UAlbany Researchers Study Link Between Historic Mortgage Disinvestment and Longevity
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 29, 2026) — Does the mortgage-lending risk score of the neighborhood you grew up in impact the length of your life?
In the 1930s and 1940s, when the federal government was legally using such scores, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) created maps of New York City neighborhoods grading neighborhoods by presumed mortgage lending risk, with those graded “D” indicating the most risk. Researchers have associated that historical disinvestment to outcomes including lower levels of green space, higher heat indices and adverse health outcomes. However, most people living in today’s neighborhoods were not alive when the HOLC legally used these grades.
A new study led by UAlbany Sociology Professor Samantha Friedman aims to track mortality of people born from 1930 to 1940 in neighborhoods the HOLC was legally grading based upon mortgage risk. Friedman and her team will track individuals between the 1940 and 1950 censuses to determine whether they were consistently exposed to “D” graded areas or contexts deemed as risky for mortgage investment.
These records will be linked to death records made available through National Archives and Records Administration and Social Security records to determine the longevity of individuals exposed to consistently high mortgage risk, relative to those not consistently or never exposed to high risk in 1940 and 1950.
“This project can offer us a better assessment of the association between residence in areas experiencing mortgage risk and longevity,” Friedman said. “By having information about mortgage disinvestment and individuals’ exposure to this disinvestment, this study will move beyond existing, contemporary research that examines the association between mortgage disinvestment and mortality among people who were largely not exposed to the government legal disinvestment.”
Friedman’s project is being supported by a two-year, $452,409 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Co-principal investigators on the study are Rui Li and Shiguo Jiang, both associate professors in UAlbany’s Department of Geography, Planning & Sustainability.
“Professors Friedman, Li and Jiang are embarking on a project that brings together knowledge and data from an interdisciplinary perspective to reveal important health impacts from policies and procedures undertaken in the past,” said Jeanette Altarriba, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, home to the departments of sociology and geography & planning. “Their work combines sociological, historical, geographical and health-related information to uncover the ways in which early economic-based approaches have impacted the well-being of residents in the neighborhoods under study. This work also underscores the importance of bringing together a research team that includes students at various levels enhancing their training and skill base by engaging in true hands-on learning.”
The critical innovation of this project is the digitizing of color, enumeration district (ED) maps used by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 1940s and 1950s. Few color ED maps have been digitized across the U.S. during this time period. The few ED mapfiles that exist are based on black-and-white images, which have inaccuracies because the ED boundaries are drawn in orange on the actual maps. This project also will be the first in the nation to digitize EDs containing large apartment buildings and group quarters.
Much of the digitizing work is being done by a team of undergraduate and graduate students, whose initial work was in part supported by a grant from UAlbany’s Minerva Center. Friedman and Li’s travel to the National Archives and Records Administration, where original ED maps are stored and were scanned, was supported by a Faculty Research Awards Program grant from UAlbany’s Division for Research & Economic Development. This internal seed money helped bring the project to the point where it was granted NIH funding.
Examining America's Metropolis
NYC is an ideal location for this pilot study because it was the nation’s largest city in 1940, Friedman explained. The project will create public-use, digital map files for 1940 and 1950 ED census maps as well as HOLC grade scores for those historical geographic areas and contiguous ED areas. If individuals moved out of NYC between 1940 and 1950, their neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods will also be digitized.
Friedman estimates it will take a year to get that infrastructure in place. During the second year, the data will be analyzed to determine if early-life, consistent exposure to mortgage disinvestment through HOLC Grade D areas is associated with mortality among the 1930-1940 birth cohort, relative to those not consistently or never exposed to D grading.
“Knowledge generated from this work will help health practitioners and public health professionals identify populations living in mortgage-disinvested neighborhoods who may be at elevated risk of premature mortality,” Friedman said.