By: Richala Jackson
I. Background
The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments after the end of the Civil War.[1] Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment provides: “[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law.”[2] This provision suggests that everyone in the United States is considered equal and should be treated the same. However, that is not how the Supreme Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment at the time it was written. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court allowed state-sponsored segregation.[3] For example, in Louisiana it was considered a misdemeanor punishable by a fine to rent to a Black person or family if white people lived in the building.[4] In Mississippi, there were separate schools for Black and white students. [5] The Court stated “separate but equal” did not violate the constitutional doctrine of Equal Protection.[6] The facilities could be segregated by race as long as the facilities are “equal.”[7] The Court reasoned that African Americans and Caucasians do not want to be commingled.[8] Laws permitting or requiring the separation of the two races are supported by precedent and do not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other, thus does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.[9] However, these facilities were not equal and Black people often received facilities and product of lesser quality.
This holding laid the groundwork that lead to redlining. It began with racially restrictive covenants being included in property deeds.[10] The language included in the restrictive covenants often stated that white sellers could not sell their homes to Black and minority buyers.[11] These covenants made it where people of certain races could not buy the property in question.[12] This kept the neighborhoods segregated by race. However, this practice was ruled unconstitutional in Buchanan v. Warly by the Supreme Court in 1917.[13] In that case, a white man sold a house in a white neighborhood to a Black man.[14] A city ordinance prohibited Black residents from moving into white areas.[15] Unanimously, the Court decided that this form of racial segregation was unconstitutional.[16] This was a step to end racial discriminatory housing practices.
However, another discriminatory housing practice arose. With foreclosures rising because of The Great Depression, Congress created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC).[17] Congress tasked the agency with providing low-interest mortgages to both homeowners and private mortgage lenders.[18] The Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which is the parent company of the HOLC, decided to initiate the “City Survey Program”; the program was created to look at real estate trends to determine how to manage the outstanding loans.[19] The HOLC examined a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the racial and ethnic composition of the cities.[20] The City Survey Program birthed the notorious “residential security maps.”[21]
Residential security maps were created for more than 200 cities. These maps were used to indicate the level of security for real estate investments.[22] The maps were divided by four colors: green, blue, yellow, and red.[23] Grade A, or green areas, were the newest areas—most desirable for lending—and were typically affluent suburbs on the outskirts of the cities.[24] Grade B, or blue neighborhoods, were considered “Still Desirable.”[25] Neighborhoods that were considered “declining” were outlined in yellow, or Grade C.[26] Lastly, Grade D, or red areas, consisted of neighborhoods considered most risky for mortgage support.[27] The areas outlined in red often were older, inner-city districts and Black neighborhoods.[28]
This led to redlining. The term “redlining” was coined in the 1960s by sociologist John McKnight.[29] It derived from the residential security maps that outlined the neighborhoods considered high-risk investments.[30] The sole deciding factor was the demographic of the residents in those areas.[31] The manuals for assigning grades related the value of the house to the race of the people.[32] One of the manuals read, “This might be classed as a ‘Low Yellow’ area were it not for the presence of the number of Negroes and low class Foreign families who live in the area.”[33] These properties were considered low in value; thus, if there was a default on the mortgage the lenders did not get all their money back because the home would be foreclosed and auctioned at a low value due to the discriminatory redlining. Therefore, interest rates for properties in these areas were incredibly high.[34] It was difficult to obtain loans for home ownership in these redlined areas, making it difficult for the residents to become homeowners.[35]
In 1954, the Supreme Court reversed its prior ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson in the historic case of Brown v. Board of Education.[36] The Court held that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional.[37] After that holding, Congress began passing legislation to reverse all prior legislation that discriminated against minorities.[38] Of the newly enacted legislation was the Fair Housing Act, which banned racial discrimination in housing and terminated the use of the redlined maps.[39]
II. Heat Islands
While the Fair Housing Act outlawed the use of redlined maps, the effects of redlining are still felt today and continue to shape how Black and low-income Americans experience the effects of global warming.[40] Studies show that those historically redlined districts are on average five degrees[41] hotter than non-redlined districts.[42] According to one study conducted in 2,208 urban areas nationwide, the formerly redlined areas in almost every city was hotter than the non-redlined neighborhood.[43] In some, urban areas were hotter by nearly 13 degrees.[44] These previously redlined areas are now called “heat islands.”[45]
Heat islands are urban areas that experience higher temperatures than surrounding areas.[46] As a result, residents of those areas have a disproportionate risk of heat-related mortality and health impacts associated with heat and carbon pollution.[47] Numerous factors contribute to the creation of these heat islands such as buildings and roads.[48] Those structures absorb and release heat more than natural objects such as water, trees, and parks.[49] Thus, where greenery is limited, the temperature rises and those areas become an “island” due to the higher temperatures.[50]
III. Effects of Living in an Urban Heat Island
Heat is extremely dangerous for residents of heat islands. Higher temperatures lead to an increase of heat-related deaths and illnesses such as, heat strokes, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion.[51] Extreme heat is defined as a period with temperatures of over 90 degrees for at least two days. This heat is detrimental for the elderly, young children, people in poor health, and people with low income.[52] From 2004 to 2018, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 10,527 heat-related deaths.[53] All of these deaths listed heat as the underlying or contributing cause.[54]
In an article in National Public Radio (NPR), one of the residents of a heat island stated, “I can actually feel me riding out of the heat. When I get to a certain place when I’m on my way, I’ll turn off my air and I’ll roll my windows down. It just seems like the sun is beaming down on this neighborhood.”[55] The world is warming due to years of damaging human activity, [56] and as the world warms, poor and Black people in previously redlined areas experience more heat than the wealthy solely because of where they live.[57]
In Baltimore in 2018, when the heat index was 103 degrees,[58] the number of emergency calls from residents of formerly redlined areas to report heat strokes increased.[59] There was also an increase in cases of COPD, respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, high blood pressure, and other conditions.[60] Doctors stated that heat makes chronic conditions worse, and that heat can be attributed to the influx of emergency calls.[61]
IV. Environmental Justice
Many people are working on solutions for the disproportionate effects of heat islands on poor and Black communities.[62] These activists call it “environmental justice.”[63] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a section on environmental justice:
Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, concerning the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. is goal will be achieved when everyone enjoys: The same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, and Equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.[64]
Environmental justice promotes social justice by recognizing the direct link between economic, environmental, and health issues.[65] Environmental justice activists are fighting to ensure clean and safe communities and workplace environments.[66]
V. Solutions to Reducing Urban Heat Islands and Their Effects
City planners, governmental officials, and environmental lawyers are attempting to cool down the city.[67] They want to reduce the heat island effect and its impacts. The EPA even has a program geared toward encouraging the adoption of green infrastructure practices.[68] The EPA suggests planting shade trees and installing green roofs.[69] Green roofs are vegetation grown on a rooftop to absorb heat.[70] They also reduce your energy bill by reducing the amount of energy needed to cool and heat your house.[71] Some cities have turned vacant lots into community green spaces and are implementing plans to create a tree canopy.[72]
The states can also implement environmental policies to help regulate air pollution.[73] Policies like the Clean Air Act and low carbon fuel standards can aid in decreasing heat in heavily urban areas.[74] Such policies will help reduce emissions, leading to fewer greenhouse gases, thus decreasing the effects of elevated temperatures in urban areas.[75]
Legislators can also take action to reduce the effects of heat islands—specifically, by expanding the warranty of habitability.[76] Currently, all lease agreements include a warranty of habitability.[77] Landlords are ensuring tenants that the property is habitable and complies with the housing codes.[78] However, most state housing codes—particularly in the Northern States—include provisions for heating, but not for cooling.[79]
The housing codes require that all properties have heat when it is cold but do not require landlords to provide air when it is hot.[80] Thus, many public housing buildings in urban heat islands do not have air conditioning, leaving tenants to suffer through the summer heat. The legislators would solve at least one part of the overall problem by amending the housing codes to include air conditioning as a requirement under the warranty of habitability.[81]
As the aforementioned analysis shows, the implementation of the proposed solutions can assist in improving the conditions of the residents of urban heat islands.
[1] U.S. Const. amend. XIV.
[2] Id.
[3] Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 16 S. Ct. 1138 (1896).
[4] Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Examples of Jim Crow Laws, Ferris State University, https://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/links/misclink/examples.htm [https://perma.cc/7Z3Q-8TKZ] ( last visited Oct. 19, 2021).
[5] Id.
[6] Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 16 S. Ct. 1138 (1896).
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Seattle Office of Civil Rights, Seeking Environmental Justice: Heat waves disproportionately affect BIPOC communities (Jul. 13, 2021), https://ocr.seattle.gov/environmental-justice-heat-waves/ [https://perma.cc/S99W-SZS3].
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S. Ct. 16 (1917); see also Kriston Capps, Breaking ‘the Backbone of Segregation’, Bloomberg City Lab (Nov. 5, 2017, 10:03 AM), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-05/-buchanan-v-warley-a-housing-milestone-at-100 [https://perma.cc/FVX4-DYLZ]; Seattle Office of Civil Rights, Seeking Environmental Justice: Heat waves disproportionately affect BIPOC communities (Jul. 13, 2021), https://ocr.seattle.gov/environmental-justice-heat-waves/ [https://perma.cc/N8T8-NTPX].
[14] Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S. Ct. 16 (1917).
[15] Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S. Ct. 16 (1917); see also Kriston Capps, Breaking ‘the Backbone of Segregation’, Bloomberg City Lab (Nov. 5, 2017, 10:03 AM), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-05/-buchanan-v-warley-a-housing-milestone-at-100 [https://perma.cc/GWP2-TH88]; Seattle Office of Civil Rights, Seeking Environmental Justice: Heat waves disproportionately affect BIPOC communities (Jul. 13, 2021), https://ocr.seattle.gov/environmental-justice-heat-waves/ [https://perma.cc/K7BP-4LE8].
[16] Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S. Ct. 16 (1917); see also Kriston Capps, Breaking ‘the Backbone of Segregation’, Bloomberg City Lab (Nov. 5, 2017, 10:03 AM), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-05/-buchanan-v-warley-a-housing-milestone-at-100 [https://perma.cc/GWP2-TH88]; Seattle Office of Civil Rights, Seeking Environmental Justice: Heat waves disproportionately affect BIPOC communities (Jul. 13, 2021), https://ocr.seattle.gov/environmental-justice-heat-waves/ [https://perma.cc/K7BP-4LE8].
[17] Bruce Mitchell, HOLC “Redlining” Maps: The Persistent Structure of Segregation and Economic Inequality, National Community Reinvestment Coalition (Mar. 20, 2018), https://ncrc.org/holc/; see generally Candace Jackson, What is Redlining, NY Times (Aug. 17, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/what-is-redlining.html [https://perma.cc/WPH9-VQ3U].
[18] Id.
[19] Donnelly_B, A short history of redlining, SmartCitiesDive, https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/short-history-redlining/1162160/ (last visited Oct. 18, 2021); see generally Candace Jackson, What is Redlining, NY Times (Aug. 17, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/what-is-redlining.html [https://perma.cc/WPH9-VQ3U].
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] Id.
[23] Libertina Brandt, How redlining kept Black American from home ownership decades ago- and is still contributing to the racial wealth gap today, Business Insider (Jun 16, 2020, 11:09 AM), https://www.businessinsider.com/how-redlining-kept-black-americans-from-homeownership-and-still-does-2020-6 [https://perma.cc/G54W-D4J2].
[24] Id.
[25] Id.
[26] Id.
[27] Id.
[28] Id.
[29] Redlining, Corporate Finance Institute, https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/redlining/ [https://perma.cc/39SF-6J4L] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[30] Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Case For Reparations, The Atlantic (Jun. 2014), https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/ [https://perma.cc/FS92-H9ZV].
[31] Id.
[32] Id.
[33] Clarifying Remarks on Map of Tacoma, WA, Mapping Inequality, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=12/47.236/-122.596&city=tacoma-wa&area=D7 [https://perma.cc/G54W-D4J2] (last visited Oct. 19, 2021).
[34] Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Case For Reparations, The Atlantic (Jun. 2014), https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/ [https://perma.cc/FS92-H9ZV].
[35] Id.
[36] Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686 (1954).
[37] Id.
[38] Id.
[39] Fair Housing Act, 90 P.L. 284, 82 Stat. 73.
[40] Daniel Cusick, Past Racist “Redlining” Practice Increased Climate Burden on Minority Neighborhoods, Scientific American (Jan 21, 2020), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/past-racist-redlining-practices-increased-climate-burden-on-minority-neighborhoods/ [https://perma.cc/8H76-CTVS]; Jeremy Hoffman, The Effect of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra- Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas (Jan. 13, 2020), https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/1/12 [https://perma.cc/YP22-W39P].
[41] Degrees is measured in Fahrenheit.
[42] Daniel Cusick, Past Racist “Redlining” Practice Increased Climate Burden on Minority Neighborhoods, Scientific American (Jan 21, 2020), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/past-racist-redlining-practices-increased-climate-burden-on-minority-neighborhoods/ [https://perma.cc/8H76-CTVS].
[43] Id.
[44] Id.
[45] Id.
[46] Heat Island Effect, Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/heatislands [https://perma.cc/95MX-GZVC] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[47] Daniel Cusick, Past Racist “Redlining” Practice Increased Climate Burden on Minority Neighborhoods, Scientific American (Jan 21, 2020), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/past-racist-redlining-practices-increased-climate-burden-on-minority-neighborhoods/ [https://perma.cc/8H76-CTVS].
[48] Heat Island Effect, Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/heatislands [https://perma.cc/95MX-GZVC] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[49] Id.
[50] Id.
[51] Heat Island Impacts, Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/heat-island-impacts [https://perma.cc/FZ85-YDKQ] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[52] Id.
[53] Id.
[54] Id.
[55] Meg Anderson, As Rising Heat Bakes U.S. Cities, The Poor Often Feel It Most, NPR (Sept. 3, 2019), https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most [https://perma.cc/YXW7-KKVC].
[56] See generally Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions [https://perma.cc/K2WB-EVQW] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[57] Climate Change and Heat Islands, Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/climate-change-and-heat-islands [https://perma.cc/P4VD-4Q54] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[58] Degrees measured in Fahrenheit.
[59] Meg Anderson, As Rising Heat Bakes U.S. Cities, The Poor Often Feel It Most, NPR (Sept. 3, 2019), https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most [https://perma.cc/YXW7-KKVC].
[60] Id.
[61] Id.
[62] Cool Policies for Cool Cities:Best Practices for Mitigating Urban Heat Islands in North American Cities, ACEEE https://www.aceee.org/sites/default/files/publications/researchreports/u1405.pdf [https://perma.cc/WZ58-CA93] (last visited Feb. 24, 2022).
[63] Environmental Justice, Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice [https://perma.cc/45FX-B2RD] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[64] Id.
[65] Environmental Justice & Environmental Racism, http://greenaction.org/what-is-environmental-justice/ [https://perma.cc/XB2M-XSNU] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[66] Id.
[67] Cool Policies for Cool Cities:Best Practices for Mitigating Urban Heat Islands in North American Cities, ACEEE https://www.aceee.org/sites/default/files/publications/researchreports/u1405.pdf [https://perma.cc/WZ58-CA93] (last visited Feb. 24, 2022).
[68] Collaborate with Green Infrastructure Partners, Envtl. Protection Agency https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/collaborate-green-infrastructure-partners [https://perma.cc/3D75-JNSM] (last visited Feb. 24, 2022).
[69] What You Can Do to Reduce Heat Islands , Envtl. Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/what-you-can-do-reduce-heat-islands [https://perma.cc/P4VD-4Q54] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[70] Id.
[71] Id.
[72] Id.
[73] What is Urban Heat Island, Conserve Energy Future, https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/effects-solutions-urban-heat-island.php [https://perma.cc/8LH2-2NGK] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[74] Id.
[75] Id.
[76] Micheal Gerrard, Legal Tools for Cities to Cope with Extreme Heat, New York Law Journal (Nov. 8, 2018), http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/files/2018/11/legal-tools-for-cities-to-cope-with-extreme-heat.pdf [https://perma.cc/X8Q8-NAC3].
[77] Implied Warranty of Habitability, Cornell Law School https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/implied_warranty_of_habitability [https://perma.cc/KGP5-BPZL] (last visited Oct. 18, 2021).
[78] Id.
[79] See Ann Arbor, Michigan Code of Ordinances Sec. 8:506; Auburn, Alabama Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-174.
[80] See Ann Arbor, Michigan Code of Ordinances Sec. 8:506; Auburn, Alabama Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-174.
[81] Micheal Gerrard, Legal Tools for Cities to Cope with Extreme Heat, New York Law Journal (Nov. 8, 2018), http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/files/2018/11/legal-tools-for-cities-to-cope-with-extreme-heat.pdf [https://perma.cc/9E3P-THMF].
