Final answer:
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was enacted to combat redlining and other discriminatory housing practices, although the FHA, created earlier, played a role in promoting residential segregation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The federal act passed to help eliminate redlining was the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Redlining is the discriminatory practice of banks and lenders refusing to offer mortgages or other loans to individuals in certain neighborhoods based on racial demographics or other factors. The Fair Housing Act aimed to outlaw this practice alongside other forms of housing discrimination.
Additionally, subsequent laws have been implemented to strengthen the efforts initiated by the Fair Housing Act to combat housing inequality. While the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created to facilitate home buying through loans and did not overtly include racial distinctions, it historically contributed to residential segregation by refusing to back loans in minority neighborhoods, effectively denying many people of color access to credit.