Table 1.

Recommended Action Areas and Strategies to Reverse the Impact of Historic Redlining

Action areas	Strategies
Housing	• Expand voucher programs through broader eligibility (tied to income adjusted for family structure), increased acceptability of use, and increased funding • Protect current homeownership during revitalizing efforts through deed restrictions, housing trust funds, and tax credits • Invest in structural housing repairs via home improvement tax credits • Expand use of community development block grants • Reform zoning for mixed income housing
Education	• Expand early childhood schooling programs such as the Head Start program within historically redlined communities • Increase access to job counseling, support for applications to technical schools with subsidies for tuition, and navigation of college application process • Develop a federally funded retention program for skilled educators in public schools • Create school funding system that is independent of the local tax base • Expand funding for special needs education in public schools
Healthcare	• Medicaid Expansion • Expand mandatory coverage of non-clinician services in Medicaid: pharmacy, community health worker, home nursing • Design value-based health system payments to incentivize addressing social needs, such as offering food vouchers • Federal incentives for expanding hospital sites
Economic empowerment	• Minimum wage increases based on federal guidelines for livable wages adjusted for locality • Standardize asset limits (asset tests) in public benefit programs (e.g., eliminating asset limits for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)) • Tax incentives to create employment in historically redlined neighborhoods • Develop education programs to use systems in place for pre-tax savings, credit, and compounded interest • Increase new homeownership through coordinated tax credits for developers building low-income home for first time homeowners and banks providing low down payment loans with planned support to minimize foreclosure
Built environment	• Investing in development of sidewalks and bike lanes • Incentivize greenspace development, development of open lots, and restoration of older buildings through tax and zoning structures • Use special use districts to protect specific types of land use based on community input • Greater investment in public transportation to expand routes
Food	• Broaden SNAP coverage and eliminate state level SNAP asset tests • Use incentives like Healthy Food Financing Initiative or New Market Tax Credits to increase retail outlets in redlined neighborhoods • Remove zoning barriers and provide tax incentives for supermarket or healthy retail store placement • Expedite reviews and approval for grocery store site placement