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“A Raisin in the Sun”: Housing Discrimination and Barriers to Home Ownership in Madison

10/14/2022 11:16:46 AM

Oct14

On September 15, the Racial Justice Action Team hosted a discussion on housing discrimination in Dane County. The starting point for discussion was the extraordinary play by Lorraine Hansberry, “A Raisin in the Sun,” which first premiered in 1959 and which was presented this summer at American Players Theatre in Spring Green. APT describes the play as “a stunning classic that examines the ways racism suppresses the lives and aspirations of Black families.”

Austin Johnson, lead housing staff of the Urban League of Greater Madison, led a discussion of the play’s relevance and current barriers to home ownership by African Americans. Mr. Johnson reviewed federal mortgage guarantees beginning with the New Deal and how the practice of redlining, developed to assess the risk of lending, severely undermined the ability of Black people to buy property. Discriminatory lending practices led to much lower home ownership rates and made it much harder for Black families to create generational wealth. This in turn led to greater racial segregation, distance from job opportunities, underinvestment in certain schools, and concentration of poverty within cities across the country. The feelings of financial despair and being trapped in a bad apartment are explored in “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Although redlining was outlawed by the 1968 Civil Rights Act, its effects persist today. Appraisals in Black neighborhoods are consistently below market, and there have been instances where a single house has been valued at one price if the appraiser believes the homeowner is white and half that much if the appraiser is aware the homeowner is Black. 

There are also significant differences in the rate of home ownership between white and Black individuals and families. Those differences are even worse here in Madison, where white people own homes at more than three times the rate of Black people:

2019 home ownership rate White Black
Nationally 72% 42%
Madison 52% 15%


Mr. Johnson noted that unlike a number of Midwest cities, Madison does not have much of a Black middle class or Black middle-class neighborhoods. The Black population is only 7%, with few Black businesses or Black gathering spaces, and there are also strong disparities in incarceration and school success. As a result, Black people are sometimes uncomfortable here and more transient than in Milwaukee or Chicago. 

The Urban League of Greater Madison has been working to address these issues in a variety of ways. On the housing front, it has bought and rehabilitated 16 family homes in south and northeast Madison, then worked with first-time home buyers to provide financial coaching and down payment assistance, arrange mortgages, and offer education and support for property maintenance. A local organization called “Own It” is working with realtors and lenders about ways they can help equalize opportunities for home ownership.

The Urban League is also developing the Black Business Hub, a home to retail and other businesses owned by Black and other entrepreneurs of color, ranging from start-ups to established business looking to expand. It will offer a place-based system of entrepreneurial supports including loans, grants, technical assistance, and networking. For a deeper look at the many projects happening in South Madison and the potential they have to address Dane County's long-standing racial disparities, see here. 

Rabbi Bonnie Margulis noted that many other organizations are working on all aspects of housing in Dane County, including homelessness, rentals, and home ownership. A housing summit is scheduled for January 31, 2023; watch more information later this year. 

April 25, 2024 17 Nisan 5784