Lasting Legacy: The enduring relationship between racially restrictive housing covenants and health and wellbeing

Lasting Legacy: The enduring relationship between racially restrictive housing covenants and health and wellbeing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Lasting Legacy: The enduring relationship between racially restrictive housing covenants and health and wellbeing Kristine Lamm West, Elizabeth Allen, Ava LaPlante, Anchee Nitschke Durben, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4021709/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Sep, 2024 Read the published version in Journal of Urban Health → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Racially restrictive covenants in housing deeds, commonplace for houses built from the 1910s to the 1950s, provided a foundation for the myriad of policies that made it difficult for people of color to obtain housing. Though covenants were ruled illegal in 1968, their legacy continues to shape neighborhoods. The Mapping Prejudice Project (MPP)’s efforts in Hennepin County, Minnesota produced the first systematic documentation of racially restrictive covenants. We use this novel data set to explore the relationship between historic covenants and current health and wellbeing outcomes. Using regression analysis to control for neighborhood level covariates, we compare previously covenanted neighborhoods to neighborhoods without covenants. We find that racially restrictive covenants have a lasting impact. Today covenanted neighborhoods have higher life expectancy and lower rates of obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease and asthma than neighborhoods without racially restrictive covenants. Additionally, covenanted neighborhoods have less upward mobility for children from poorer households and there are larger gaps in upward mobility between white and black children. These findings contribute to a growing literature that shows racist policies, even decades after they are legally enforceable, have enduring impacts. Using the novel data from the MPP we provide statistical analysis that confirms qualitative and anecdotal evidence on the role of racial covenants in shaping neighborhoods. covenants neighborhoods racism housing disparities Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Sep, 2024 Read the published version in Journal of Urban Health → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revise and resubmit 22 Apr, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Mar, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 20 Mar, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 06 Mar, 2024 First submitted to journal 06 Mar, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4021709","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":276825200,"identity":"172ded8b-6a33-4c15-a300-85cf33e792cf","order_by":0,"name":"Kristine Lamm West","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCXYwZcPAwAMRYGwgqIUZRCakMfDwQFQTreUwCVokm3kMH/78cd7enufw8wcfGGxkNxwgoEWamcfYmCfhdmIPb5th4wyGNGOCWuSYebdJMyTcTuDhZzBs5mE4nEiMlu0/fyScs+fhZ//Y/IfhP2Et0kBbGHgSDjD28PYYNjMwHCCsRbKZ/7M0T1pyYs+ZM4UzewySjWcS0iJxvC3x4w8bO3v2nvQNH35U2Mn2EdKCBgxIUz4KRsEoGAWjAAcAAHI4P2Y+9wurAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6390-2931","institution":"St Catherine University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kristine","middleName":"Lamm","lastName":"West","suffix":""},{"id":276825201,"identity":"48b2c99a-1b6e-4e1d-bcba-a021f26e8158","order_by":1,"name":"Elizabeth Allen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"St Catherine University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Elizabeth","middleName":"","lastName":"Allen","suffix":""},{"id":276825202,"identity":"7136fde6-f41f-426b-921f-aa2db23eb18d","order_by":2,"name":"Ava LaPlante","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"St Catherine University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ava","middleName":"","lastName":"LaPlante","suffix":""},{"id":276825203,"identity":"95080def-99e5-4fbf-b59f-5f96c0313eb5","order_by":3,"name":"Anchee Nitschke Durben","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"St Catherine University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anchee","middleName":"Nitschke","lastName":"Durben","suffix":""},{"id":276825204,"identity":"dfdc4c81-8d70-4660-aa4a-5a5cb7e2b0b7","order_by":4,"name":"Victoria Delgado Palma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"St Catherine University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Victoria","middleName":"Delgado","lastName":"Palma","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-06 16:10:45","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4021709/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4021709/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-024-00901-8","type":"published","date":"2024-09-04T15:56:56+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":64186105,"identity":"b3659e8c-0247-491c-9b74-ba51f447282b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-09-09 16:24:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":517550,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"LastinglegacyJUrbanHealth.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4021709/v1_covered_ed363251-c947-4d6c-b50c-7fa177ccf8fe.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Lasting Legacy: The enduring relationship between racially restrictive housing covenants and health and wellbeing","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-urban-health","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jurh","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Urban Health](https://www.springer.com/journal/11524)","snPcode":"11524","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/jurh","title":"Journal of Urban Health","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"covenants, neighborhoods, racism, housing, disparities","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4021709/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4021709/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Racially restrictive covenants in housing deeds, commonplace for houses built from the 1910s to the 1950s, provided a foundation for the myriad of policies that made it difficult for people of color to obtain housing. 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