An integrated housing cooperative comprised of middle-class families, which tried to buy a plot of land in Palo Alto, California after World War II. Because it included black families, the Peninsula Housing Association could not get government financing to build its planned subdivision, and was ultimately forced to disband. This shows how far the Federal Housing Administration was willing to go to maintain its racist policies: even though nearly all Peninsula Housing Association’s members were white and the organization explicitly (although reluctantly) agreed to prevent more African Americans from moving into its planned neighborhood, the government still would not support its construction plans because it was not 100 percent white.
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Peninsula Housing Association Term Timeline in The Color of Law
The timeline below shows where the term Peninsula Housing Association appears in The Color of Law. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: If San Francisco, Then Everywhere?
...to find housing, he “joined and then helped to lead” a housing cooperative called the Peninsula Housing Association of Palo Alto, which bought a plot of land and tried to build several hundred...
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Ultimately, the Peninsula Housing Association narrowly voted to put a quota on African American membership. But the government still would...
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