Fewer Mental Health Experts Available in Historically Redlined Areas: Study

Access to mental health professionals in some U.S. neighborhoods seems to be impacted by redlining policies implemented nearly 100 years ago and deemed illegal in the 1960s, according to new research by George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Clese Erikson, the principal investigator at the university's Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, led the research team in a study of the Richmond area in Virginia and Guilford County in North Carolina, the latter of which researchers referred to by its county seat of Greensboro. Both areas were identified as "having a shortage in mental health professionals," according to a Thursday press release.

"While it may seem hard to understand how structurally racist redlining policies that were implemented nearly 100 years ago would impact access to care today, this initial analysis suggests that could be the case," Erikson said in the release.

The redlining process gained steam in the 1930s as a way of identifying "high-risk" housing investment locations. While low-risk areas often featured wealthier white populations, those with "lower-income Black and immigrant populations" were often marked as high-risk sites, researchers said.

In addition to impacting housing, the process "has been associated with health disparities resulting from delays in diagnosis and treatment," according to the release.

The U.S. outlawed housing discrimination in the 1960s with the Fair Housing Act, but federal officials have acknowledged the "lasting negative impact" of redlining. Last October, the U.S. Department of Justice launched its Combatting Redlining Initiative, which U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said would make "far more robust use of our fair lending authorities." The Civil Rights Division's Housing and Civil Enforcement Section would oversee the initiative, Garland said.

At the time the initiative was announced, the department noted the "gap in homeownership rates between white and Black families is larger today than it was in 1960," before housing discrimination was deemed illegal.

For the paper published Thursday by JAMA Network Open, researchers looked at areas within Richmond and Greensboro that had been redlined in the past. Lower percentages of psychologists, therapists and counselors were based in those areas compared with "green" or low-risk neighborhoods, the paper said. About 33 percent of mental health professionals in Richmond were found in previously redlined neighborhoods, and nearly 20 percent were in redlined areas in Greensboro.

Researchers found "nearly three times as many psychologists, counselors and therapists per capita" in low-risk areas in Richmond compared with redlined areas, and low-risk areas in Greensboro had "over 20 times the number of psychologists, counselors and therapists per capita" compared with redlined areas.

"In addition, Greensboro's redlined areas had no psychiatrists, while its well-rated areas had five psychiatrists per 1,000 population," the release said.

While researchers said their work served as the first study in which access to mental health professionals was assessed specifically for historically redlined areas, they wrote that their findings "are consistent" with other research linking redlining with "increased racial segregation and continued disinvestment and with health inequities." Additional research is necessary to identify potential policy solutions to combat the lasting impacts of redlining, researchers wrote.

Newsweek reached out to the Civil Rights Division's Housing and Civil Enforcement Section for comment.