Why Housing Mobility? the Research Evidence Today by Margery Austin Turner and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia

Poverty & Race PRRAC POVERTY & RACE RESEARCH ACTION COUNCIL January/February 2005 Volume 14: Number 1 Why Housing Mobility? The Research Evidence Today by Margery Austin Turner and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia For too much of the last century, How Neighborhoods teenager or going to jail are seen as federal housing programs helped cre- Affect Our Lives unexceptional or “normal.” ate and sustain patterns of racial seg- • Peer influences. Young people are regation and concentrated poverty. What is it about neighborhoods that profoundly influenced by their im- But beginning in the mid-1990s, hous- affect the well-being and life chances mediate peer groups, which are of- ing mobility emerged as an explicit of their residents? Social science sug- ten composed primarily of neigh- goal of federal housing policy, and gests six important causal mechanisms bors and schoolmates. And peers efforts were launched in as many as — channels through which neighbor- become especially important during 33 metro areas to help low-income hoods can shape or constrain opportu- the teen years, when they have the families move from poor and predomi- nities. These six mechanisms make potential to fuel healthy competi- nantly minority neighborhoods to intuitive sense when we think about (Please turn to page 2) more affluent and racially integrated our own families and about the kinds communities. Many of these efforts of neighborhoods in which we want were inspired by research on the to live. CONTENTS: Gautreaux demonstration, part of the • Local service quality. Many essen- remedy achieved by a landmark de- Housing Mobility tial public and private services are Research ................... 1 segregation lawsuit in Chicago. The delivered at the neighborhood level. Symposium — Gautreaux research showed that chil- Most of us think about the quality A National Gautreaux dren whose families moved from pre- of public schools as an important dominantly black neighborhoods of factor in choosing a neighborhood, Program: Chicago to integrated neighborhoods but distressed neighborhoods often Paul Wachtel ............. 3 in the suburbs were substantially more lack decent grocery stores, reliable john powell ............... 4 likely to succeed in school and to go child care, engaging after-school Sudhir Venkatesh ..... 5 on to college or jobs. activities, and healthy recreational Sheryll Cashin ........... 6 Since then, considerably more re- facilities as well. George Galster .......... 7 search has explored both the conse- • Shared norms and social control. Libby Perl .................. 8 quences of living in a distressed com- In healthy neighborhoods, shared David Rusk ................ 9 munity and the potential benefits of norms and values help control Community Land moving. Overall, the research evi- everybody’s behavior and teach Trusts ....................... 11 dence provides strong support for poli- children what is expected of them Predatory Lending .... 17 cies that promote housing mobility. as they mature. Most of us would Apologies/ But some findings raise questions or rather live in a neighborhood where Reparations ............ 20 doubts about who is likely to benefit other parents let us know when our PRRAC Update ......... 21 and how. And, not surprisingly, the children misbehave than one in Resources ................. 22 research record remains inconclusive which dealing drugs, dropping out or incomplete in some respects. of school, getting pregnant as a Poverty & Race Research Action Council • 3000 Connecticut Avenue NW • Suite 200 • Washington, DC 20008 202/387-9887 • FAX: 202/387-0764 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.prrac.org Recycled Paper (MOBILITY: Continued from page 1) Consequences of which they grew up than by those in Neighborhood Distress which they currently live. Nonethe- tion over grades and athletics or to less, some research has found evidence humiliate kids who do well in school A considerable body of social sci- that distance from jobs reduces employ- and pressure them to join in on risky ence research finds evidence that liv- ment rates, particularly among lower- adventures. ing in profoundly poor or distressed skilled adults. • Social networks. Adults often get neighborhoods can have a significant help and support from the networks impact on people’s well-being and of people they know, including longer-term life chances. These im- Influence of Neighbor– neighbors. Who we know (and who pacts — and the extent to which they hoods on Health we get to know because of where have been rigorously studied — vary we live) can be an important source across different age groups. Since the 1980s, public health re- of job leads, parenting support, or Relatively little research has fo- searchers and practitioners have been health advice and referrals. cused on how neighborhood distress increasingly interested in the influence • Crime and violence. Living in a affects infants and young children. of neighborhood conditions on the high-crime area increases risks for But studies have found that having health of residents. Individuals in both adults and children, including more affluent neighbors is associated lower socioeconomic positions (i.e., the risk of being a victim of bur- those with lower education, income glary or assault. But research in- Overall, the research and occupational status) tend to have creasingly suggests that exposure to higher rates of mortality and disease crime and violence has more far- evidence provides than individuals in higher socioeco- reaching consequences, including strong support for nomic positions. Additionally, re- persistent anxiety and emotional policies that promote search suggests that living in disadvan- trauma. housing mobility. taged neighborhoods increases the risk • Job access. As jobs become in- of mortality and disease. This means creasingly decentralized in most that a poor person living in a disad- metropolitan areas, some inner-city with higher IQ for preschool kids; that vantaged neighborhood would tend to neighborhoods have become physi- preschool children living in low-in- have worse health than a poor person cally isolated from economic oppor- come neighborhoods exhibit more ag- living in a more prosperous neighbor- tunity. Although few of us work gressive behavior when interacting hood. Thus, improving neighborhood in the same neighborhoods where with others; and that elementary conditions might significantly improve we live, people who rely on public school performance is linked to neigh- population health. In an article pub- transportation may have real diffi- borhood social and economic status. lished in the June 2003 Journal of Epi- culty finding jobs that are accessible Many more studies have focused on demiology and Community Health, to poor, inner-city neighborhoods. links between neighborhood environ- Winkleby and Cubbin showed that ment and the social and economic well- deaths would hypothetically be re- being of adolescents. Young people duced by about 20% among white, from high-poverty and distressed black and Mexican-American men and neighborhoods are less successful in women if everyone had the same death Poverty and Race (ISSN 1075-3591) school than their counterparts from rates as those people living in the neigh- is published six times a year by the more affluent communities; they earn borhoods with the most favorable so- Poverty & Race Research Action lower grades, are more likely to drop Council, 3000 Conn. Ave. NW, #200, cioeconomic conditions. Washington, DC 20008, 202/387- out, and less likely to go on to col- Possible mechanisms through which 9887, fax: 202/387-0764, E-mail: lege. Kids from poor neighborhoods neighborhoods influence health may [email protected]. Chester Hartman, are also less likely to get jobs during range from direct physical influences, Editor. Subscriptions are $25/year, and immediately after high school. such as exposure to toxic waste, to the $45/two years. Foreign postage ex- Studies have also documented that cumulative stress associated with liv- tra. Articles, article suggestions, let- neighborhood environment influences ing in unsafe neighborhoods with lim- ters and general comments are wel- teens’ sexual activity and the likeli- come, as are notices of publications, ited resources. Additionally, since dis- conferences, job openings, etc. for our hood that girls will become pregnant advantaged neighborhoods may limit Resources Section. Articles generally during their teen years. And finally, opportunities for upward social mo- may be reprinted, providing PRRAC young people who live in high-crime bility, neighborhoods may also influ- gives advance permission. areas have been found to be more ence health status by shaping socioeco- © Copyright 2005 by the Poverty likely to commit crimes themselves. nomic attainment throughout the life & Race Research Action Council. All Adults may be influenced more by course. In turn, the distribution of rights reserved. the neighborhood environments in (Please turn to page 13) 2 • Poverty & Race • Vol. 14, No. 1 • January/February 2005 Symposium: A National Gautreaux Program Our Nov./Dec. issue featured Alexander Polikoff’s proposal for a national program to “end the ghetto as we know it,” building on Chicago’s Gautreaux program (if you missed that issue, it’s on our website — www.prrac.org — or send us a large SASE — $1.06 postage). We asked a range of knowledgeable folks, all committed to the goal Polikoff put forth, to offer their comments. We’ll print Polikoff’s comment on the comments in our March/April issue.

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