Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
REDLINING
REDLINING. In 1933 the federal government created the Home Owners' Loan Corporation to refinance urban houses after the GREAT DEPRESSION. The corporation created a system of rating neighborhoods for investment based on the socioeconomic class of residents, types of homes, whether residents were mainly property owners or renters, and the race of the residents.
Redlining was the practice of denying a renter a loan on the basis of race who would otherwise be eligible for the loan according to the Federal Reserve Fair Housing Act. In 1940 the Telegraph Herald published a map showing nearly all of downtown Dubuque rated poorly. The federal policy greatly hindered minorities until it was outlawed by the Fair Housing Act in 1968.
In 2019 the City of Dubuque began a tax-abatement program for homeowners by which they would be exempt from property tax increases they made to their properties. The city's action may have disqualified it for a state program proposed in March, 2021. As it was written, the provisions of the bill would only apply to urban revitalization districts created after July 1, 2021.
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Source:
Fisher, Benjamin, "Officials Doubt Iowa Redlining Bill Will Have Local Impact," Telegraph Herald, March 24, 2021, p. 1A