The House You Live In

1. In the 1930’s, the federal government created the Federal Housing Administration, who’s job it was to provide loans to average Americans, so they could purchase a ___________________.

2. In order to purchase a house in America prior to the 1930’s, you had to pay _________% of the sale’s price up front.

3. The new terms of purchasing a home, you just put down 10 or 20% down and the bank finances 80% of it – not over 5 years, but over ___________ years at relatively low rates. Tax dollars helped make the single family home a mass-produced consumer item.

4. Almost one million African American G.I.s returned, hoping for equality and a piece of the American Dream. For many, that dream was a _________ ___________ with little money down and some of the easiest credit terms in history.

5. What happened to Eugene Burnett when he tried to buy a house in Levittown? ______________________________________________________________________________

6. The FHA underwriters warned that the presence of even one or two _______-______________ families could undermine real estate values in the new suburbs. These government guidelines were widely adopted by private industry.

7. Starting in the 1930’s, government officials institutionalized the National Appraisal System, where race was as much of a factor in real estate assessment as the condition of the ___________________________.

8. Communities that were all white, suburban and far away from minority areas – they received the ______________ rating. Areas that were all minority or in the process of changing, they got the ______________ rating.

9. When the white residents of Eight Mile Road in Detroit were told they were too close to a black neighborhood to qualify for a positive FHA rating, they built a ________ foot wall between themselves and their black neighbors.

10. Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government underwrote $________ billion in new housing. Less than ______% went to non-whites.

11. With red-lining, the government wasn’t just giving something to whites, it was constructing “whiteness.” Whiteness now meant living in the ___________________________.

12. The housing market that blacks were exposed to was largely ____________ ______________, which was built almost exclusively in the central city.

13. After World War II, they built larger and larger public housing projects, which were called vertical ______________________.

14. Another federal program, urban renewal, was supposed to make cities more livable. _______% of all housing destroyed by urban renewal was not replaced. 2/3 of those displaced were black or Latino.

15. In 1968, President Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act. For the first time, racial language was removed from the federal housing policy. Non-white families began moving into traditionally __________________________ communities in numbers.

16. Many non-white families would discover the economic value of race and the real estate market. They watched as their homes and neighborhoods in suburbia ___________________ precisely because they had moved into them.

17. Blockbusting – real estate agents preyed on the racial fears of white homeowners to get them to sell their homes quickly for _________________than market value. The homes were resold to non-whites at inflated prices.

18. It wasn’t African Americans moving in that caused housing values to go down, it was whites ___________________________.

19. Banks contribute, making loans available in regions on the rise, (white communities) and making it difficult to get loans in ________________________ communities.

20. When white families and businesses flee, the ______ base erodes; schools and services decline.

21. Homes in white communities appreciated in value, & the net worth of white families ________.

22. For most non-white families who stayed in urban neighborhoods, the housing market open to them in the 50’s and 60’s was largely a ___________________________ market.

23. The majority of Americans hold most of their wealth in the form of ______________ equity (the value of their houses).

24. Add up everything you own and subtract all of your debts, what’s left is your net ___________.

25. Today, the average black family has only ___________ the assets of the average white family. This difference can not be explained by other factors, like education, earnings rates, or savings.

26. Even with the same income, white families have on average twice the wealth of black families. Much of the difference lies in the value of their ________________________.

27. When you compare black and white families with the same income and the same wealth level, rates of college graduation are the same. Rates of employment and work hours are the same. Rates of __________________________ usage are the same.

28. The advantages of being white accumulate from one generation to the _______________.