From 1934 to 1962, approximately 98% of home loans in the U.S. went to white families.

Many factors contribute to poverty. In the case of African Americans and other minorities, a significant factor is  a long history of state-sponsored discriminatory practices related to housing. Throughout the 20th century, federal, state and local governments actively and overtly segregated cities by race. Specifically, government entities enacted and enforced policies that encouraged and incentivized home ownership in flourishing neighborhoods for whites only, while prohibiting non-whites from enjoying the same financial opportunities. As a result, the overwhelming majority of African Americans over the last 100 years were forced to rent (or buy at exorbitant prices and with predatory loans) residences in disinvested neighborhoods with little access to competitive schools, employment, healthcare, essential household goods, effective public transportation and critical social networks. The strategies used to ensure segregation in St. Louis and other U.S. cities included the following well documented practices:

• redlining,

• racial zoning,

• land contracts,

• private race-based covenants and restrictions,

• racially discriminatory mortgage practices,

• racially discriminatory insurance practices,

• providing home ownership subsidies and incentives to whites only, and

• legislating disinvestment from predominantly black neighborhoods

The consequences of these policies continue to impact millions of African Americans today.