From housing discrimination to asthma and heart disease, the legacy of federal policy still shapes health outcomes in our city.

By Eva Singletary

Eva Singletary graduated from New Rochelle High School in 2025 and is now a student at the University of Pennsylvania.

Senator Chuck Schumer 

322 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Schumer, 

I am Eva Singletary, a 2025 graduate of New Rochelle High School. In the local community, I took on several roles including co-president of the New Rochelle High School Student body, National Honor Society Vice President, Honors student, mentor to young dancers at my dance studio, and leader of New York Covenant Church’s Teen Ministry among others. I was also a part of the Air of Truth environmental justice research project at the high school. Through my coursework, including AP African American Studies, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and the AP Capstone program which incorporated a year long independent research project, I came to understand how federal housing policy continues to shape health and opportunity in New Rochelle today.

I  looked into the National Housing Act of 1934 in my AP African American Studies class. The act was passed to improve homeownership and lift the American economy from the turmoil of the Great Depression. Following the enactment of the Housing Act, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created to offer Americans low-cost mortgages, but nuances in the policy denied African Americans the opportunity to become homeowners. 

According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), between 1935 and 1940, the Home Owners’ Loan Coalition (HOLC) classified American neighborhoods on a grading scale of best to hazardous (grade A to grade D).

Redlining map of Lincoln Corridor, 1937 (Lincoln Avenue formerly known as Winyah Place)

African American communities were deemed dangerous or “redlined,” leading to FHA loan denials. As a result, Black families often turned to contract lending, where White buyers inflated their mortgage loans to maximize their profit. By denying low-interest mortgages to African Americans in redlined communities, the FHA perpetuated a racial and wealth divide, depriving the Black community of the opportunity to develop assets and generational wealth. The impacts of these federal housing policies did not end in the 20th century. In cities like New Rochelle, the legacy of redlining continues to shape where people live, the quality of their environment, and their long-term health outcomes.

Redlining map of City Park neighborhood, 1937

The National Housing Act of 1934 worked against African Americans and slowed the community’s progress toward advancement in the 20th century and beyond. In her book, Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America, Beryl Satter, a historian and professor at Rutgers University, argues that “the reason for the decline of many black urban neighborhoods into slums was not the absence of resources, but rather the riches that could be drawn from the seemingly poor vein of decrepit housing” (Phillips, 2009). This claim implies that if Black families had not been stripped of thousands of dollars through contract lending or subprime loans, the decline of Black neighborhoods would not be as severe, reducing  the racial wealth gap. 

Today, in New Rochelle and many other cities across the country, the adverse effects of the National Housing Act of 1934 and redlining are evident in the health outcomes of Black and Brown Americans. A group of researchers and nurses from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Reserve Western University revealed that due to the lack of resources and quality hospitals within redlined communities,  residents of redlined neighborhoods were more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases. Since the Lincoln Corridor along with other neighborhoods in New Rochelle were redlined, such illnesses could be affecting New Rochelleans. 

A 1936 article in the Federal Home Loan Bank Review explained how “security maps” were created.

These health disparities are reinforced by environmental data collected by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Through its community air monitoring program, the DEC conducted block-by-block air quality monitoring in ten communities across New York State, including New Rochelle. The results show that air pollution burdens are often higher in neighborhoods that were historically redlined, confirming a direct link between discriminatory housing policy and present-day environmental exposure. 

As part of the “Air of Truth” project, a program of the Energy Justice Law and Policy Center, in my senior AP Capstone project, I investigated differences in asthma severity across three New Rochelle zip codes. I found that, overall, all participating children had poorly controlled asthma. Through interviews, parents repeatedly emphasized that asthma education within the public school system could significantly improve outcomes. 

New Rochelle Zip code 10801 has one of the highest asthma rates in Westchester County

Based on this research, I recommend that solutions like standardized asthma education and community-based environmental health initiatives be prioritized and funded at the federal level and encouraged at the state level. As Congress considers investments in public health, education, and environmental justice, programs that directly address the lasting health impacts of redlining should be elevated and supported. Federal leadership can help ensure that evidence-based, community-driven interventions are not only piloted locally, but scaled in communities across the country facing similar disparities.

These initial measures can help to improve residents’ health in these areas. Additionally, to address the racial wealth gap in New York, the city should persist in developing affordable housing complexes, allowing residents of redlined communities to improve their living conditions and work towards homeownership.

While reversing the effects of redlining is a gradual process, these initiatives will serve as a model for the greater Hudson Valley and inspire lawmakers across the country to enhance conditions for Black and Brown Americans residing in redlined communities.

Sincerely, 

Eva Singletary