Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development, Second Edition

Kevin Fox Gotham

Description

Traditional explanations of metropolitan development and urban racial segregation have emphasized the role of consumer demand and market dynamics. In the first edition of Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development Kevin Fox Gotham reexamined the assumptions behind these explanations and offered a provocative new thesis. Using the Kansas City metropolitan area as a case study, Gotham provided both quantitative and qualitative documentation of the role of the real estate industry and the Federal Housing Administration, demonstrating how these institutions have promulgated racial residential segregation and uneven development. Gotham challenged contemporary explanations while providing fresh insights into the racialization of metropolitan space, the interlocking dimensions of class and race in metropolitan development, and the importance of analyzing housing as a system of social stratification. In this second edition, he includes new material that explains the racially unequal impact of the subprime real estate crisis that began in late 2007, and explains why racial disparities in housing and lending remain despite the passage of fair housing laws and antidiscrimination statutes.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

1. Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development: An Introduction

Housing as a System of Social Stratification
Race, Racism, and Racialization
Metropolitan Kansas City: An Overview
Constructing a Segregated Metropolis

2. The Racialization of Space: Restrictive Covenants and the Origins of Racial Residential Segregation

The Great Migration and the Rise of the Modern Real Estate Industry
Racial Restrictive Covenants and the Real Estate Industry
The Role of Community Builders
The Role of Homeowner Associations
The Legacy of Racial Restrictive Covenants

3. The Federal Government, Community Builders, and the Development of the Modern Mortgage System

The Housing Act of 1934 and the Creation of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
Community Builders and the FHA
Racial Conflict and the Defense of Racial Space

4. Urban Renewal, Public Housing, and Downtown Redevelopment

A Housing Program for Slum Clearance
Local Implementation and Dislocating Effects
Explaining Postwar Urban Redevelopment

5. Building the Troost Wall: School Segregation, Blockbusting, and the Racial Transitions of the Southeast Area

Racial Population Change in Southeast Kansas City, 1950–1975
School Segregation and Neighborhood Racial Transition
Blockbusting and Panic Selling
The Role of the Real Estate Board
Reflections and Experiences with Blockbusting
The Legacy of School Desegregation and Blockbusting

6. The Struggle for Fair Housing

Fair Housing and the Conflict over “Rights”
Housing Act of 1968 and the FHA’s Section 235 Program
Local Implementation and Segregative Effects
Neighborhood Response and Disinvestment
Federal Housing Policy Retrenchment in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Fair Housing in Retrospect

Conclusions

Old Customs Die Hard: Racialization of Space and the Global Real Estate Crisis
Race, Housing, and the “New Racism”
Privatism, Real Estate, and the Future of Uneven Development

Notes
References
Index

Sujets

• Monument

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 30 janvier 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438449449
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development
Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development
The Kansas City Experience, 1900–2010
SECOND EDITION
Kevin Fox Gotham
Cover: (Top) Downtown Kansas City, Missouri with Union Station in the foreground (Bottom) aerial photograph of the Prairie Ridge Homes Association
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gotham, Kevin Fox.
Race, real estate, and uneven development : the Kansas City experience, 1900–2010 / Kevin Fox Gotham. — Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4943-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-4942-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Kansas City (Mo.)—Economic conditions. 2. Kansas City (Mo.)—Race relations. 3. Housing—Missouri—Kansas City—History—20th century. I. Title.
HC108.K2G68 2014
363.5 1—dc23
2013003401
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1 Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development: An Introduction
Housing as a System of Social Stratification
Race, Racism, and Racialization
Metropolitan Kansas City: An Overview
Constructing a Segregated Metropolis
2 The Racialization of Space: Restrictive Covenants and the Origins of Racial Residential Segregation
The Great Migration and the Rise of the Modern Real Estate Industry
Racial Restrictive Covenants and the Real Estate Industry
The Role of Community Builders
The Role of Homeowner Associations
The Legacy of Racial Restrictive Covenants
3 The Federal Government, Community Builders, and the Development of the Modern Mortgage System
The Housing Act of 1934 and the Creation of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
Community Builders and the FHA
Racial Conflict and the Defense of Racial Space
4 Urban Renewal, Public Housing, and Downtown Redevelopment
A Housing Program for Slum Clearance
Local Implementation and Dislocating Effects
Explaining Postwar Urban Redevelopment
5 Building the Troost Wall: School Segregation, Blockbusting, and the Racial Transitions of the Southeast Area
Racial Population Change in Southeast Kansas City, 1950–1975
School Segregation and Neighborhood Racial Transition
Blockbusting and Panic Selling
The Role of the Real Estate Board
Reflections and Experiences with Blockbusting
The Legacy of School Desegregation and Blockbusting
6 The Struggle for Fair Housing
Fair Housing and the Conflict over “Rights”
Housing Act of 1968 and the FHA’s Section 235 Program
Local Implementation and Segregative Effects
Neighborhood Response and Disinvestment
Federal Housing Policy Retrenchment in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Fair Housing in Retrospect
Conclusions
Old Customs Die Hard: Racialization of Space and the Global Real Estate Crisis
Race, Housing, and the “New Racism”
Privatism, Real Estate, and the Future of Uneven Development
Notes
References
Index
Illustrations
TABLES
1.1 Major Phases, Key Actors, and Influences in the Housing Market
1.2 Total and Racial Population in the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in 1990, 2000, and 2010
1.3 Total and Black Population, Kansas City, Missouri, 1860–2000
1.4 Square Mileage and Annexations, Kansas City, Missouri, 1947–1963
1.5 Median Income in the Kansas City MSA, 1990, 2000, and 2005–2009 in constant dollars
1.6 Racial Segregation Indices for the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area and Kansas City, Missouri, 1990, 2000, and 2010
2.1 Kansas City, Missouri Population by Wards in 1880
2.2 Demographic and Population Data For Kansas City, Missouri Black Enclaves, 1900
2.3 Racial Restrictive Covenants and Subdivisions in Metropolitan Kansas City, 1900–1947
3.1 Number of Residential Units Foreclosed in the United States by Months, 1926, 1932, and 1933
3.2 Summary of Building and Loan Association Failures and Estimated Losses, 1920–1932
3.3 Number of New Housing Units Started and Percentage Built by Large Builders in the United States, 1938–1959
3.4 FHA Mortgage Insurance by County, Kansas City Metropolitan Area, 1934–1962
4.1 Urban Renewal Projects in Kansas City, Missouri, 1954–1969
4.2 Displaced Households Living in Areas Prior to Clearance for Highway Right of Way Acquisition, 1950–1975. Kansas City, Missouri (Jackson County Portion)
5.1 Total and Racial Population Change in Southeast Kansas City, Missouri, 1950–1970
5.2 Kansas City, Missouri School District Enrollment By High School, 1954–55—1974–75
6.1 Section 235 New Construction, Existing Units, and Substantial Rehabilitation in Metropolitan Kansas City, 1969–1972
6.2 Section 235 Housing by Race of Purchasers in Metropolitan Kansas City, 1971–1972
6.3 Racial Makeup of Kansas City, Missouri School District Elementary Schools, 1965–66, 1970–71, 1974–75
FIGURES
3.1 Building Permits in U.S. Cities, 1921–1933
5.1 Anti-blockbusting Pamphlet, Kansas City, Missouri Department of Human Relations and the Commission on Human Relations
MAPS
1.1 Metropolitan Kansas City. Five County Area
2.1 Black Enclaves, 1900
4.1 Downtown Kansas City, Missouri
5.1 Black Population, 1950
5.2 Black Population, 1960
5.3 Black Population, 1970
6.1 Location of Neighborhoods: Forty-Nine Sixty-Three, Blue Hills, and Marlborough Heights Neighborhoods
PHOTOGRAPHS
2.1 The West Bottoms Industrial Area in Kansas City, Kansas, looking west, circa first decade of the twentieth century
2.2 9 th and Walnut, looking north, around 1920
3.1 Aerial photo of the Prairie Hills Residential Subdivision
4.1 Downtown Kansas City, Missouri with Union Station in the foreground
5.1 Troost Avenue and 31 st Street in the 1930s
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the guidance, interest, and support of dozens of people. I have benefitted enormously over the years from their suggestions and owe to all a very deep debt of gratitude. It is a pleasure to acknowledge these debts.
The staff of numerous public libraries, archives, and planning agencies aided significantly at many stages in the development of this book. I particularly wish to express my appreciation to David Boutros, Bettie Swontieck, Marilyn Burlingame, and Jennifer Parker, of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (WHMC-KC), for making important research materials and papers available to me. These individuals generously shared with me information from many important collections including the J.C. Nichols Collection, the Hare and Hare Collection and, most important, the Arthur Benson papers. The Benson papers consist of legal records, documents, and working papers related to the landmark Kansas City School Desegregation case, Jenkins v. Missouri . In addition to accessing the primary sources in the case, I consulted hundreds of pages of court testimony, depositions, and the plaintiffs exhibits themselves. The citations used in the book take the following form: plaintiff ’s exhibit (X) followed by the exhibit number, title of the exhibit, box containing the exhibit, the archive number for the Benson papers (KC 250), and the location (WHMC-KC).
I am also in the debt of many other archivists, library staff, and city planners. I thank John Nicols at the Wyandotte County Museum, and Larry Hancks at the Kansas City, Kansas City Planning Department for allowing me to view planning documents and other data pertaining to Kansas City, Kansas. I thank Jenny Hunger at the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) for granting me access to their planning materials, reports, and data analyses. My thanks to Tilmon Stewart and Bill Livingston at the Black Archives of Mid-America for their research assistance in locating documents on early black settlements in Kansas City. I also wish to thank the personnel and staff of the Kansas City, Kansas City Public Libraries, Johnson County Public Libraries, Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), National Archives Federal Records Center-Central Plains Region, Urban League of Greater Kansas City, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri Human Relations Commission, and the Johnson County Historical Museum. Thanks also to the staff at the Watson Library and the Government Documents Library at the University of Kansas. I especially wish to thank the staff at the Kansas Collection in the Spencer Archives at the University of Kansas for helping me locate information on conflicts over fair housing legislation in the metropolitan area during the 1960s.
I wish to express my appreciation and