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Urban Canopy and Racist Housing Policies <br />Green gentrification (also known as environmental or ecological gentrification) happens when the installation <br />of new, improved, or restored green sp;:ices and infrastructure, such as trees, gets the attention of developers <br />and results in increased investment, which drives up cost of living and forces existing residents to relocate <br />(Anguelovski et al, 2079; Curran and H;:imilton; 2072; Mcclintock, 2078) To understand the risk of green <br />gentrific:ition in Sun LeJndro us the City Jims to direct urb;:in forest investments towurds Jrcus with low tree <br />cunopy, it is importJnt to ucknowlcdgc the history thJt led to toduy's inequities. <br />33 <br />RE SIDENT I AL SECUR I TY MAP <br />L E G E N D <br />-A FIRST GRADE <br />---B SECOND GRADE <br />[=Le THIRD GRADE <br />-D FOURTH GRADE <br />~ .... SPARSELY BUil T UP <br />(C::~01111 1~iltCaH~ GR 4 Df) <br />~-INDUSTRIAL <br />~·-·--COMMERCIAL (''-'~~bf:~ .. ~i'~~'f <br />CJ. ... UNDEVELOPED OR FAR MLAND <br />t .. v ,..Afle,\ia~, 01M•li£ "'''"i"' $ ,uffS l <br />OPIISI ON OF fl£S£ARCH ANO STATISncs <br />•• ,,,. l~E ro-OFllfATION or THC <br />APP"-AISAL OEPARTMENl <br />HO .._£ OW~ERs° 1..0AH CORPORATION <br />A recent assessn,ent of 37 U.S cities found that inequitable urban <br />tree c;:inopy distribution today is correlated with r;:icist housing <br />pr;:ictices called "redlining" th;:it began in 7933 with the cre;:ition of <br />the fcdcrul government's Home Owners' Lo;:in Corporc1tion {HOLC) <br />(Locke ct JI., 2027}. HOLC issued louns bused on J system of <br />perceived risk, ;:ind those upprc1isc1ls were bused primurily on Jn <br />area's demographics and the age and physical condition of its <br />housing stock. Areas with predominantly U.S.-bom, white <br />populations, and nevver housing vvere vvidely appraised as the <br />"safest" places for lending, vvhile areas with significant nurnbers of <br />racial and ethnic n,inorities. foreign-born residents, and older <br />housing stock were ;:ippraised as h;:iving the highest risk for <br />lenders. <br />These lending practices, ;:ilong with segregation and exclusionary <br />zoning, resulted in immense economic disparities ;:imong urban <br />popul;:itions th;:it wns perpetuuted by continued disinvestment of <br />public resources c1nd infrustructure. While housing discriminntion <br />;:ind redlining pructices \Vere outlawed with the 7968 F;:iir Housing <br />Act, San Leandro and adJacent cities remained mostly racially <br />White and working-class for decades (City of San Leandro, 2024). <br />The Urban Displacen,ent Project (UDP) published a report in 2078 <br />which found that from 2000-2075, there was a migration of low- <br />incon,e people of color from San Francisco to the outer areas of <br />Alamed;:i County su c h as Oakland, San Leandro, and Daly City <br />(Schafran, 2078; Menendian and Gambhir, 2078)