FHA Underwriting Manual, 1938

Primary source used to trace how housing policy encoded racialized exclusion into institutional standards.

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The heading, verbatim: “PROTECTION FROM ADVERSE INFLUENCES”, paragraph 932, which opens: “This feature has a total weight of 20 points, which indicates it is one of the most important features in the Rating of Location.”

Paragraph 935 (Natural Physical Protection): the protections described include “prevention of the infiltration of business and industrial uses, lower class occupancy, and inharmonious racial groups.”

Paragraph 937 (Quality of Neighboring Development), the instruction itself: “Areas surrounding a location are investigated to determine whether incompatible racial and social groups are present, for the purpose of making a prediction regarding the probability of the location being invaded by such groups. If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally contributes to instability and a decline in values.”

Paragraph numbering differs by edition: the 1936 manual carries this material at 226-228. A citation to “the 1938 manual” must use the 932-937 range.