What does blockbusting mean in geography? Blockbusting: A process by which real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at low prices because of fear that black families will soon move into the neighborhood. Does blockbusting still exist? “Blockbusting” has been illegal since the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
What is block-busting?
block·bust·ing (blŏk′bŭs′tĭng) n. Informal The practice of persuading white homeowners to sell quickly and usually at a loss by appealing to the fear that nonwhite groups will move into the neighborhood, causing property values to decline. The property is then resold at inflated prices.
What is the difference between white flight and blockbusting?
White flight and blockbusting typically happen simultaneously. White flight refers to the mass exodus of whites from neighborhoods once members of racial minority groups move in. Blockbusting took place routinely in Chicago prior to 1962, and the city remains highly racially segregated.
What were the long-term effects of blockbusting?
One of the long-term consequences of blockbusting was the onset of white flight and increased demand for white-only suburbs. As more black residents moved into areas, fleeing white residents looked to relocate to suburbs far from the “blighted” neighborhoods of inner cities.
Is blockbusting illegal in the United States?
Under this act, blockbusting was made illegal, although it continued to be practiced until the 1980’s. Additionally, the Federal Fair Housing Act made it illegal for brokers and real estate agents to offer speculation about the future racial makeup of a neighborhood.
What is an example of blockbusting?
An example of blockbusting would be a real estate agent hiring a Black woman to walk her dog in an all-White neighborhood. They then place their real estate card in all the mailboxes on the block, offering to buy the house right away at a discounted price.
What does blockbusting mean in fair housing?
Blockbusting refers to the practice of introducing African American homeowners into previously all white neighborhoods in order to spark rapid white flight and housing price decline. Real estate speculators have historically used this technique to profit from prejudice-driven market instability.
What did blockbusting do?
Blockbusting was a business practice in which real estate agents and building developers convinced white residents in a particular area to sell their property at below-market prices. This was achieved by fearmongering the homeowners, telling them that racial minorities would soon be moving into their neighborhoods.
What is blockbusting and redlining?
Blockbusting. An illegal practice in which licensees or others encourage homeowners to sell because of an influx or expected influx of minorities into the area. Redlining. The practice of a lender to refuse to lend in a specific area, often based on the minority makeup of the area.
Which of these is an example of blockbusting quizlet?
What is an example of blockbusting? An agent persuades a family to put their house on the market because ethic minority families are beginning to move into the neighborhood.
When did blockbusting take place?
Blockbusting was a real estate practice that took place in the US during the late 20th century, particularly after the end of World War II. This practice was triggered first by the 1917 Supreme Court decision in Buchanan vs. Warley, which made racially segregating residential laws illegal.
What is the difference between blockbusting and steering?
Steering is directing buyers based on their class. Redlining is generally the discrimination of buyers by the lending industry. Blockbusting is when an agent convinces people in a neighborhood to sell their house because the socioeconomics of the community is negatively changing.
What is an example of redlining?
Examples of redlining can be found in a variety of financial services, including not only mortgages but also student loans, credit cards, and insurance. Although the Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 1977 to help prevent redlining, critics say discrimination continues to occur.
Does blockbusting still exist?
"Blockbusting" has been illegal since the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Yet racial segregation remains a "defining feature of American cities."
What is the difference between blockbusting and panic peddling?
Panic peddling is an illegal practice in real estate. Real estate agents make people believe that other individuals, who are members of a minority group, are likely going to buy real property near them. Blockbusting is another illegal real estate practice.
What is blockbusting in real estate?
Blockbusting is the practice of real estate brokers convincing homeowners to sell their houses for low prices for fear that a neighborhood’s socioeconomic demographics are changing and will decrease home values. By tapping into homeowners’ racial or class biases, these real estate speculators profit by selling the properties in question ...
When did blockbusting start?
Blockbusting dates back to the early 1900s and reached its peak in the years after World War II. The practice has a long history in Chicago, still one of the nation’s most segregated cities. Violence was used to keep the neighborhood of Englewood white, but it didn’t work.
What is the difference between white flight and blockbusting?
White flight and blockbusting typically happen simultaneously. White flight refers to the mass exodus of whites from neighborhoods once members ...
Why did whites move to the suburbs?
As whites moved to the suburbs, their tax dollars left cities, further weakening the housing in urban areas. Fewer tax dollars meant fewer municipal resources to maintain neighborhoods, making these parts of town unappealing to homebuyers from a variety of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
When did blockbusting take place in Chicago?
Blockbusting took place routinely in Chicago prior to 1962, and the city remains highly racially segregated. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 made blockbusting less common, but African Americans continue to face housing discrimination and own homes that are much lower in value than properties whites own.
What happened in 1962?
A 1962 article in the 1962 Saturday Evening Post, “Confessions of a Blockbuster,” describes the blockbusting that unfolded when a bungalow owner sold the home to Black tenants. Immediately afterward, property speculators who owned three nearby properties sold them to Black families.
What was blockbusting in real estate?
What Was Blockbusting? Blockbusting was a real estate practice that took place in the US during the late 20th century, particularly after the end of World War II. This practice was triggered first by the 1917 Supreme Court decision in Buchanan vs. Warley, which made racially segregating residential laws illegal.
What was the effect of blockbusting on the suburbs?
Rather than create new, racially desegregated neighborhoods, blockbusting led to an increased demand for white-only suburbs.
How did real estate agents and developers during that time use blockbusting methods to push wealthy, white residents out of certain
Real estate agents and developers during that time used blockbusting methods to push wealthy, white residents out of certain neighborhoods by convincing them that minority groups would become their neighbors.
When did blockbusting become illegal?
Under this act, blockbusting was made illegal, although it continued to be practiced until the 1980’s.
How did real estate agents convince white residents that black residents would soon take over the neighborhood?
In order to convince white residents that black residents would soon take over the neighborhood, real estate agents would sometimes begin the practice of blockbusting by selling a house to one black family in the middle of an all-white neighborhood.
What is blockbusting in real estate?
Blockbusting is a business process in which U.S. real estate agents and building developers convince property owners to sell their houses at low prices, which they do by telling house owners that racial minorities will soon move into their neighborhoods in order to instill fear in them. The agents then sell those same houses to black families, ...
Where did the term "blockbusting" originate?
The term blockbusting might have originated in Chicago, Illinois, where real estate companies and building developers used agents provocateurs. These were non-white people hired to deceive the white residents of a neighborhood into believing that black people were moving into their neighborhood.
How common was blockbusting in the 1960s?
Blockbusting was very common and profitable. For example, by 1962, when blockbusting had been a common practice for some fifteen years, the city of Chicago had more than 100 real estate companies that had been, on average, "changing" two to three blocks a week.
What case ruled that blockbusting was a violation of the freedom of expression?
In the case of Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro (1977), the Supreme Court ruled that such prohibitions infringed on the freedom of expression. Moreover, by the 1980s, as evidence of blockbusting practices disappeared, states and cities began rescinding statutes restricting blockbusting.
Why did cities segregate their neighborhoods?
To prevent their neighborhoods from becoming racially mixed, many cities kept their neighborhoods segregated with local zoning laws. Such laws required people of non-white ethnic groups to reside in geographically defined areas of the town or city, preventing them from moving to areas inhabited by whites.
Where was blockbusting practiced?
Blockbusting was most prevalent on the West Side and South Side of Chicago, and also was heavily practiced in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City; in the West Oak Lane and Germantown neighborhoods of Northwest Philadelphia; and on the East Side of Cleveland . The tactics included:
When did blockbusting become possible?
Blockbusting became possible after the legislative and judicial dismantling of legally protected racially segregated real estate practices after World War II. By the 1980s it had mostly disappeared in the United States after changes in law and the real estate market.
What is blockbusting in real estate?
Blockbusting refers to the practice of introducing African American homeowners into previously all white neighborhoods in order to spark rapid white flight and housing price decline. Real estate speculators have historically used this technique to profit from prejudice-driven market instability.
What were the consequences of blockbusting?
As more blacks moved in an area, an equal proportion of whites moved out, thereby stimulating demand for additional white-only housing in other areas of the city or in suburbs.
When did blockbusting become illegal?
Although blockbusting emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, the practice was most pervasive in the decades immediately following World War II. It was ostensibly outlawed with the passage of the Civil Rights Act (Fair Housing Act) of 1968.
White Flight and Blockbusting
A Historic Example of Blockbusting
- Blockbusting dates back to the early 1900s and reached its peak in the years after World War II. The practice has a long history in Chicago, still one of the nation’s most segregated cities. Violence was used to keep the neighborhood of Englewood white, but it didn’t work. Instead, real estate brokers urged the whites there to put their homes on the market for a number of years pri…
Blockbusting’S Impact
- Traditionally, African Americans paid a hefty price for white flight. They didn’t benefit from white homeowners selling their properties for low prices since speculators, in turn, upsold these homes to them. This practice put homebuyers of color in a precarious position, making it difficult to get loans to improve their homes. Landlords in neighborhoods affected by blockbusting reportedly e…
Sources
- Gaspaire, Brent. “Blockbusting.” BlackPast.org, 7 January 2013.
- Jacobs, Tom. “White Flight Remains a Reality.” Pacific Standard, 6 March 2018.
- Kye, Samuel H. “The Persistence of White Flight in Middle-Class Suburbia.” Social Science Research, May 2018.
- Moser, Whet. “How White Housing Riots Shaped Chicago.” Chicago Magazine, 29 April 2015.
Overview
Blockbusting was an unethical business practice in which real estate agents and building developers convinced white residents in a particular area to sell their property at below-market prices. This was achieved by fearmongering the homeowners, telling them that racial minorities would soon be moving into their neighborhoods. The blockbusters would then sell those same houses at inflat…
Background
From 1900–1970, around 6 million African Americans from the rural Southern United States moved to industrial and urban cities in the Northern and Western United States during the Great Migration in effort to avoid the Jim Crow laws, violence, bigotry, and limited opportunities of the South. Resettlement to these cities peaked during World War I and World War II as slowing immigration from Europe created a labor shortage in northern and western cities. In order to fill war industrie…
Methods
The term blockbusting might have originated in Chicago, Illinois, where real estate companies and building developers used agents provocateurs. These were non-white people hired to deceive the white residents of a neighborhood into believing that black people were moving into their neighborhood. The houses that became vacant in that way enabled accelerated emigration of economically successful racial minority residents to better neighborhoods beyond the ghettos. T…
Reactions
In 1962, "blockbusting" – real estate profiteering – was nationally exposed by The Saturday Evening Post with the article "Confessions of a Block-Buster," which explained how realtors gained profit by frightening white Americans to sell at a loss, in order to quickly resettle to racially segregated "better neighborhoods." In response to political pressure from sellers and buyers, states and cities legally restricted door-to-door real estate solicitation, the posting of "FOR SALE…
Popular culture
The acclaimed but short-lived dramatic television series East Side, West Side (1963–1964) deals with this issue in the episode "No Place to Hide," tracing the evolution of two couples, one black, one white; the latter ostensibly champions the cause of the former as unscrupulous realtors attempt to 'block-bust' their newly integrated suburban neighborhood.
The serious-comic television series All in the Family (1971–1979) featured "The Blockbuster", a 1…
See also
• Black flight
• Inclusionary zoning
• Institutional discrimination in the housing market
• Institutional racism
Further reading
• Orser, W. Edward. (1994) Blockbusting in Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky)
• Pietila, Antero. (2010) Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee).
• Seligman, Amanda I. (2005) Block by Block: Neighborhoods and Public Policy on Chicago's West Side (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
External links
• http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/147.html