National Housing Act of 1934 — Bunk History

An illustration from a book of homes published by a Pennsylvania lumber company in 1920

The Latent Racism of the Better Homes in America Program

How Better Homes in America—a collaboration between Herbert Hoover and the editor of a conservative women’s magazine—promoted idealized whiteness.

by Manisha Claire via JSTOR Daily on February 26, 2020

151 Years of America’s Housing History

From the first tenement regulation to work requirements for public-housing residents, these are key moments in housing policy.

via The Nation on May 24, 2018

Housing Segregation In Everything

In 1968, the Fair Housing Act made it illegal to discriminate in housing. So why are neighborhoods still so segregated?

by Gene Demby, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Kara Frame via NPR on April 11, 2018

Bars labeled First through Fourth depicting risk levels for housing loans.

The Shame of the Suburbs

How America gave up on housing equality.

by David Denison via The Baffler on May 9, 2023

A collage shows a white hand segregating Black Americans.

No Breakthrough in Sight

More than fifty years after the Fair Housing Act, inequality and segregation persists. What went wrong?

by Kaila Philo via The Baffler on May 9, 2023

Futuristic representation of housing in Oakland

Untimely Futures

In Oakland, California, when it comes to Black homelessness and dispossession, dystopia is already here.

by Brandi T. Summers via Places Journal on November 1, 2021

Overhead image of suburban houses from Levittown, Pennsylvania

The Origins of Sprawl

On William Gibson, Sonic Youth, and the genesis of the American suburb.

by Jason Diamond via The Paris Review on August 26, 2020

White Americans' Hold on Wealth Is Old, Deep, and Nearly Unshakeable

White families quickly recuperated financial losses after the Civil War, then created a Jim Crow credit system.

by Brentin Mock via CityLab on September 3, 2019

brought to you by

© Bunk History