Just over half of all demolitions in Wichita and Sedgwick County in the last decade were of single-family homes. Of those, nearly a quarter occurred in ZIP code 67214.
The area had the most single-family demolitions of any other ZIP code over the last decade. The population there is majority Black and majority Hispanic.
Parts of all six ZIP codes in Wichita’s urban core, including much of 67214, touch areas that were formerly redlined. “Redlining” refers to a practice adopted by the Homeowners Loan Corp., a government-sponsored corporation born out of the Great Depression. Almost a century ago, the practice was used to categorize neighborhoods according to how secure the area was for mortgaging.
Those areas graded as the least desirable were shaded in red on the maps, leading to use of the term “redlined.”
“HOLC did not invent redlining, as life insurance companies previously discriminated in this way, nor did HOLC circulate its maps beyond a small group of government officials,” according to On The Line, a book by Trinity College professor Jack Dougherty, who works with students and community partners to analyze the relationship between schooling and housing in Hartford, Connecticut.
Though the corporation’s maps did not cause redlining, they reflect the racist and elitist perspectives of the federal officials who created them, according to Dougherty's book. The vestiges of these maps and their perspectives remain today.
In 1937, 64% of Wichita was redlined by those maps. That made it the third-most redlined city in the country.
Redlining contributed to generational wealth gaps that still affect Black Americans. Even today, residents in previously redlined areas can struggle to secure loans for refinancing or renovation.
“Redlining is often misunderstood,” said Eric Seymour, a professor at Rutgers University who studies housing and neighborhood dynamics. Seymour noted that smaller houses built decades ago may not meet today's family needs.
“Redlining, broadly understood and not limited to the use of HOLC maps," Seymour added, "is an important but partial part of the story."
Places for People
The term “redlining” appears in vision documents from 2021 outlining Wichita’s Places for People plan for urban infill strategy. Maps outlining “formative neighborhoods” for reinvestment roughly track with historical redlining maps.
Adopted into Wichita-Sedgwick County's comprehensive plan in 2019, Places for People includes starting a city land bank and devoting resources to remove dangerous structures. It also involves putting $5 million into an affordable housing trust fund and approving a pilot program for special assessments.
As part of this initiative, applications opened for up to $40,000 to rehabilitate housing in northeast Wichita.
Redevelopment efforts are ongoing.
