Abstract
Historically, overt discriminatory practices in the housing market worked against neighborhood racial integration. Theoretically, changes in home mortgage lending, which offer more lending opportunities to previously underserved populations and areas should reduce levels of residential segregation. Differential access to lending continues to exist in that certain forms of lending disproportionately contribute to increased black homeownership. This study evaluates the link between homeownership among blacks and changes in residential segregation during the 1990s. Using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 1992 through 1999 and the 1990 and 2000 Census data, OLS models test for the effects of lending, ecological, economic, and population characteristics on changing segregation patterns in some MSAs during the 1990s. Findings suggest that changes in lending to black homebuyers facilitated declines in segregation experienced during the 1990s. The increased share of mortgage loans received by blacks contributed to black homeownership and decreased segregation levels in MSAs with significant black populations. However, segregation seems to persist, in part, because of continuing disparities in lending.
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