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• 1 2022-11-22T15:55:35-08:00 Post-WWII Urban Flight and the Birth of the Suburbs 30 Housing Discrimination in Suburban America plain 1319119 2022-12-06T18:05:28-08:00 Post-World War II America saw a revolutionary change in habitation. A country healing from the devastation of the Great Depression bookended by two wars, Americans faced a national average income decrease of more than 50%, leading to foreclosures on businesses and homes alike . In response to this crisis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the FHA, or the Federal Housing Administration, as part of the New Deal, which provided federal loans and aid to increase homeownership . This began the national trend of the migration of American families out of cities and into new developments of more affordably-constructed homes, giving birth to a new habitat: the suburbs, which today make up the majority of American household developments .
  
  While the FHA was certainly responsible for increasing homeownership in the United States. However, the benefits of this programming and development did not extend to all Americans—in fact, the FHA was explicitly made exclusively for white families only, and with the emphasis on conformity created by Levitt, Black couples and families were barred from residency in these neighborhoods. This exclusion took many forms, from bureaucratic and political policies such as redlining and access to loans to physical violence. The FHA’s deliberately racist policies were largely responsible for constraining Black individuals and families in communities with limited education, resources, and opportunities for employment . From the beginning, the creation of the suburbs was founded upon racist and discriminatory policies, the repercussions of which still sustain significant inequality in the housing landscape today.