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The Sunday Read: ‘How the Real Estate Boom Left Black Neighborhoods Behind’

In Memphis, as in America, the benefits of homeownership have not accrued equally across race. Housing policy in the United States has leaned heavily on homeownership as a driver of household wealth since the middle of the last century, and, for many white Americans, property ownership has indeed yielded significant wealth. But Black families have largely been left behind, either unable to buy in the first place or hampered by risks that come with owning property. Homeownership’s limitations are especially apparent in Black neighborhoods. Owner-occupied homes in predominantly African American neighborhoods are worth, on average, half as much as those in neighborhoods with no Black residents, according to a 2018 Brookings Institution and Gallup report that examined metropolitan areas. For neighborhoods like Orange Mound in southeast Memphis, the solutions cannot come fast enough.
Duration
46m
Broadcast on
12 Dec 2021
Audio Format
other

In Memphis, as in America, the benefits of homeownership have not accrued equally across race.

Housing policy in the United States has leaned heavily on homeownership as a driver of household wealth since the middle of the last century, and, for many white Americans, property ownership has indeed yielded significant wealth. But Black families have largely been left behind, either unable to buy in the first place or hampered by risks that come with owning property.

Homeownership’s limitations are especially apparent in Black neighborhoods. Owner-occupied homes in predominantly African American neighborhoods are worth, on average, half as much as those in neighborhoods with no Black residents, according to a 2018 Brookings Institution and Gallup report that examined metropolitan areas.

For neighborhoods like Orange Mound in southeast Memphis, the solutions cannot come fast enough.

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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. [MUSIC] Hi, my name is Vanessa Gregory. I'm a writer in Oxford, Mississippi. And I'm a contributor to the New York Times Magazine. One thing that I'm internally interested in is the concept of place and of home. I grew up in a military family, and I do not have that. We moved every three years. This particular story is about a place in Memphis, Tennessee. It's a historically black neighborhood called Orange Mound. Orange Mound is near an area known as Midtown. And Midtown is this beautiful section of Memphis that has this crown jewel of a park called Overton Park. It's sort of like the central park of Memphis. The zoo is there. There are some museums. And there are a lot of really beautiful, big, obviously expensive homes in the neighborhood. And if you go south from some of these neighborhoods, you'll cross some railroad tracks and you will come to Orange Mound. It feels like an entirely different world. There's a striking contrast you notice right away. It looks almost like there's been a natural disaster. You see streets where there's a block and a half of houses that are gone. They're empty lots. Orange Mound is, I think, one of the most remarkable neighborhoods in the United States, where black Americans were buying property in 1890. This is a time when many of the people coming there were former slaves or direct descendants from slaves. They built their own homes. They built schools. There are several churches that date back to the very early 1900s that still have active congregations today. There were theaters where people like Count Basie and Sarah Vaughn played. There was a baseball team, the Orange Mound Sluggers. The park had tennis courts and a driving range in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It was just a vibrant, vital place where people could live, be treated with dignity, and have all the things

Transcription truncated.

In Memphis, as in America, the benefits of homeownership have not accrued equally across race. Housing policy in the United States has leaned heavily on homeownership as a driver of household wealth since the middle of the last century, and, for many white Americans, property ownership has indeed yielded significant wealth. But Black families have largely been left behind, either unable to buy in the first place or hampered by risks that come with owning property. Homeownership’s limitations are especially apparent in Black neighborhoods. Owner-occupied homes in predominantly African American neighborhoods are worth, on average, half as much as those in neighborhoods with no Black residents, according to a 2018 Brookings Institution and Gallup report that examined metropolitan areas. For neighborhoods like Orange Mound in southeast Memphis, the solutions cannot come fast enough.