UIndy efforts shed light on Indiana housing, lending discrimination
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An interactive exhibit has shed light on the roots of housing and lending discrimination in Indianapolis.
The display on the second floor of Krannert Memorial Library on the University of Indianapolis campus also highlights new forms of overt and covert discrimination.
The homeownership gap is worse today for homeowners of color than it was when the federal Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana says. In Marion County, the Black-white homeownership gap is 31%.
Indiana had 1,313 fair housing complaints from 2019 and 2023. Of those, 224 were in Marion County.
Disability, race, and sex accounted for the most common allegations.
Colleen Wynn, an associate professor of sociology at UIndy, said, “People assume housing discrimination is done and everybody should have access to homes now, but that isn’t true because there is so much discrimination that happens.”
Wynn says many housing deeds for older homes have racial covenants in them.
Uindy’s exhibit showcases a redlining map from 1937. Although redlining is illegal, Wynn says, many of the neighborhoods labeled red in the map see other issues that point to disparities.
Wynn said, “They’re places that may have more air pollution, or higher poverty levels, lower rates of homeownership.”
Forms of modern discrimination have included reverse redlining, appraisal discrimination, reverse mortgages, eviction and foreclosure disparities, as well as sales, lending and insurance discrimination.
According to the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, Marion County evictions impact people of color and families with children most.
Wynn said, “There have definitely been examples of those here in Indianapolis, and so they talk about some of those. Indianapolis has very high eviction rates, relative to the national average, as well as some other cities in Indiana.”
One of the biggest challenges housing faces is the reliance on artificial intelligence and the use of algorithms for lending and rentals.
The UIndy professor said, “All of the information that’s being fed in is coming from a society that has these inequalities and has racism present and so it’s actually being built into the algorithm.”
The Fair Housing Act was last amended in 1988. Wynn says more protections should be added for LGBTQ+ families. “It doesn’t explicitly state sexuality, and, so, I think it would be really helpful if they could expand those protections to be more inclusive.”
The exhibit will remain until Sept. 26.
A discussion on housing discrimination, with Erika Fotsch of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, will be at 2 p.m. Monday in Room 208 of the school’s library.