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February, 2000
By Guy Stuart
Throughout the United States metropolitan areas are
undergoing considerable changes as
minorities leave central cities and buy homes in suburbs. The Boston
metropolitan area is no different. This report shows that African-American
and Hispanic homebuyers are making
inroads into the housing markets of towns and cities surrounding
Boston. But it also shows that these buyers are concentrated in
a limited number of communities: they are segregated from European-American
homebuyers. In addition, the report shows that people of different
incomes are buying in different communities outside of Boston --
there is income segregation.
Specifically, the findings of the report are the following:
- In the Boston metropolitan area over 40% of African-American
homebuyers, 60% of Hispanic homebuyers and 90% of European-American
homebuyers bought homes in cities and towns outside of Boston
in the period 1993 to 1998;
- Almost half of the purchases made by African-American and Hispanic
homebuyers
outside of Boston were concentrated in seven (7) communities out
of a total of 126
communities;
- To achieve racial and ethnic integration with European-American
homebuyers, over 50% of African-American and Hispanic homebuyers
would have had to have bought a home in a different city or town
in the 1993 to 1998 period;
- To achieve income integration between low-income and very high-income
European-American buyers, almost 50% of low-income buyers would
have had to have bought a
home in a different city or town in the 1993 to 1998 period;
- In the city of Boston, the market share of buyers earning more
than the metropolitan area median income has increased from 40%
to 50% in the 1993 to 1998 period;
- Asian-American homebuyers are experiencing segregation, but
to a lesser extent than
African-American and Hispanic buyers;
These findings are disturbing because they indicate
that despite the progress that disdavantaged
minorities have made in achieving homeownership outside of Boston,
there is a danger that the
benefits of such ownership may not accrue to them. In particular,
this report raises concerns
about the potential for the emergence of highly segregated schools
across the metropolitan area.
Furthermore, the finding of income segregation provides evidence
of the persistence of a
patchwork of "have" and "have not" communities
outside of Boston that affect the opportunities
available to a large number of lower-income families. But the news
is not all bad. Exclusive,
high-income, European-American communities have not excluded all
minority and low-income
homebuyers. Their presence throughout the metropolitan area is a
fact of life. The state, local
governments and the real estate industry can provide the leadership
necessary to ensure that
pernicious patterns of segregation do not become entrenched in the
first decade of this new
century.
The report is based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
(HMDA) data and census data. The
HMDA data provide information about the race, ethnicity, income,
and census tract location of
nearly all home purchases involving a mortgage loan across the nation.
The report covers the
Boston Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA). The data are
drawn from the years 1993
through 1998.
To view the COMPLETE REPORT
and study conducted by The Civil Rights Project go to:
Segregation in the Boston
Metropolitan Area at the end of the 20th Century (in PDF Format)
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