An Equal Opportunity Lie: Housing Discrimination in the City of Flint

Discover Uncover

As the birthplace of General Motors, the City of Flint's population exploded in the early 20th century, going from about 30,000 to 90,000 people between 1910 and 1920 as workers from the Southern US and abroad poured into the region for jobs. Flint's infrastructure wasn't keeping up as tent cities and shanty towns cropped up. As a housing solution for their workers, GM created the Modern Housing Corporation to build affordable housing and entire neighborhoods for their workers. Behind the scenes, there was something else happening. Restricted housing "covenants" were built into the contracts, formalizing segregated housing and inequality. As the community grew, the housing ordinances made long-lasting impacts on the City and surrounding areas. Listen in as host Geoff Woodcox and Jerome Threlkeld discuss how this affected the Flint community, and the great strides taken by Mayor Floyd McCree to achieve fair housing for all.
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