Racial and ethnic inequality in Chicago is so “pervasive, persistent, and consequential” that the investigators describe life for white, black and Latino residents in Chicago today as a “tale of three cities.”
The report, “A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago,” is produced by UIC’s Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy. It details the divergent conditions for blacks, Latinos and whites in the intersecting domains of housing, economics, education, justice and health.
“On virtually every indicator of inequality available, black people in Chicago are doing worse than everyone else, with Latinos not far behind,” said Kasey Henricks, report co-author and a postdoctoral associate in the institute.
Housing
-High black-white segregation levels persist even among the city’s most affluent households. Black households earning over $100,000 annually are almost as likely as those earning less than $25,000 to be segregated from whites.
-Even when they possess equivalent measures of creditworthiness compared to whites, black and Latino households are more likely to secure mortgages that have high interest rates, ballooning payment schedules, and numerous extra fees.
-Black and Latino neighborhoods were especially hard-hit in the foreclosure crises, and large portions of some minority neighborhoods continue to experience long-term vacancies with as much as 10 percent to 25 percent of housing stock abandoned in places like Englewood and Riverdale.