A Closer Look at Racial Steering and Blockbusting in the Hartford area
Throughout the past 50 years, real estate agents played a prominent role in racial segregation through the practices of steering and blockbusting in housing. In Connecticut, these practices had a clear impact on the racial composition of the greater Hartford area.The map of Racial Change in the Hartford region from 1900-2010 illustrates a non-white population appearing isolated in the city center of Hartford. Over time, the non-white population in Bloomfield grew, beginning in the 1970s. The composition of the area was affected by realtors in beginning in the 70s, and continue to move in the direction sparked by those brokers. Bloomfield’s non-white population percentage grew over time as whites left and minorities moved to this suburb to relocate from their isolated placement in the center of Hartford.
Blockbusting: An Illustration
Blockbusting practices were one of the determinants to Bloomfield’s racial composition throughout the late 60s and 70s. Roy Litchfield, a white resident of a Bloomfield neighborhood, bought his home in 1968. In the Hartford Courant, Litchfield reported calls from agents urging him to sell his home at a lower rate as non-whites moved into the area. Real estate agents scared white residents, claiming integration would lead to decreased property values; this tactic led to “panic selling.” In turn, the agent would sell the home above market value to black homebuyers. Agents maximized profit by buying low and selling high, due to the small supply of homes where blacks could live without being harassed or even legally restricted.
Racial Steering
Related to blockbusting, racial steering involved real estate agents directing people of certain races to specific areas. One white homebuyer, John Keever, reported an agent’s behavior to the Hartford Courant. Keever explained how the agent praised about Avon and West Hartford. In contrast, the agent talked negatively about Bloomfield and its schools systems. Keever claimed that the agent may have been afraid to insult clients by taking them to integrated neighborhoods. The stereotypes real estate agents have and perpetuate in their selling behaviors led to racially isolated neighborhoods as seen in the map below. Racial steering was a large factor of racial segregation in the past and continue to impact housing situations present day.
Impacting Today
Racial steering and blockbusting practices, though illegal, remain present today. A 2003 article in the Hartford Courant discussed implications of racial steering occurring today. Jacobs, a former member of the town council in Windsor, reported seeing a house go through many inhabitants but never shown to white residents.. A quarter of the affluent black population of the Greater Hartford area live primarily in six adjacent geographical units. The past existence of these real estate practices started the patterns of racial segregation, but continuous steering practices prevent integration. In 2003, the Hartford Courant discussed tests using black and white volunteers posing as potential homebuyers with 17% illustrating preference for the white homebuyers. Blockbusting and steering today continue to contribute to the racial segregation and limited opportunities available to non-white populations.
Click for interactive feature and original source.
Click for interactive feature and original source.
Learn more:
Jack Dougherty and colleagues, “Preview Chapter,” On The Line: How schooling, housing, and civil rights shaped Hartford and its suburbs. Web-book preview edition. Hartford, CT: Trinity College, Fall 2011, http://OnTheLine.trincoll.edu.
Ross, James. “Bloomfield Officials Lead Fight To Keep Town’s Housing Open.” The Hartford Courant (1923-1986), February 24, 1974. http://search.proquest.com/hnphartfordcourant/docview/552112941/1398DE0313CC9FA77A/1?accountid=14405.
Ross, James. “Realty Agents Blamed for Shift In Bloomfield’s Racial Pattern.” The Hartford Courant (1923-1986). Hartford, Conn., United States, February 24, 1974.
Swift, Mike. “Home Buyers Suspect Racial Steering.” The Hartford Courant, September 8, 2003. http://www.s4.brown.edu/cen2000/othersay/090803Hartford.pdf
University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center – MAGIC. (2012).Racial Change in the Hartford Region, 1900-2010. Retrieved from http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/otl/timeslider_racethematic.html.