
This was originally published by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition on October 1, 2020.
On June 3, a group of Rochester’s Black and Latino community leaders declared racism a public health crisis. They urged communities of color to remain vigilant in fighting the spread of COVID-19.
The groups, La Cumbre and the Greater Rochester Black Agenda Group, linked the disparate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities to the fact that Black and Latinx people disproportionately suffer from various health conditions that are COVID-19 comorbidities. With the new report from NCRC and their academic partners, we know these comorbidities are a direct result of segregation in housing.
Racially based segregation and discrimination are rooted in systems put in place starting over 400 years ago, when this country was settled by Europeans on land stolen from indigenous peoples and worked by peoples from Africa who were kidnapped and enslaved. This system required the creation of a racial hierarchy to justify and perpetuate it.
Rochester and the surrounding communities once belonged to the people of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. These lands were expropriated and settled by Whites who employed slaves much like the rest of North America at that time. While Rochestarians are proud that Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony are integral to our identity, we are just beginning to uncover and understand the grimmer aspects of our history.
This includes the long legacy of structural racism in Rochester’s housing market. One early way structural racism raised its ugly head was through residential redlining, which was launched by the federal government through the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Residential Security Maps. The HOLC developed the grading process used to prepare these maps during the Great Depression to help the federal government decide which mortgages were safe to insure, and to persuade banks to extend mortgage credit to homeowners. Neighborhoods that were home to a majority of people of color were given the lowest grade, “D-hazardous,” resulting in residential segregation on racial lines. (The other grades were: “A-Best,” “B-Still Desirable,” “C-Definitely Declining.”)


Census tract 92 (outlined in red), located northeast of the central business district in zip code 14605, is part of the Upper Falls Neighborhood. It is red (Q4) in the Historic Redlining Score map, meaning it was one of the most redlined. Census tract 78.02 (outlined in green), in zip code 14610, is part of the Cobbs Hill Neighborhood. It is green (Q1) in the Historic Redlining Score map, meaning it was one of the least redlined areas.
The NCRC report includes a CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to evaluate the resilience of neighborhoods to a wide range of hazards including human and natural disasters and outbreak of diseases, such as COVID-19. Census tracts 92 and 78.02 are highlighted here because they have the highest and lowest SVI scores, respectively, among the areas mapped on the HOLC maps. In addition, many of the other indicators of ongoing segregation and disparate health outcomes also align as one would expect. (See Table 1 above.)
- Census tract 92 has an SVI score of .99; 64% of the population is majority nonWhite; and 58% lives in poverty.
- Census tract 78.02 has an SVI score of .08; 12% of the population is majority nonWhite; and 4% lives in poverty.
Health outcomes are worse for Census tract 92, as seen in Table 1. Life expectancy in CT 92 is 10 years lower than in CT 78.02 (see also map below). Health indices related to stroke, diabetes, COPD and other COVID-19 risk factors are 30–60% higher in CT 92 than CT 78.02.

Housing Segregation And The COVID-19 Pandemic
As has been documented across the country, COVID-19 cases and deaths are disproportionately hitting Black and Latinx people in Monroe County and in historically redlined neighborhoods in Rochester.
According to the July 15 report of the Monroe County Department of Health,
- The rate of COVID-19 cases among Black people in Monroe County is 4 times that of White people
- The rate of COVID-19 cases among Latinx people is 2.5 times that of White people
- Black and Latinx people are more than twice as likely than White people to die from COVID-19
Data released by the Monroe County Department of Health at the end of July shows that the five zip codes with the highest rates of COVID-19 per 100,000 in Monroe County are: 14605, 14608, 14611, 14619 and 14621. The rates in these areas range from 1,224 per 100,000 to 1,046 per 100,000. The median household incomes in these areas range from $21,000 to $39,000, and their composition is 60-88% nonWhite (as seen by the American Community Survey 2013-2018).
By comparison, Monroe County, as a whole, has a much lower COVID-19 rate, 623 per 100,000, a much higher median household income, $60,222, and a relatively low 30% nonWhite population.
The high rates of COVID-19 cases in these five zip codes align with what is being found around the country and with NCRC’s report. They have the highest percentages of people of color and some of the lowest income levels, and all of them are in the city of Rochester. Four of these five zip codes cover most of the census tracts with the highest redlining scores (red tracts) outside of the central business district (circular tract in middle of map) in NCRC’s redlining map. Zip code 14619, the 19th Ward neighborhood, was scored as still desirable in the 1935 HOLC map.
In addition to the impacts of segregation outlined above, people who live in formerly redlined neighborhoods tend to work at higher-risk essential jobs, are paid less than a living wage, do not have sufficient health insurance and/or do not have family or sick leave. It is no wonder they have higher COVID-19 infection rates.
These patterns impact all low-income New Yorkers but have a disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities because of what Isabel Wilkerson calls America’s caste system.
Recommendations
In order to effectively address segregation, discrimination and the disparate impact of COVID-19, change needs to happen at the systemic level, including:
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- Federal, state and local policies to stabilize tenants and homeowners in neighborhoods with high rates of COVID-19.
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- A living wage that reflects the true cost of housing, child care, health care and higher education.
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- Access to affordable housing, child care, health care and higher education as a right, funded by a fair and equitable tax structure.
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- Paid sick leave so that people can afford to stay home, when they or a family member is sick.
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- A public bank that will achieve cost savings, strengthen local economies, support community economic development and address infrastructure and housing needs for localities.
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- Fair lending testing of all financial products, with enforcement and monetary consequences for financial institutions that discriminate against Black and Brown communities.
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- Land use policies that foster the development of affordable family housing, including allowing multifamily housing in residential areas, and reduce permitting complexity.
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- Affirmatively supporting the creation and sustainability of community land trusts.
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