ABSTRACT
Over the twentieth century studies have shown that poverty in U.S. cities has become more concentrated, forming neighborhoods that are largely disconnected from the amenities that other places take for granted (i.e., grocery, other retail, and banks), and that these places are typically occupied by African-Americans (Massey and Denton, 1993). These trends and the disinvestment in many inner-city neighborhoods did not happen overnight. The story of mass suburbanization of whites from cities, as well as the de jure and de facto discrimination against racial minority group members through redlining and planning codes such as racial zoning to keep them from accessing these new housing markets, has had a lasting legacy (ibid.). Between the 1960s and the 1980s many of these areas were considered “no-go zones” and several have been home to project-based public housing developments.
