Suburbanization movement was one of the greatest movements that change the housing market of the United States. As more and more families move outside of the city, downtown concentration started to decline and the city was left with old and run down buildings. Although the movement of suburbanization was not completely caused by government actions, many government actions did facilitates the movement of decentralization.
At the beginning, U.S government didn’t want to interfere with the housing market, as the depression worsen, and with the huge foreclosure rate; U.S. government started several housing project that try to influence housing market. Two unsuccessful actions taken by government were Public Law 304 and the Greenbelt Town Program. Public Law 304 failed to provide loans to homeowners, and it made the housing condition even worse. While the Greenbelt Town Program also failed because of the huge construction cost. Two of the most influential innovations were the Home Owners Loan Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration.
The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) encouraged people to buy houses instead of renting or improving their current house. However it also indirectly causes the movement of the suburbanization. The HOLC successfully provided long-term mortgage to a lot of homeowners. The HOLC developed its own system of evaluating neighborhoods. “Socioeconomic characteristics of a neighborhood determined the value of housing to a much greater extent than did structural characteristics,” this concept is related to our last reading about the Great Migration. A neighborhood that’s occupied by colored people would decrease its housing value. Also when an African American family moved into a white neighborhood, this neighborhood would soon be completely occupied by African Americans. Most of the African Americans rented an apartment in the city, and I believe that part of the reason White people tend to move outward was that they wanted to be separate from those black people. The HOLC also tend to discriminate against those African American neighborhoods. They rated those neighborhoods as the “D” regions, which were viewed as hazardous and least desirable neighborhoods.
The Federal Housing Administration also shared the similar practices that discriminated against minority. “If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes”. Because of their effort trying to keep segregation between black and white populations, the FHA declined any loan request for neighborhoods with mixed ethnicity. It actually became harder for people to buy houses in the cities because more and more blacks were living in the cities.
It became much more easier for people to move outward. Cheap fuels, mass production of automobiles, and advanced interstate highway allowed people to escape their urban life and enjoy their own space in suburban area. People who lived in city for a long time tend to look for a life in the suburban because city had little room for development; it was crowded by all different kind of people. Therefore, rich families would want to move out of the city and enjoy their own land. I think that suburbanization still happens today but for many different reasons? Such as air population in the city, and desire of being with nature?
