Fishback, Rose, Snowden and Storrs, New Evidence on Redlining by Federal Housing Programs in the 1930s

Working paper that, in its own words, uses “loan-level data on the activities of each” of the HOLC and the FHA. NBER wording, quoted as printed: “The FHA’s exclusionary pattern predates the advent of the infamous maps later made by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) and shows little change after the drafting of those maps. In contrast, the HOLC itself broadly loaned to such neighborhoods and to Black homeowners.” And: “We conclude that the HOLC’s redlining maps had little effect on the geographic distribution of either program’s mortgage market activity.” The data cover three municipal areas: Baltimore City, Maryland; Peoria, Illinois; and Greensboro, North Carolina. Its footnote 1: “Whether there was discrimination against Black mortgage applicants by the HOLC is a separate and more difficult question that we do not tackle.” Read on September 30, 2026.