This historical information surfaced in the amended Appendix A assessment of fair housing that is now part of the official housing plan report of the City of San Diego Housing Element 2021-2029, which was approved by the San Diego City Council on June 8, 2021. Zoning also legally sanctioned racially restrictive housing covenants, agreements between 1910 and 1948, prohibiting the sale of homes to Mexican Americans and other minorities from living in certain areas of San Diego. Banks and real estate companies would later add to these restrictions, stemming from the 1930’s Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) policy of “redlining,” neighborhood maps, which is defined at LISC.org as “a bank’s refusal to lend or invest based on the risk grading of the borrower’s local area.” It wasn’t until the 1968 Fair Housing Act was passed, which made it illegal to discriminate in the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, color, religion or national origin. Moving Forward The question now is: can we do something about the disparities caused by systematic residential segregation?
San Diego’s Segregated Neighborhoods By Ricardo Flores Executive Director LISC San Diego
Think for a second about the city of San Diego and its neighbor- hoods. What do the wealthiest neighborhoods look like? Who lives in them? What do the parks and sidewalks in those neighborhoods look like? What about the schools? What do the kids who go to the schools look like?
Many of the 1.4 million residents of San Diego may have the same image of what these neighborhoods and their residents look like.
The same would hold true for our low-income neighborhoods that have fewer recreational amenities, older homes in need of renovations, schools with limited funding, and a community whose residents may be struggling to make ends meet. Who lives here?
How is this disparity possible?
The answer is: zoning. Author Richard Rothstein explains single family zoning in the book, T he Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America . As the Executive Director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)—the nation’s largest community development organization—I became interested in the dilemma of zoning and redlining because our mission is to help transform disinvested communities. City of San Diego’s Housing Segregation History The City of San Diego officially began to use zoning as a segregation tool in 1923. The City adopted the first zoning ordinance that created five distinct zones, A-E. Zone A would be exclusive for single family residential uses. Apartment buildings were in a different zone. That’s because “apartment buildings, which were generally occupied by lower income residents and people of color, were seen as undesireable and a threat to single-family property values.”
LIFE EXPECTANCY GREEN – longer vs. RED – shorter POVERTY GREEN – lower vs. RED – higher ASTHMA GREEN – lower vs. RED – higher DIABETES GREEN – lower vs. RED – higher KIDNEY DISEASE GREEN – lower vs. RED – higher MENTAL HEALTH GREEN – lower vs. RED - higher 1930 s HOLC map for the City of San Diego Social Vulnerability Index for the same communities less than 100 years later and includes the following health metrics:
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San Diego Latino Legacy – Timeline • Milestones • Stories
Chapter 2 – Rebuilding Lives, Against All Odds
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