housing covenants
Deed-based property restrictions
Housing covenants are restrictions written into property deeds that limit how land can be used or who can occupy it.
Modern covenants regulate building materials, fence heights, or whether you can park an RV in your driveway: The housing covenants prohibit exterior paint colors not approved by the HOA.
Historically, racially restrictive covenants barred Black families and other minorities from purchasing homes in white neighborhoods—a practice outlawed in 1968 but whose effects shaped American residential segregation for generations.
- deedWritten property conveyance
- deed restrictionsLegal limits on property use
- restrictionLimit on action
- neighborhoodResidential area nearby
- neighborhood associationLocal homeowners' collective body
HOA · property · property rights · exclusion · redlining · Jim Crow · civil rights · subdivision · binding · discriminatory · racial · zoning · agreement · clause · segregation · homeowner · home ownership · gated community
housing covenantsopen housing
Discrimination-free property market
housing integration · anti-discrimination policies · desegregation
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