Confronting Past Discrimination Embedded in Real Property Records

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

Barriers in home ownership based on racial and religious identity have been an ongoing problem inAmerican society, creating generational disparities in accumulated wealth and access to capital. Animportant culprit for this lasting inequality was the inclusion of discriminatory covenants in deeds byreal estate developers. Although the use of discriminatory covenants ended in the mid-20th centuryand has since been ruled unenforceable by law, its legacy still carries impacts to this day.To more fully understand the past and promote better future outcomes, Hennepin County undertookthe following initiatives:• Provided crucial data to research team that identified use and prevalence of discriminatorycovenants• Passed a Hennepin County Board Resolution providing historical context of the use ofdiscriminatory covenants and disavowing this past practice• Committed to ensuring greater ease for public to identify and disavow discriminatory covenantsin property records