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Racial discrimination was once an explicit part of housing laws, regulations, and practices, which created unequal access to opportunity and wealth through intentional community and housing segregation by race. While the laws have changed, the impact of decades of institutionalized discrimination combined with new modern ways to discriminate, continues to have a profound effect on Spatial Racism or the geographic segregation of race, wealth, and opportunity. Source
Segregated housing and limited job opportunities are two of the many factors that contribute to the high rate of poverty among Black Americans. Source
According to a report by the National Council on Family Relations, racialized housing segregation is a structural mechanism of oppression that has led to broad public divestment in Black neighborhoods, including infrastructure, employment opportunities, and services. Source
The report also highlights how these mechanisms have precluded Black families from accessing wealth for centuries.
Furthermore, highly segregated neighborhoods lead to high levels of unemployment for residents, which is clear when seeing how much higher employment levels are for black Americans than white ones. This is one of the reasons why segregation and high-density poverty are so persistent and connected. Source