A federal program to encourage black homeownership in the 1970s ended in a flood of foreclosures.

“Racial discrimination persisted in the new market because it was good business, not simply because the industry was stuck in its old ways. Our failure to fully recognize this history has meant that housing policy continues to uncritically revolve around market-based solutions even as black homeownership rates fall to historic lows. It’s hard to uproot these predatory practices because race has been so important to the real estate industry’s bottom line.”

Prof. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is Asst. Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. She is an expert on housing policy.