of 670 and a white tester with a credit score of 640 visited a mortgage lending company. The lender provided both with quotes on monthly payments, and the Latino loan seeker’s quote was $254 per month more than the white loan seeker’s quote for a 30 year fixed loan, and $140 per month more for a blended loan. The lender also told the Latino loan seeker that she would need private mortgage insurance (PMI), which would cost $309 per month. The lender did not bring up PMI to the white loan seeker. The lender did tell the white loan seeker about how to get a better loan product when your credit score is under 680, but did not discuss this with the Latino loan seeker, whose score was also below 680. Finally, the white loan seeker was given informational literature about different loan products and loan process, and received a follow up email from the lender. The Latino loan seeker did not receive any literature or follow up email.

4. Role of Federal, State and Local Policies Esp. in Creating/Maintaining

Homogeneous Suburbs Whites as a Percentage of City and Suburban Populations, 1980-2000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1980 1990 2000

per

cen

t

Boston City

Boston Suburbs

Source: Mumford Center

Public Schools Become More White, Less Black/Latino with Distance

from the City Enrollment and Racial Composition of

Public Schools by Location and Race, 2001-02

White

(%)

Black

(%)

Latino

(%)

Asian

(%)

RegionalShare of Total

Enrollment (%)

City of Boston 15 47 28 9 8

Inner Satellite Cities

47 22 22 8 9

Outer Satellite Cities

55 8 28 9 13

Inner Suburbs 82 5 4 9 11

Outer Suburbs 91 2 3 3 59

Total Enrollment 76 9 10 5 100

Source: Chungmei Lee, “Racial Segregation and Educational Outcomes in Metro Boston”

Route 128: Boston’s Road to Segregation*

*Report by MA Commission Against Discrimination and the MA Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights

1. Routes 128, 495 massive suburbanization“The Federal Government Funds Exclusion” (e.g., 1974 Housing & Community Development Act)“Suburban Public Officials Often Act to Bar Equal Opportunity”Exclusionary Zoning and Multi-Family Restrictions“The New England Town Structure Is an Obstacle to Equal Opportunity”

Why is This History Important?

1. Because a number of the same mechanisms remain in place

2. Because “initial conditions” matter Whites in metro Boston similarly express

openness toward some level of integration. About 78% of whites report that they would remain in a formerly all white neighborhood that becomes 50 percent black or Latino.

Almost half (48%) of whites say they would be willing to move into a neighborhood that is half Latino, and 42% say they would be willing to move into a neighborhood that is half black.

Source: Tara D. Jackson, The Imprint of Preferences and Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: A Window into Contemporary Residential Segregation Patterns in the Greater Boston Area

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