In 1933, the US federal government under Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC). Its purpose as a New Deal program was to make it more affordable for Americans to own homes. Shortly after, the Federal Housing Administration was formed to address similar goals.

While the direct intent of these programs was good and many families benefited from the favorable mortgage terms, there was a much darker side. The HOLC issued infamous maps that marked certain neighborhoods as higher or lower mortgage security risk. In practice, this led to widespread marking of minority (mostly Black) communities as "hazardous" investments. This process is referred to as redlining, and it was made illegal by the Fair Housing Act of 1968.