Stanislaus County to search for records revealing white-only neighborhoods and racism
The grotesque language of racially restrictive covenants still appears on Stanislaus property records during home-buying transactions, even though the restrictions have been illegal for more than 50 years.
The Stanislaus County clerk-recorder’s office will search millions of records for these discriminatory covenants that restricted property ownership in white-only sections and isolated minority families in substandard segregated neighborhoods.
The clerk-recorder’s office is expected to comply with Assembly Bill 1466, which requires counties to identify and redact those records to spare home buyers the shock of seeing the offensive language on deeds.
Clerk-Recorder Donna Linder said her office will hire a vendor to search records back to the county’s founding in 1854. It’s not known how many real estate transactions contained racist covenants that barred Black people, Chinese, Japanese and other racial groups from owning or occupying a home in certain areas of the county.
Through their research, educator Sharon Froba and her husband, David, revealed racially restrictive covenants in 91 of the 169 subdivisions in Modesto between the 1930s and 1950s. The county’s search will likely find similar covenants discriminating against minority groups in other communities, Linder said.
“We think we will find them for a certain time frame, when they would discriminate against people by color or religion,” Linder said.
According to the Community Associations Institute, the racial restrictions surfaced in California in the late 19th century and also resulted from a New Deal program in the 1930s promoting home ownership through Federal Housing Administration loans.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 made the racial restrictions illegal but state lawmakers believe the words are still inked onto a significant portion of California property records.
People buying homes in California “frequently find themselves confronted with the offensive language and hateful messages contained in these covenants; an experience that is especially traumatic for many home buyers of color,” according to a summary prepared for the state Senate Judiciary Committee.
Approved by the Legislature in 2021, AB 1466 requires counties to establish a program for redaction of unlawfully restrictive covenants.
The bill required counties to have an implementation plan by July 2022 but it appears the clerk-recorder’s office has until 2027 to complete the work, Linder said.
Wendy Byrd, president of the NAACP Modesto/Stanislaus Chapter, said she appreciates the county’s effort because it exposes systemic discrimination.
“It is important for the truth to come out,” Byrd said. “We are still suffering from the impacts of this discrimination.”
Byrd said people of color were not given the same privilege to acquire wealth through real estate. The program to identify the records is relevant to the discussion of reparations for the Black community in California, she said.
“In the future, we can atone and help those negatively impacted by racial discrimination,” Byrd said.
Sharon and David Froba agree with Byrd about the devastating effects of restrictive covenants but take a different view of the state mandate to amend those records. Or they want to know more about the county’s plan.
“It’s part of our history,” Sharon Froba said. “We don’t believe in erasing the truth.”
The couple said a privileged home buyer gets a dose of truth in seeing the covenant language on real estate documents and it should be disturbing. They said it’s better for the county to continue with current practice: If a person buying a home finds a racial covenant on the deed, the clerk-recorder’s office gives them a form they can attach to the document, saying the covenant is illegal.
When asked if the AB 1466 process will eliminate the evidence of racial discrimination, Linder said by email the office will retain the “nonredacted” records for future reference and “public request needs,” along with the modified documents.
The Frobas agreed that plenty of additional racial covenants will be uncovered when the vendor uses keywords to search the county’s document management system. Starting in 2016, their research group including high school students also found the racial restrictions on property records in Turlock, Ceres, Oakdale and Newman, the couple said.
Linder said there are 2.5 million documents dated between 1923 and 1980. At the moment, she estimates that six million documents need to be searched. Scanning the handwritten pages before 1920 will be more challenging.
The state bill allows county offices to charge an extra $2 recording fee to customers to cover costs of complying with the law, but Linder thinks her office can manage the costs without charging the fee.
The clerk-recorder’s office heard one pitch from a vendor with scanning equipment, and representatives of a second firm will demonstrate their technology March 23.
Linder said a contract with a vendor should be lower than a $200,000 ceiling for getting Board of Supervisors approval.
This story was originally published March 14, 2023 at 8:41 AM.
