Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC)
This page analyzes a single policy using structured scoring, historical evidence, source quality, and measurable outcomes.
Summary
Created to refinance home mortgages during the Great Depression and produced residential security maps that contributed to redlining practices.
How to Read This Record
Impact Reading
Very high documented impact
Evidence Base
Strong evidence from Government sources.
Data Completeness
Complete record with 4 sources and 1 metric.
Outcome Summary
Helped stabilize housing markets but institutionalized discriminatory lending patterns.
Categories
Impact Scores
This score is a structured measure of how directly and materially this policy affected Black communities, weighted by evidence, durability, and equity. Harm offset reduces the total score.
Total Impact Score
28
Directness
4
How explicitly the policy targeted or affected Black communities.
Material Impact
5
The practical real-world effect on conditions, rights, or outcomes.
Evidence
5
Strength of sourcing and historical support for the assessment.
Durability
5
How lasting the effects of the policy were over time.
Equity
0
Whether the policy advanced fairness, inclusion, or equal access.
Harm Offset
0
Any offsetting harms, limitations, exclusions, or contradictory effects that reduce the total.
Metrics
Cities assessed through HOLC residential security maps
U.S. urban neighborhoods • United States
Before
0.00
1932 • cities
After
239.00
1933 • cities
Methodology: HUD training material states that HOLC conducted its residential security mapping assessment in 239 cities. This is a reach metric showing the geographic scale of the mapping system associated with later redlining analysis.
Current Reform Connections
These future-bill concepts are connected to this policy through shared explainers, then linked forward to real tracked bills and current legislator scorecards.
Federal Reparations Direct Compensation Act
Economic Justice • Idea
Black Americans face a persistent racial wealth gap rooted in slavery, Jim Crow laws, and discriminatory federal policy, resulting in significantly lower median household wealth compared to white households.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Rep. Adams, Alma S. [D-NC-12]
Cosponsor • House • D • NC
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7]
Cosponsor • House • D • MA
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Cosponsor • House • D • DC
Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7]
Cosponsor • House • D • AL
Redlining Reparations and Homeownership Equity Act
Housing • Idea
Historic redlining, discriminatory lending, and federal housing policies excluded Black families from wealth-building opportunities through homeownership.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Rep. Adams, Alma S. [D-NC-12]
Cosponsor • House • D • NC
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7]
Cosponsor • House • D • MA
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Cosponsor • House • D • DC
Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7]
Cosponsor • House • D • AL
Black Business Equity and Capital Access Act
Economic Justice • Idea
Black entrepreneurs face systemic barriers to capital access, resulting in lower business ownership rates and reduced economic mobility.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Black Homeownership and Appraisal Fairness Act
Housing • Idea
Black households face persistent homeownership and appraisal disparities.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7]
Primary Sponsor • House • D • MA
Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA]
Primary Sponsor • Senate • D • GA
Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD]
Cosponsor • Senate • D • MD
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
Cosponsor • Senate • D • CT
Black Wealth Restoration and Baby Bonds Act
Economic Justice • Idea
The racial wealth gap continues to widen due to generational disparities in assets, inheritance, and access to capital.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7]
Primary Sponsor • House • D • MA
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Cosponsor • House • D • DC
Rep. Carson, André [D-IN-7]
Cosponsor • House • D • IN
Rep. Beatty, Joyce [D-OH-3]
Cosponsor • House • D • OH
HBCU Capital and Research Equity Act
Education • Idea
Many HBCUs remain underfunded compared with peer institutions and face infrastructure gaps.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Rep. Adams, Alma S. [D-NC-12]
Cosponsor • House • D • NC
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Cosponsor • House • D • DC
Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7]
Cosponsor • House • D • AL
Rep. Williams, Nikema [D-GA-5]
Primary Sponsor • House • D • GA
HBCU Endowment and Tuition Reparations Act
Education • Idea
Historically Black Colleges and Universities remain underfunded due to decades of unequal state and federal support, limiting educational and economic mobility.
Linked Legislator Scorecards
Rep. Adams, Alma S. [D-NC-12]
Primary Sponsor • House • D • NC
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Cosponsor • House • D • DC
Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]
Cosponsor • House • D • TN
Rep. Thompson, Bennie G. [D-MS-2]
Cosponsor • House • D • MS
Suggested Relationships
These policies may be related based on shared categories, era, and proximity in time.
1934 • Law • Democratic Party
Jim Crow and Disenfranchisement • Negative
Shared Categories: 2 • Year Distance: 1
1937 • Law • Democratic Party
Jim Crow and Disenfranchisement • Mixed
Shared Categories: 2 • Year Distance: 4
1944 • Law • Democratic Party
Civil Rights Era • Mixed
Shared Categories: 2 • Year Distance: 11
1956 • Law • Republican Party
Civil Rights Era • Negative
Shared Categories: 2 • Year Distance: 23
1935 • Law • Democratic Party
Jim Crow and Disenfranchisement • Mixed
Shared Categories: 1 • Year Distance: 2
1935 • Law • Democratic Party
Jim Crow and Disenfranchisement • Mixed
Shared Categories: 1 • Year Distance: 2
1938 • Law • Democratic Party
Jim Crow and Disenfranchisement • Mixed
Shared Categories: 1 • Year Distance: 5
1917 • Court Case • Unknown party
Jim Crow and Disenfranchisement • Positive
Shared Categories: 1 • Year Distance: 16
Sources
HOLC Overview
Unknown publisher • Government
Major Housing and Urban Development Legislation Since 1932
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Government
Published: Jan 1, 2024
HUD legislative chronology stating that the Home Owners Loan Act of 1933 created the Home Owners' Loan Corporation to refinance mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure during the Depression.
View sourceHOLC “redlining” maps: The persistent structure of segregation and economic inequality
National Community Reinvestment Coalition • Nonprofit
Published: Mar 20, 2018
NCRC overview of HOLC residential security maps and their long-term relationship to segregation and economic inequality.
View sourceHUD Housing Counselors Training: Module 3.1
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Government
Published: Apr 1, 2025
HUD training material explaining that HOLC was created to prevent foreclosures and later developed residential security maps that graded neighborhoods for lending risk.
View source