Cityscape

by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

A Journal of Policy
Development and Research
Mixed Messages on Mixed incoMes
Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | Office of Policy Development and Research

Managing Editor: Mark D. Shroder
Associate Editor: Michelle P. Matuga
Advisory Board
Peter Dreier
Occidental College
Richard K. Green
University of Southern California
Keith R. Ihlanfeldt
The Florida State University
Annette M. Kim
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Carlos E. Martín
Abt Associates Inc.
Douglas S. Massey
Princeton University
Sandra J. Newman
Johns Hopkins University
Marybeth Shinn
Vanderbilt University
Raymond J. Struyk
Paul Waddell
University of California, Berkeley
John C. Weicher
Hudson Institute, Inc.

Cityscape
A Journal of Policy
Development and Research
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Policy Development and Research
Mixed Messages on Mixed incoMes
VoluMe 15, nuMber 2
•
2013

The goal of Cityscape is to bring high-quality original research on housing and community develop-
ment issues to scholars, government officials, and practitioners. Cityscape is open to all relevant
disciplines, including architecture, consumer research, demography, economics, engineering, ethnog -
raphy, finance, geography, law, planning, political science, public policy, regional science, sociology,
statistics, and urban studies.
Cityscape is published three times a year by the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R)
of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Subscriptions are available at
no charge and single copies at a nominal fee. The journal is also available on line at http://www.
huduser.org/periodicals/cityscape.html.
PD&R welcomes submissions to the Refereed Papers section of the journal. Our referee process is
double blind and timely, and our referees are highly qualified. The managing editor will also respond
to authors who submit outlines of proposed papers regarding the suitability of those proposals for
inclusion in Cityscape. Send manuscripts or outlines to Cityscape@hud.gov.
Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views
and policies of HUD or the U.S. government.
Visit PD&R’s websites, www.hud.gov/policy or www.huduser.org, to find this report and others
sponsored by PD&R. Other services of HUD USER, PD&R’s Research and Information Service,
include listservs, special interest and bimonthly publications (best practices, significant studies
from other sources), access to public use databases, and a hotline (1–800–245–2691) for help
with accessing the information you need.

iiiCityscape
Contents
Symposium
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Guest Editors: James C. Fraser, Deirdre Oakley, and Diane K. Levy
Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities of
Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic ............................................................... 1
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households ....... 15
by Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen
Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments: A Community Case Study From the
Pacific Northwest ...................................................................................................................... 29
by JoDee Keller, Janice Laakso, Christine Stevens, and Cathy Tashiro
Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects ..................................... 47
by Ade Kearns, Martin McKee, Elena Sautkina, George Weeks, and Lyndal Bond
Commentaries
On Spatial Solutions to Social Problems ........................................................................... 69
by James DeFilippis
Mixing Policies: Expectations and Achievements ............................................................ 73
by Hilary Silver
Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households ........................... 83
by James C. Fraser, Robert J. Chaskin, and Joshua Theodore Bazuin
Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation in the World: Right to
Buy in the United Kingdom .................................................................................................... 101
by Reinout Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham
Commentaries
Housing Policy Possibilities in the Prison of Property Relations: A Commentary ....... 119
by Katherine Hankins
Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here? ..... 123
by Derek Hyra
Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality ......................................... 135
by Victoria Basolo
Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households ............................................................ 155
by Kimberly Skobba and Edward G. Goetz
“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.” Public Housing Relocation
Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta ............................................................. 173
by Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid
Commentaries
Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation .............. 193
by Amy T. Khare

iv Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Contents
False Assumptions About Poverty Dispersal Policies .................................................... 205
by Rachel Garshick Kleit
Acknowledging the Structural Features of Choice ......................................................... 211
by Sudhir Venkatesh
Cityscape Mixed-Income Symposium Summary and Response: Implications for
Antipoverty Policy ................................................................................................................... 215
by Mark L. Joseph
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Do Kids of Homeowners Do Better Than Kids of Renters? ................................................... 223
by Richard K. Green
The Relationship of Homeownership, House Prices, and Child Well-Being ........................ 227
by Donald Haurin
The Evidence Does Not Show That Homeownership Benefits Children .............................. 231
by David R. Barker
Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research ............................................. 235
by Sandra J. Newman and C. Scott Holupka
Departments
Policy Briefs
The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable Homeownership
Programs .................................................................................................................................. 247
by Edwin Stromberg and Brian Stromberg
Data Shop
New Data on Local Vacant Property Registration Ordinances .............................................. 259
by Yun Sang Lee, Patrick Terranova, and Dan Immergluck
Graphic Detail
Visualizing Same-Sex Couple Household Data With Linked Micromaps ............................. 267
by Brent D. Mast
Impact
Refinancing Hospital Loans .................................................................................................... 273
by Alastair McFarlane
Industrial Revolution
Smart-Grid Technologies in Housing ..................................................................................... 283
by M.G. Matt Syal and Kweku Ofei-Amoh
SpAM
Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences: An Example of
Simpson’s Paradox ................................................................................................................... 289
by Ron Wilson
Calls for Papers ........................................................................................................................ 305
Referees 2012–13 ................................................................................................................ 307

1Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Guest Editors’ Introduction:
Policy Assumptions and
Lived Realities of Mixed-
Income Housing on Both
Sides of the Atlantic
James C. Fraser
Vanderbilt University
Deirdre Oakley
Georgia State University
Diane K. Levy
Urban Institute
Introduction
During the past several decades, a number of housing programs sought to create mixed-income
housing and neighborhoods in the United States and Europe to negate the effects of concentrated
poverty. In the United States, such initiatives have included the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development’s Moving to Opportunity housing experiment, whereby low-income residents
volunteered for relocation to low-poverty areas; the Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere
(HOPE VI) Program for public housing transformation; and Choice Neighborhoods, a program
broadly based on the HOPE VI model but expanded to revitalize entire neighborhoods (Fraser,
Oakley, and Bazuin, 2012).
In Europe, such initiatives fall under the rubric of neighborhood restructuring or urban renewal.
These efforts often include mixed-housing strategies and have been implemented in the Netherlands,
the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Finland, and Sweden. European strategies focus more on
mixing homeowners with social renters—the equivalent of public housing renters in the United
States—with the similar assumption that a more diverse socioeconomic mix of residents will remove
the negative neighborhood effects of poverty. By far the largest European mixed-housing initiative
is the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme in the United Kingdom. Since the 1970s, more than 2.7 million
socially rented houses have been sold with large discounts, mainly to existing tenants and other
more affluent households (see Reinout Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham’s article in this symposium).

2
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
This Cityscape symposium showcases a series of refereed articles in which authors critically exam-
ine mixed-income housing initiatives in the United States, the United Kingdom, and, to a lesser
extent, the Netherlands through both empirical and theoretical lenses, paying particular attention
to whether benefits outweigh limitations in terms of resident, neighborhood, and sustainability
outcomes. The overall goal of the symposium is to provide a nuanced critique of mixed-income
housing by situating these initiatives within the broader context of affordable housing and diverse,
healthy communities. In addition, the symposium addresses the question of whose responsibility it
is to house the poor and which strategies are most effective.
The genesis of this symposium was the 41st annual conference, in 2011, of the Urban Affairs Asso-
ciation. During a session, “The Future in and of HOPE VI Developments,” many of the authors in
this issue, including Diane K. Levy, James C. Fraser, Robert J. Chaskin, Mark L. Joseph, and JoDee
Keller, presented articles. During that same conference, Edward Goetz moderated a session entitled
“Public Housing Transformation and the Right to the City” and also presented his own work on
poverty deconcentration and HOPE VI. During the 42nd annual conference of the Urban Affairs
Association, many of the participants and presenters continued a broader discussion of the ways in
which mixed-income housing was affecting low-income and public housing residents. In a session
moderated by James C. Fraser, “The Onset and Aftermath of HOPE VI,” Deirdre Oakley, Katherine
Hankins, Rachel Garshick Kleit, and Edward G. Goetz presented additional work on HOPE VI and 
resident experiences. These two conferences solidified our intention to produce a set of articles that
would broaden our understanding of mixed-income housing as a policy and in implementation.
Mixed-Income Housing
Mixed-income housing and neighborhood development efforts go beyond the transformation of
public housing. Their history extends back to Ebenezer Howard’s “garden city” movement at the turn
of the 20th century. Emerging out of the ideology that social mix—having a variety of income levels
live in the same area—was necessary for moral order, mixed-income towns were planned to integrate
the lower and middle socioeconomic classes with the wealthy, yet building types that housed dif-
ferent income groups were distinct and sited in separate areas of these developments in many cases
(Rose et al., 2013). Likewise, people with utopian visions for better cities (for example, Patrick Ged-
des and Lewis Mumford) and people involved in efforts to improve the cities we already had (for
example, Jane Addams and Jane Jacobs) had long touted the benefits of social mix for strengthening
democracy and promoting empathy on the part of wealthier classes. An alternative ideology, similar
to the emergence of company towns during the 19th century, suggested that deconcentrating the
working class would minimize labor organizing and class conflict. As capitalists were made painfully
aware by the Pullman strike of 1894, these social-harmonizing experiments did not produce the
desired results (Crawford, 1995). The hopes for mixed-income communities, by and large, were not
realized as the 20th century saw segregation by race and class increase over time. Urban demogra-
phers have vividly illustrated the emergence of hypersegregated poverty, a topic about which Doug-
lass Massey and Nancy Denton (1993) wrote.
Partially in response to these conditions that scholars (for example, Massey and Denton, 1993;
Wilson, 1987) wrote about, mixing strategies reemerged in the early 1990s. Policymakers,

Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities
of Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic
3Cityscape
government officials, and even private-sector developers have supported mixed-income housing,
yet for different reasons. The ideology behind this resurgence of mixed-income housing has largely
centered on the notion of healthy cities and poverty reduction. In the case of public housing and
low-income neighborhoods, the general belief has been that concentrated poverty produces addi-
tional negative outcomes for the poor (Wilson, 1987). This theoretical scaffolding has supported
the razing of many public housing developments and the relocation of residents, some of whom
move to neighborhoods with less poverty, others of whom move to areas with similar rates of pov-
erty, and a relative few who make temporary moves before returning to HOPE VI developments,
living alongside market-rate households (Abravanel, Levy, and McFarland, 2011a; Fraser, Oakley,
and Bazuin, 2012; Popkin et al., 2000).
Mixed-income policies, however, have gone well beyond public housing redevelopment. City
officials, seeking ways to revitalize low-income, inner-city neighborhoods have turned toward an
ever-increasing set of organizations and their consultants espousing the virtues of mixed-income
housing to legitimate public-private ventures that oftentimes seek to gentrify neighborhoods
(Dutton, 2007; Fraser et al., 2003; Lees, 2008; Rose et al., 2013; Skirtz, 2012). Although this
out come may be the case in some mixed-income housing initiatives, it would be premature and
suspect to write off mixed-income housing as simply a way to displace lower income people
from neighborhoods cities want to redevelop.
Mixed-income policies and programs have become dominant urban planning strategies even as
hypotheses about what mixed-income housing can achieve continue to change and questions re-
main about the model’s purpose and actual effect. Core questions debated since the reemergence of
the mixed-income model in the 1990s have evolved and broadened as empirical studies have shed
light on the models in practice. Early on, questions tended to focus on the effect on lower income
residents of living in mixed-income housing developments or neighborhoods. These questions were
based on assumptions that the effect was unidirectional and likely beneficial. Hypotheses pointed
to the expected positive effect on poorer residents’ access to employment, improved quality of life,
and overall self-sufficiency.
Although the hypothesized benefits of such mixed-income initiatives to improve employment
access, quality of life, and self-sufficiency on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean have included the
assumed socioeconomic advantages of poverty alleviation, the reduction of racial and income-based
segregation (particularly in the United States), and the benefits of homeownership, the realities of
living in these reconfigured spaces do not necessarily map well onto the original goals associated
with them. This outcome has led some scholars to suggest that such mixing strategies boil down to
state-implemented strategies to prepare neighborhoods for capital investment through the regulation,
marginalization, and displacement of the poor. Such suggestions raise more fundamental questions
about when and how society and its government leaders need to house the least advantaged (Levy,
2006).
Before describing the organization and content of this symposium, we believe it is instructive to
provide a brief history of public and social housing in the United States and the United Kingdom,
primarily because these histories reveal tension between the interests of capital investment and
the provision of public goods (in this case, affordable housing for the poor). On both sides of the
Atlantic, such tensions eventually led to mixing and redevelopment strategies.

4
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Public Housing and Mixed-Income Redevelopment
in the United States
Although governments have used a variety of mechanisms to house various low-income popula-
tions, (project-based) public housing has become iconic of these efforts. A concerted American
housing movement, led by figures such as Catherine Bauer, Edith Elmer Wood, and Mary Sim-
khovitch, emerged during the turn of the 20th century. The movement achieved many victories,
including the Wagner-Steagall Act of 1937,
1
which established the United States Housing Authority
(Birch, 1978). The construction of public housing did not match the pace of slum removal, how-
ever, and many families in need could not gain admittance into the relatively few units of housing
produced. From 1950 through 1970, in most cases, these developments were sited in low-income
minority neighborhoods, and “White flight” to the suburbs accelerated (Freeman, 2004; Goering,
Kamely, and Richardson, 1997).
During this period, Catherine Bauer wrote about “the dreary deadlock of public housing” lament-
ing that “[e]ven among public housing’s most tireless defenders, many would welcome a fresh start
if they did not fear that in the process any program at all might get lost” (Bauer, 1957: 140). Her
sentiment was a foreshadowing of the continued concentration of the abject poor in public housing
developments, some of which were becoming run down and isolated because of insufficient bud-
gets. Although arguments could be made that income mixing existed in public housing until the
1960s (Hartman, 1975), a provision in the Brooke Amendments of the early 1970s established that
public housing needs to be provided first and foremost to the poorest populations, thus creating
financial constraints on housing authorities and ushering in an era in which public housing and
its inhabitants became demonized (Goetz, in press). The development of mixed-income housing,
particularly through HOPE VI, has been viewed by many policymakers as a considerable improve-
ment from the public housing replaced, even if it caused displacement of public housing residents
(FitzPatrick, 2000; Goetz, in press; Schwartz and Tajbakhsh, 1997).
Looking back on the early days of public housing, from the 1930s through the 1950s, provides no-
table parallels to current HOPE VI projects, whereby people with a mix of incomes reside together
in a development. Although mixed-income housing was not a central component of public housing
at its inception, a range of incomes did coexist. Low- and middle-income groups were both served,
albeit they have generally been lumped into the “submerged middle class” label to distinguish them
from those who were in abject poverty (Friedman, 1966; Schill, 1993). Likewise, the tenant screen-
ing process was aimed at distinguishing the “deserving” from the “undeserving” poor (Vale, 2000).
Although language other than “deserving” and “undeserving” is currently in vogue, HOPE VI tenant
screening relies on some of the same criteria for admittance, including employment, criminal record,
and, informally, a desire to use public housing as a stepping stone into private-sector housing (Fraser,
Oakley, and Bazuin, 2012). Further, HOPE VI developments are expected to collect enough rents
from moderate- and market-rate units to offset the costs of management and maintenance similar to
the way that the initial public housing legislation required. Although some scholars described origi-
nal public housing as being paternalistic (Argersinger, 2010; Mitchell, 1993), HOPE VI has been
1
The United States Housing Act of 1937. Public Law 75-412.

Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities
of Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic
5Cityscape
characterized by its heightened surveillance of public housing tenants (Chaskin and Joseph, 2010;
Fraser et al., in press). Researchers are only beginning to see the longer term effects of HOPE VI-
style mixed-income housing; several articles in this symposium focus on the HOPE VI experience.
Social Housing and the Evolution of Mixing Policies
in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, public housing is often referred to as council housing, or social housing.
It formally began in 1919, but the U.K. Parliament granted local governments power to develop
working-class housing in 1890 (Stone, 2003). The Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909 au-
thorized local councils to assist copartnership societies (for example, cooperative societies, trade
unions, and utility companies) in building working-class housing (Ravetz, 2001). Similarly, the
Housing Acts of 1914 and 1915 provided state-sponsored housing for wartime government em-
ployees, setting a precedent on which council housing would follow (Ravetz, 2001). By World
War I, 24,000 units of council housing had been built (Malpass and Murie, 1999). Much like
U.S. policy in the 1930s, a coalition of reformers were openly concerned about the slum housing
conditions that accompanied industrialization and urbanization of the United Kingdom.
During the interwar years, a severe shortage of housing existed in the United Kingdom. Although
multiple rationales provided the conceptual framework for council housing, social unrest, strikes,
and the return of military servicemen from the war prompted Prime Minister David Lloyd George
to provide council housing for fear of revolt and a “Bolshevist rising” (Ravetz, 2001: 77). Between
the wars, approximately 1,000,000 units of council housing were established, although rather than
serving the working class in poverty—many of whom were returning soldiers—it housed a more
affluent clientele, because rents were often more than in private-sector rentals (Forrest, Malpass,
and Rowlands, 2010). In the post-1945 era, council housing increased, with 2.9 million units pro-
duced in two decades (Stone, 2003).
During the era of welfare capitalism (1945 to the 1970s), council housing provided high-quality
homes for many well-off, working-class tenants who were oftentimes unionized and thus able to
press their political and economic demands for shelter on the state.
2
In general, welfare capitalism
refers to a state-sponsored safety net (welfare state) funded primarily through taxing private-market
enterprises and private citizens’ income (Esping-Andersen, 1990). During this era, the amount of
council housing increased from 12 percent of the total housing stock in 1945 to 32 percent in 1979
(Esping-Andersen, 1990); however, in the 1980s, government disinvestment and related policies
led to “residualization” of council housing.
Thus, despite periods and policies that bore some similarities, the two countries had quite different
social-housing environments at the beginning of the 1980s. Both countries, however, were entering
periods with somewhat similar political regimes, regimes with similar attitudes toward social hous-
ing but with rather different strategies given their different housing contexts (Stone, 2003).
2
More impoverished populations relied on lower quality, privately rented housing (Malpass, 2010).

6
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
According to Malpass (2010), during the 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s housing poli-
cies underfunded council housing and began the privatization and effective residualizing of it and
other welfare programs emerging out of the welfare capitalism era.
3
Since the 1980s, much council housing has been razed or privatized. Between 1980 and 2006, the
number of council-housing units dropped from 6.1 to 2.6 million (Mullins and Pawson, 2010).
Although the structural role of state-sponsored housing has been a response to the inability or
unwillingness of the private sector to provide high-quality, affordable housing to a mix of low- to
middle-income populations, public policies have effectively created housing segregation. This seg-
regation has been accompanied by “culture-of-poverty” discourse that further marginalizes those in
poverty as being unwilling to take personal responsibility for their welfare.
4
Council housing has
been characterized as a breeding place for antisocial behavior (Malpass, 2010). This characteriza-
tion partially explains the negative public sentiment many have toward public and council hous-
ing, and disinvestment in these housing tenures has materially run down many housing estates and
developments. Goetz (in press) has chronicled the “discourse of disaster” that has maligned public
housing as being obsolete. In summary, the dismantling of this part of the welfare state has been
ongoing since the 1970s, and housing has been a key domain in which we see this change.
In 2000, the backlog for repairs and improvements to council-housing stock was estimated at
approximately £19 billion (approximately $28.5 billion U.S.), and the government set about to
remedy this situation through a range of policy instruments that either privatized units or entire
housing estates (or developments) (Stone, 2003). One primary policy has been Thatcher’s 1980
RTB program, whereby sitting council-housing tenants were provided deep discounts of up to 70
percent to purchase their units. To date, nearly 3 million units of council housing have been sold
off to former tenants, thus redistributing risk to the new owners (Blandy and Hunter, 2013). Like-
wise, local councils have transferred more than 50 percent of the social-housing stock to nonprofit
housing associations. In addition to enacting these policies, local authorities have been able to sell
off units and entire estates to private-sector developers. For example, Europe’s largest landmarked
council estate, Park Hill in Sheffield, was sold for £1(approximately $1.53 U.S.) to Urban Splash, a
private development company that is renovating the estate as a mixed-income project (Heathcote,
2012). Clearly, the differing goal sets of local councils serving the public and the imperative of cap-
ital accumulation by the private sector have shaped projects like Park Hill. Finally, local councils
have the authority to mortgage their council-housing estates to raise funds for maintenance and
renovation. As of 2006, council housing that is owned and operated by the local authorities stands
at about 10 percent of the total housing stock in the United Kingdom (Ginsburg, 2004).
As is the case in the United States, the concept of mixed-income housing in the United Kingdom
has a foundation in an earlier history. Social mix was a central component of Ebenezer Howard’s
garden cities in the 1890s (Rose et al., 2013). Among other aspects, Howard conceptualized the
garden city as a remedy for social polarization that he saw in London. Social mix was a prominent
3
This pattern was similar to U.S. public housing in that it was the working, submerged middle-class people who were
afforded housing and abject poor people who were excluded from state-sponsored developments (Vale, 2000).
4
For example, President Ronald Reagan infamously stated that many single mothers in public housing who received cash
benefits were “welfare queens.”

Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities
of Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic
7Cityscape
feature that he believed would build cooperation and community across income groups; yet, a
1905 census of the 1,400 residents of Howard’s first garden city, Letchworth, found that the only
people living there were “middle-class men and women of independent means (and their servants)
and the skilled artisans who were building the new town” (Fishman, 2002: 73). Working-class
families who labored in Letchworth did not earn enough income to afford to live there and found
substandard housing outside of the city (Fishman, 2002). In the early garden cities and later in
British New Towns and council-housing estates, social-mix discourse emphasized lofty ideals of a
good society, but none achieved what each set out to create.
In the context of council housing, mixed-income policies, referred to as social-mix and social-balance
policies, existed during the 1940s and 1950s but came under criticism and lost favor (Goodchild
and Cole, 2001). These policies then reappeared during the late 1990s. Social mix in the United
Kingdom is currently deployed in a variety of public policies aimed at neighborhood renewal and
council-housing transformation (Levy et al., 2010; Sautkina, Bond, and Kears, 2012). The ante-
cedents to, and the purported benefits of, social mix have been well documented, and it is not our
intention to provide another rendition of the urban underclass or concentrated poverty theses. Like-
wise, the proffered benefits of social-mix policies for low-income populations have been conceptual-
ized, and many studies are beginning to test how mixed-income housing operates (for reviews, see
Abravanel, Levy, and McFarland, 2011a, 2011b; DeFilippis and Fraser, 2010; and Joseph, Chaskin,
and Webber, 2007). In summary, proponents of social mix (broadly defined) hold onto the ration-
ale that low-income people living in propinquity to those with greater privilege will benefit from
social contact, but evidence to support this perspective remains illusive. This reality is basically
the same situation concerning mixed-income housing redevelopment outcomes happening in the
United States.
Symposium Organization and Content
The symposium in this issue of Cityscape is organized in four topical sections: (1) the expectations
and achievements of mixing policies; (2) the realities of implementation; (3) an examination of
moving to and living in subsidized private-market rental housing; and (4) a synthesizing examina-
tion of these policies based on the articles and suggestions for future initiatives. For the initial three
sections, a series of commentaries from housing policy experts follows the articles.
In the first section, Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen set the stage for the sub-
sequent articles by reviewing the varying ways in which mixed-income living has been defined,
evidence of benefits to adults and children, and the viability of mixed-income housing over time.
They conclude with a discussion of research findings on which consensus and divergences exist,
and identify gaps in what we know about the effect of mixed-income developments and income-
diverse neighborhoods on disadvantaged households.
Next, JoDee Keller, Janice Laakso, Christine Stevens, and Cathy Tashiro provide a case study of a
Pacific Northwest HOPE VI site, exploring the issue of whether multiethnic communities are sus-
tainable through HOPE VI redevelopment. Before redevelopment, the site was a multiethnic com-
munity with a strong sense of engagement and cohesion. Findings reveal that, after redevelopment,

8
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
returning residents experienced a diminished sense of community and results are mixed regarding
reemergence of community. The authors argue that identifying and meeting needs of diverse popu-
lations is important to sustainability of HOPE VI sites, particularly with the country’s increasing
diversity. The authors discuss the challenges in building and maintaining community, with recom-
mendations for meeting needs of ethnically diverse residents.
In the final article in this section, Ade Kearns, Martin McKee, Elena Sautkina, George Weeks, and
Lyndal Bond present data from interviews with key mixed-housing actors in the United Kingdom—
including planners, architects, housing managers, regeneration practitioners, and teachers at local
schools—concerning perceived successes and ongoing challenges, particularly regarding sustain-
ability. The authors contend that orthodoxy of mixing policies leads to a form of “tenure blind-
ness.” More specifically, they argue that orthodoxy in policy assumptions and practice results in an
unwillingness or inability among the key actors to recognize that taking a mixing approach may
not be sufficient for the creation of sustainable communities. James DeFilippis and Hilary Silver
provide commentaries on the three articles.
The second section begins with an article by James C. Fraser, Robert J. Chaskin, and Joshua Theo-
dore Bazuin, exploring the idea of mixed-income housing actually becoming home for low-income
residents. As they state, research has demonstrated little interaction and community building be-
tween low-income households and the more affluent ones within HOPE VI redevelopments. They
raise questions about whether such lack of interaction discounts the underlying assumption of
mixing policies. The authors conclude by examining the possibilities for creating truly inclusive
mixed-income developments that not only serve the housing needs of diverse income groups but
also inspire residents to stay and build community.
In the next article, Reinout Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham examine the United Kingdom’s Right
to Buy initiative, which is, by far, the largest income-mixing operation in Europe. RTB enables
social-housing tenants and other more affluent households to purchase this housing at large dis-
counts. Although the program was not originally intended to be a mixing policy, the selling and
reselling of social housing has, in many cases, created income mixing. The authors discuss the
outcomes of RTB regarding neighborhood effects and household benefits. Katherine Hankins and
Derek Hyra provide commentaries on the two articles in this section.
In the third section, authors turn their attention to the issues of mobility and relocation through
subsidized private-market rental housing. Victoria Basolo uses a unique dataset comprising pri-
mary survey data and secondary data from multiple sources to examine the range of outcomes for
Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) subsidy households under the administration of two
public housing authorities in California. In particular, the author examines whether moving with a
voucher subsidy results in changes in employment, neighborhood income mix, and school quality.
As with previous studies, findings are mixed and the author discusses the implications.
In the second article, Kimberly Skobba and Edward G. Goetz examine the long-term housing ex -
periences of both subsidized and unsubsidized low-income households in Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Minnesota. Without housing assistance, participants moved through a wide variety of housing
accommodations, often making strategic moves to avoid homelessness or to escape untenable
housing and neighborhood conditions. Such strategies almost never resulted in upward mobility,

Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities
of Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic
9Cityscape
however. Housing assistance, particularly HCVP vouchers, enabled participants to remain in the
private rental market and to avoid lower hierarchy living arrangements. Having a voucher also
meant increased residential stability.
Using survey data from a study of 300 former public housing residents in Atlanta, the third and final
article of this section, by Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid, examines the issue of relocation
satisfaction. The situation in Atlanta presents an interesting case because, as of 2010, the city had
eliminated all its traditional project-based public housing. Unlike the city’s previous HOPE VI efforts,
this final round of demolitions was done under Section 18 of the amended 1937 Housing Act, re-
quiring no immediate plans for redevelopment. Therefore, the only option given to residents was
to relocate with a voucher subsidy to private-market rental housing. Findings indicate that level of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction largely hinged on the tenants’ age and previous tenure in public hous-
ing. Amy T. Khare, Rachel Garshick Kleit, and Sudhir Venkatesh provide responses to the articles
in this section.
In the final section, Mark L. Joseph provides a transatlantic, synthesizing discussion of mixing poli -
cies within the broader context of affordable housing and diverse, healthy communities. In doing so,
Joseph comes back to the overarching societal question of which institutions should be responsible
for delivery of a needed public good like affordable housing: Is the private sector really suited for
this responsibility, given the overall objective of return on capital investment? Are mixing strategies
sustainable over time? Joseph also addresses important questions about the range of benefits and
deficiencies emerging from mixing strategies. Beyond the question of who benefits from mixed-
income developments are questions of how different stakeholders—developers, city agencies,
financiers, and residents across income groups—benefit.
Concluding Thoughts From the Editors
The symposium in this issue of Cityscape, broad as it is, is not comprehensive. Although the ar-
ticles address the theoretical, policy, and practice questions, other important issues remain. As
the body of work on HOPE VI and similar mixing initiatives has grown in the United States and
Europe—in particular the United Kingdom and the Netherlands—questions have shifted to focus
more broadly on reciprocal effects, with the recognition that influence can run in more than one
direction. More specifically, in addition to examining whether and how lower income residents
have been affected by higher income neighbors, researchers are devoting growing attention to
ways in which lower income neighbors might influence those residents who were better off eco-
nomically. Hand in hand with such a question is another: Do residents interact across economic
lines and, if they do, are the interactions positive or negative? Questions related to mechanisms of
influence and change have begun to shift from those related to person-to-person effects to ways in
which some residents might have positive influence on the surrounding environment: Do higher
income residents’ (assumed) expectations and demands on property management and city ser-
vices bring benefits to all residents?
Alternatively, note that social mix in the United Kingdom and mixed-income housing in the United
States are explicitly sociospatial strategies that seek to attract capital investment to places that
oftentimes have been associated with gentrification (Bridge, Butler, and Lees, 2012; Lees, 2008).

10
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Beyond examining physical displacement, a growing body of research has examined the social rela -
tions among multiple tenure and income groups (Chaskin and Joseph, 2010; Cole and Goodchild,
2001; Duke, 2009; Fraser et al., in press; Kipfer, 2009; Kleit, 2011). Sometimes, social mix is a
problem for low-income households. Cheshire (2012: 24), addressing social mix, stated that, “while
poor neighborhoods may not be ‘attractive,’ they are cheap; they have attributes such as access to
cheap takeouts and neighbours with similar problems and needs who may have relevant and useful
contacts.” Galés (2012: 27) added that “most urban scholars are familiar with the idea that when
very different social or ethnic groups live in the same building or the same neighborhood, this
rarely leads to social mixing but rather to strategies of avoidance and distinction.” Although these
perspectives represent a lack of confidence that social mixing can have positive effects, other treat-
ments in the United Kingdom suggest that neighborhoods marked by social mixing may enjoy a
political economy-of-place benefit; that is, cities with a significant middle-income population are
more likely to provide needed services and economic development that enhance neighborhood life.
More recent questions have also focused in greater detail on the supports that might be necessary
to create conditions in which (positive) influence among neighbors might occur. As research start-
ed to show less interaction across lines of economic difference and tenure than had been assumed,
attention turned to the structures that might be necessary to encourage interactions. Interest has
grown about the effects of resident-based organizational and governance structures and informal
opportunities for socializing. How to develop community intentionally remains an open question.
Additional questions of considerable importance include the following. How do mixed-income
developments fare over time in terms of the resident base? Are structures well maintained physi-
cally and financially over time?
Acknowledgments
The guest editors thank all the authors of this issue and the editorial staff at Cityscape for their
contributions.
Guest Editors
James C. Fraser is an associate professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Develop-
ment at Vanderbilt University.
Deirdre Oakley is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University.
Diane K. Levy is a senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy
Center at the Urban Institute.
References
Abravanel, Mark D., Diane L. Levy, and Mark McFarland. 2011a. “The Uncharted, Uncertain
Future of HOPE VI Redevelopments: Part I,” Real Estate Review 40 (3): 17–39.

Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities
of Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic
11Cityscape
———. 2011b. “The Uncharted, Uncertain Future of HOPE VI Redevelopments: Part II,” Real
Estate Review 40 (4): 25–40.
Argersinger, Jo Ann. 2010. “Contested Visions of American Democracy: Citizenship, Public Hous-
ing, and the International Arena,” Journal of Urban History 36 (6): 792–813.
Bauer, Catherine. 1957. “The Dreary Deadlock of Public Housing,” Architectural Forum (May):
140–142, 219, 221.
Birch, Eugenie. 1978. “Woman-Made America: The Case of Early Public Housing Policy,” Journal of
the American Institute of Planners 44 (2): 130–144.
Blandy, Sarah, and Caroline Hunter. 2013. “The Right to Buy: Examination of an Exercise in Allo-
cating, Shifting and Re-Branding Risks,” Critical Social Policy 33 (1): 17–36.
Bridge, Gary, Tim Butler, and Loretta Lees. 2012. Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth.
Bristol, United Kingdom: The Policy Press.
Chaskin, Robert, and Mark Joseph. 2010. “Building ‘Community’ in Mixed-Income Developments:
Assumptions, Approaches, and Early Experiences,” Urban Affairs Review 45 (3): 299–335.
Cheshire, Paul. 2012. “Why Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? Social Mix and Social Welfare: A
Quantitative Appraisal.” In Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth, edited by Gary Bridge, Tim
Butler, and Loretta Lees. Bristol, United Kingdom: The Policy Press: 17–24.
Cole, Ian, and Barry Goodchild. 2001. “Social Mix and the ‘Balanced Community’ in British Hous-
ing Policy—A Tale of Two Epochs,” GeoJournal 51: 351–360.
Crawford, Margaret. 1995. Building the Workingman’s Paradise: The Design of American Company
Towns. London, United Kingdom: Verso Books.
DeFilippis, James, and James Fraser. 2010. “Why Do We Want Mixed-Income Housing and Neigh-
borhoods?” In Critical Urban Studies: New Directions, edited by Jonathan S. Davies and David L.
Imbroscio. Albany, NY: SUNY Press: 135–147.
Duke, Joanna. 2009. “Mixed Income Housing Policy and Public Housing Residents’ Right to the
City,” Critical Social Policy 29 (1): 100–120.
Dutton, Thomas. 2007. “Colony Over-the-Rhine,” The Black Scholar 37 (3): 14–27.
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Fishman, Robert. 2002. Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd
Wright, Le Corbusier. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
FitzPatrick, Michael S. 2000. “Disaster in Every Generation: An Analysis of HOPE VI: HUD’s New-
est Big Budget Development Plan,” Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy 7 (2): 421.

12
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Forrest, Robert, Peter Malpass, and Rob Rowlands. 2010. “A Privileged State? Council Housing
As a Social Escalator.” In Housing, Markets and Policy, edited by Peter Malpass and Rob Rowlands.
London, United Kingdom: Routledge: 37–58.
Fraser, James, Ashley Burns, Joshua Bazuin, and Deirdre Oakley. In press. “HOPE VI, Colonization,
and the Production of Difference,” Urban Affairs Review. DOI: 10.117/1078087412465582.
Fraser, James, John Lepofsky, Edward Kick, and Patrick Williams. 2003. “The Construction of the
Local and the Limits of Contemporary Community-Building in the United States,” Urban Affairs
Review 38: 417–445.
Fraser, James, Deirdre Oakley, and Joshua Bazuin. 2012. “Public Ownership and Private Profit in
Housing,” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 5 (3): 397–412.
Freeman, Lance. 2004. Siting Affordable Housing: Location and Neighborhood Trends of Low Income
Housing Tax Credit Developments in the 1990s. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, Center
on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.
Friedman, Lawrence M. 1966. “Public Housing and the Poor: An Overview,” California Law Review
54 (2): 642.
Gales, Patrick. 2012. “Social Mix and Urban Policy.” In Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth?
edited by Gary Bridge, Tim Butler, and Loretta Lees. Bristol, United Kingdom: The Policy Press:
25–34.
Ginsburg, Norman. 2005. “The Privatization of Council Housing,&rdquo; Critical Social Policy 25 (1):
115–135.
Goering, John, Ali Kamely, and Todd Richardson. 1997. “Recent Research on Racial Segregation
and Poverty Concentration in Public Housing in the United States,” Urban Affairs Review 32 (5):
723–745.
Goetz, Edward G. In press. “The Audacity of HOPE VI: Discourse and the Dismantling of Public
Housing,” Cities. DOI: 10.1016.2012.07.008.
Goodchild, Barry, and Ian Cole. 2001. “Social Balance and Mixed Neighborhoods in Britain Since
1979: A Review of Discourse and Practice in Social Housing,” Environment and Planning D: Society
and Space 19: 103–121.
Hartman, Chester. 1975. Housing and Social Policy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Heathcote, Ethan. 2012. “Park Hill: Urban Optimism Then and Now,” Modernism (Summer): 30–36.
Joseph, Mark L., Robert J. Chaskin, and Henry S. Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Address -
ing Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Kipfer, Stefan, and Jason Petrunia. 2009. “‘Recolonization’ and Public Housing: A Toronto Case
Study,” Studies in Political Economy 83: 111–139.
Kleit, Rachel Garshick, and Nicole Bohme Carnegie. 2011. “Integrated or Isolated? The Impact of
Public Housing Redevelopment on Social Network Homophily,” Social Networks 33 (2): 152–165.

Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities
of Mixed-Income Housing on Both Sides of the Atlantic
13Cityscape
Lees, Loretta. 2008. “Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?”
Urban Studies 45 (12): 2449–2470.
Levy, Diane K. 2006. “Re-Envisioning Public Housing: HOPE VI and the U.S. Federal Govern-
ment’s Role in Public Housing Provision.” In Homing Devices: The Poor As Targets of Public Housing
Policy and Practice, edited by Marilyn Thomas-Houston and Mark Schuller. Lanham, MD: Lexing-
ton Books: 21–37.
Levy, Diane K., Harris Beider, Susan Popkin, and David Price, with Aurelie Broeckerhoff. 2010.
Atlantic Exchange: Case Studies of Housing and Community Development in the United States and the
United Kingdom. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Malpass, Peter. 2010. “The Rise (and Rise?) of Housing Associations.” In Housing, Markets and
Policy, edited by Peter Malpass and Rob Rowlands. London, United Kingdom: Routledge: 101–121.
Malpass, Peter, and Allan Murie. 1999. Housing Policy and Practice. London, United Kingdom: Mac-
millan.
Massey, Douglas, and Nancy Denton. 1993. The Continuing Case of Segregation: American Apartheid:
Segregation and the Making of an Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mitchell, Don. 1993. “Public Housing in Single-Industry Towns: Changing Landscapes of Pater-
nalism.” In Place/Culture/Representation, edited by James Duncan and David Ley. London, United
Kingdom: Routledge: 110–127
Mullins, David, and Hal Pawson. 2010. “The Evolution of Stock Transfer: Privatisation or Towards
Renationalisation?” In Housing, Markets and Policy, edited by Peter Malpass and Rob Rowlands.
London, United Kingdom: Routledge: 76–100.
Popkin, Susan J., Larry F. Buron, Diane K. Levy, and Mary K. Cunningham. 2000. “The Gautreaux
Legacy: What Might Mixed-Income and Dispersal Strategies Mean for the Poorest Public Housing
Tenants?” Housing Policy Debate 11 (4): 911–942.
Ravetz, A. 2001. Council Housing and Culture. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Rose, Damaris, Annick Germain, Marie-Helene Bacque, Gary Bridge, Yankel Fijalkow, and Tom
Slater. 2013. “‘Social Mix’ and Neighbourhood Revitalization in a Transatlantic Perspective:
Comparing Local Policy Discourse and Expectations in Paris (France), Bristol (UK) and Montreal
(Canada),” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37 (2): 430–450.
Sautkina, Elena, Lyndal Bond, and Ade Kearns. 2012. “Mixed Evidence on Mixed Tenure Effects:
Findings From a Systematic Review of UK Studies, 1995–2009,” Housing Studies 27 (6): 748–782.
Schill, Michael H. 1993. “Distressed Public Housing: Where Do We Go From Here?” The University
of Chicago Law Review 60: 497–554.
Schwartz, Alex, and Kian Tajbakhsh. 1997. “Mixed-Income Housing: Unanswered Questions,”
Cityscape 3 (2): 71–92.
Skirtz, Alice. 2012. Econocide: Elimination of the Urban Poor. Washington, DC: NASW Press.

14
Fraser, Oakley, and Levy
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Stone, Michael. 2003. Social Housing in the UK and US: Evolution, Issues and Prospects. London,
United Kingdom: Goldsmiths College, Centre for Urban Community Research.
Vale, Lawrence. 2000. From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wilson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

15Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Mixed-Income Living:
Anticipated and Realized
Benefits for Low-Income
Households
Diane K. Levy
Zach McDade
Kassie Bertumen
Urban Institute
Abstract
The basic elements of a mixed-income housing strategy—redeveloping public housing
developments and poor neighborhoods to attract higher income residents and relocat-
ing lower income households to less poor areas—continue to inform federal and local
housing policies in the United States and a number of other countries. Mixed-income
strategies usually begin with the hypothesis that mixing incomes will address a number
of problems associated with poverty concentration and neighborhood disinvestment. To
set the stage for other articles in the symposium of this issue of Cityscape, this article
defines terms and then reviews the hypothesized benefits of mixed-income environments
for low-income adults and children and examines evidence of benefits. It concludes with
a literature-based consideration of how practice might best address the goals of economic
desegregation and poverty alleviation that income mixing has yet to achieve.
Introduction
Mixed-income housing strategies, broadly conceived, include a variety of programs and policies—
from inclusionary zoning, to subsidized housing vouchers, to the transformation of public housing
developments into income-integrated properties. Whether through the dispersal of low-income
households from a poor area or the attraction of relatively higher income households to a (previously)
poor area, the strategies usually begin with the hypothesis that mixing incomes will address a number
of problems associated with poverty concentration and neighborhood disinvestment. This article
builds from a literature review that surveyed the field of knowledge on mixed-income housing and

16 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
benefits for lower income residents (Levy, McDade, and Dumlao, 2010). We consider the hypotheses
regarding such benefits and the evidence to date on their realization. We conclude with a discussion
on how policy and practice might advance to address the goals income mixing has yet to achieve.
Mixed-income housing and neighborhoods have been put forth as a strategy for addressing the
problems associated with poverty since at least the early 1960s (Gans, 1961a, 1961b). Since the
1990s, Wilson’s argument that concentrated poverty—low-income households living in high-poverty,
resource-poor areas—leads to a cycle of diminished life chances for children and adults and to
neighborhoods marked by urban decay (Wilson, 1987) has been used as the basis for mixed-income
policies and programs. If concentrated poverty is a source of myriad problems, efforts to decon-
centrate, such as income mixing and dispersing low-income households, have been put forth as
solutions. Mixed income as a strategy has become part of federal housing policy in a number of
ways, perhaps most notably through the Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI)
Program, which supported the redevelopment of public housing into mixed-income developments.
Housing choice vouchers also have been used in certain mobility efforts to support low-income
households’ relocation to higher income areas.
No definition of mixed-income housing is universally agreed on, although the definition offered by
Brophy and Smith related to housing developments captures key elements of the strategy and has
been picked up by a number of researchers (for example, Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber, 2007).
Brophy and Smith (1997: 5) defined mixed income as the “deliberate effort to construct and/or
own a multifamily development that has the mixing of income groups as a fundamental part of its
financial and operational plans.” Other definitions encompass both developments and neighbor-
hoods. The Mixed-Income Research Design Group uses the phrase to mean “all intentional efforts
to generate socioeconomic diversity in a targeted geographic area” (Briggs et al., 2009: 10). Galster,
Booza, and Cutsinger (2008) referred to the broad range of communities that are characterized by
a diversity of household incomes as “income-diverse areas.” Using two terms distinguishes low-
poverty neighborhoods into which low-income families move, whether via a mobility program or
independently, that are not the target of mixed-income efforts per se from developments designed
as mixed-income housing. We focus here on mixed-income housing developments but use the
phrase “income diverse” where appropriate.
What counts as mixed income varies considerably. Depending on the development, relatively
higher income households have been defined as those earning anywhere from 51 to 200 percent of
the Area Median Income. Developments might have only two income tiers or three or more income
tiers and might include both rental and homeownership tenures. The percentage of units targeted
to low-income families also ranges from a small percentage of all units to more than one-half. (See
Brophy and Smith, 1997; Khadduri and Martin, 1997; Schwartz and Tajbakhsh, 1997.) Develop-
ments also vary in the extent to which they design the exterior and interior of subsidized and
market-rate units to be indistinguishable from one another and in the degree of spatial integration
of subsidized and unsubsidized units (Schubert and Thresher, 1996; Tach, 2009). Some develop-
ments mix income groups on the same floor of a multifamily building, whereas others segregate
income tiers by floor or building. Further, some developments vary the quality of units based
on income, whereas others simply subsidize market-rate-quality units for low-income families
(Schwartz and Tajbakhsh, 1997).

17Cityscape
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
Hypothesized Benefits of Mixed-Income Living
The goals or purposes claimed for mixed-income housing strategies have been categorized as three-
fold. (See Brower, 2009; Duke, 2009; Joseph, 2006; Joseph and Chaskin, 2010; Joseph, Chaskin,
and Webber, 2007; Kleit, 2005.) Economic desegregation can affect disadvantaged and advantaged
neighborhoods as lower income households disperse from poor areas and higher income families
move into previously poor areas. The hypothesized benefits associated with this place-oriented
goal for mixed-income developments, or at least their lower income residents, include better qual-
ity housing, improved services, increased neighborhood amenities, and a safer environment rela-
tive to what is available in most homogenously poor areas. Examples of programs that incorporate
an economic desegregation goal include HOPE VI and the Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing
Demonstration (MTO), which provided housing vouchers to one randomly selected group of
participants to be used in higher income areas.
Poverty alleviation is expected to benefit lower income households most directly as their economic
circumstances improve through neighboring with higher income households and living in less seg -
regated areas. The benefits associated with this people-oriented goal have included access to more
instrumentally valuable networks and to behavior and lifestyle alternatives as modeled by higher
income neighbors. Until research began to show otherwise, it was hypothesized that the HOPE VI
Program would alleviate poverty among lower income residents through mechanisms of neighbor
interactions and behavior modeling. Dispersal-oriented efforts, such as voucher-supported mobility
moves under MTO and its precursor, the Gautreaux program, also anticipated reductions in poverty.
Urban revitalization through mixed-income housing can affect disadvantaged areas as investments
flow in from both public and private sources. The benefits associated with this place-oriented goal
for areas in and around mixed-income developments have included increased safety; the develop-
ment of more or improved amenities, such as stores, parks, and playgrounds; and, possibly, im-
provements to transit access and schools (buildings and instructional quality). Revitalization might
also increase a jurisdiction’s tax revenues from increased property values and new businesses.
This goal undergirds the Obama administration’s Choice Neighborhoods initiative, which focuses
investments on a target housing development, the surrounding neighborhood, and the residents.
The hypothesized goals and benefits suggest effects for both lower and higher income households.
Broad benefits posited for residents across income groups and of all ages have included exposure to
a diversity of people and lifestyles and the development of tolerance for differences (Briggs, 1997;
Gans 1961a, 1961b). It remains, however, that lower income households and poor neighborhoods
are the primary targets for improvement and that positive influences for adults and children are as-
sumed to flow from higher to lower income households based explicitly or implicitly on a cultural
deficit argument (see Briggs, 1997; Brower, 2009; Duke, 2009; Galster, 2007; Gans, 1961a, 1961b;
Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber, 2007; Kleit, 2001; Lipman, 2008; Popkin et al., 2000).
The hypotheses on the benefits and mechanisms of change associated with mixed-income housing
strategies have been questioned since at least the early 1960s. An early criticism was that, to achieve
benefits for low-income households, relationships among people across income levels would need
to be stronger than they are likely to be. Gans (1961a: 181) argued that “heterogeneity … is unlikely
to produce relationships of sufficient intensity to achieve either a positive social life or cultural,

18 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
political, and educational values sought through balanced community.” Other researchers have
pointed out that some benefits are more likely to be realized than others. In particular, improve-
ments to place, such as housing quality, neighborhood amenities, and services, are more likely
than neighbor interactions to benefit low-income residents (Joseph, 2006).
Evidence to Date
Compared with the hypothesized benefits, the actual benefits from living in mixed-income devel-
opments or income-diverse areas have been limited for low-income households. In particular,
investments have brought about environmental improvements to housing and neighborhoods,
but benefits tied to economic desegregation and poverty alleviation have not been realized.
Economic Desegregation
Economic desegregation occurs in mixed-income areas as a spatial fact—households of lower and
higher income levels live near each other—but propinquity has led to little social or otherwise
meaningful integration across lines of income. Research since the late 1990s has found that inter-
actions among residents across income groups have been limited at best. Most research on this
topic focuses on mixed-income developments, but research on income-diverse neighborhoods has
drawn a similar conclusion. Most interaction occurs among neighbors of similar income levels.
Researchers have described interactions among residents across income groups in mixed-income
and income-diverse areas as superficial and infrequent. Early studies of resident interaction in mixed-
income developments found greetings to be fairly common but any exchanges of longer duration
to be limited (Brophy and Smith, 1997; Rosenbaum, Stroh, and Flynn, 1998). In their study of
seven mixed-income developments, Brophy and Smith (1997) found that many respondents did
not know the names of their immediate neighbors. More recent studies have found much the same.
Brower’s (2009) study of three developments found little resident interaction across income and
tenure groups (owners and renters). Kleit and Carnegie (2011) similarly found that residents who
moved to a mixed-income development did not expand their social networks across income lines.
Studies conducted among residents of income-diverse neighborhoods have produced similar findings.
Briggs’s (2005) ethnographic work in Yonkers, New York, found few indications of meaningful
interactions among people living in mixed-income neighborhoods. Duke (2009) cited a study by
Clampet-Lundquist (2004) that found that women who were relocated to lower poverty neighbor-
hoods faced barriers forming social ties. Popkin et al. (2000) also discussed the relative scarcity
and superficiality of interactions across income groups within income-diverse neighborhoods.
The limited interaction among residents of different income levels has been attributed to a range of
individual and structural factors. Kleit (2005) and Joseph (2008) found that elements of develop-
ments’ design, such as the lack of common areas or shared building entrances, can serve to limit
informal interactions, which otherwise could serve as the basis for developing more significant
ties. In the study of a racially and ethnically diverse development, Kleit identified other factors
that might be important to interactions, including differences in language, educational attainment,
race and ethnicity, marital status, and family composition. Even residents who indicated that they
valued living in a diverse area reported very few interactions (Kleit, 2005).

19Cityscape
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
At least some residents have limited their interactions with households in a different income brack-
et for reasons that could be termed “protective.” Joseph (2008) found low-income residents keep
“a low profile” to avoid the scrutiny of neighbors and any problems that might jeopardize their
housing. Residents have superficial interactions in part because of low expectations for developing
relationships with neighbors and to ensure privacy for themselves (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011).
Chaskin and Joseph found one of the most important barriers to interaction among residents
across income and tenure groups to be the perception of difference. Higher income residents held
negative stereotypes of public housing residents, and subsidized residents perceived those with a
higher income as standoffish.
Studies from outside the United States have produced similar findings. Blockland and van Eijk
(2010) found in the Netherlands that residents they identified as “diversity seekers,” people who
moved to income-diverse areas because of the income diversity, had social networks that were no
more diverse that those of other residents. Diversity seekers also were no more likely to become
involved in neighborhood organizations or to attend local social activities than other people. In
the United Kingdom, Bretherton and Pleace (2011) found that residents who owned a home in
a mixed-income area tended to perceive residents of social housing units as bad neighbors and
purposely kept interactions to a minimum. Arthurson (2010) found three factors that served to
depress interactions across income lines in income-diverse neighborhoods in Australia. Lifestyle
factors included decisions among subsidized residents to maintain stronger ties to their previous
communities and differences in lifestyles and work schedules that left little time for developing
new relationships. Design factors included spatial segregation of residents by income within a
mixed-income area that reduced opportunities for informal interactions. Finally, stigma attached
to residents of social housing units worked against interactions across income and tenure.
When negative interactions occur among residents, they are often attributed to differences in
behavior associated with income or class. Studies in New Orleans and Chicago found that unsubsi-
dized residents complained about the behaviors of public housing residents, who in turn said they
felt disrespected by higher income residents or by management staff (Chaskin and Joseph, 2010;
Libson, 2007). The following quote from a staff member of an organization that worked with
mixed-income development residents in New Orleans sums up the perceived differences between
low-income and higher income residents that have led to conflicts.
There’s just a different style of living that very low-income people have in terms of the
way they see things, the way they do things, the way they interact with each other, and
the way that a middle-class more affluent group of people generally behave, and they run
into conflict with each other (Libson, 2007: 103).
When problems do occur, methods of social control can serve to increase tensions. Chaskin and
Joseph (2011) found that higher income residents tended to rely on formal methods of control,
such as calling the police, rather than on informal methods, such as speaking directly to the people
involved. Some higher income residents reported giving up on efforts to interact with lower income
residents altogether because they felt unwelcome and that the social distance was too much to over -
come (Chaskin and Joseph, 2010).
Minimal, positive interactions do occur, however. In Joseph and Chaskin’s (2010) study, some
residents across income groups indicated that they learned from and about residents of different

20 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
socioeconomic backgrounds. Lower income residents talked about their hope for being better un-
derstood, and some moderate-income and higher income residents said they gained appreciation
for the issues lower income families face.
Most studies that examined resident interactions in mixed-income developments found that
relationships are more likely to form among people of similar income and housing tenure (Kleit,
2005; Rosenbaum, Stroh, and Flynn, 1998; Tach, 2009). Tach (2009) also found that differences
in interaction and community engagement correlated with differences in neighborhood perception.
Residents who viewed the development more negatively, mostly the higher income residents new
to the area, were less engaged than those who held a positive view of the area, who were more
likely to be lower income residents.
Even efforts to encourage resident engagement have reinforced divisions along income lines in
some places. Chaskin and Joseph (2010) found that resident participation in communitywide
events intended to foster interaction tended to fall along lines of income. (See also Fraser and
Nelson, 2008.) In some developments, even the use of community facilities has differed by income
group. Instead of serving as spaces of opportunity for community building, the facilities can
become spatial markers of the distance between income groups if lower income (or higher income)
residents stake a claim by design or default (Brower, 2009; Kleit, 2005).
Interactions and relationships among residents might change over time, although change can
happen in either direction. Patillo (2007) found that a number of higher income homeowners who
moved into a revitalized Chicago neighborhood initially felt isolated and somewhat frightened.
As they became familiar and increasingly comfortable in their surroundings, many homeowners
became involved in the community. Tach (2009) raised the possibility that a similar increase
in engagement might take place in the Boston development she studied as, over time, higher
income residents become more accustomed to the area. Joseph and Chaskin (2010), however,
found reduced interaction over time as residents gave up the effort. Social isolation increased as
lower income residents reported feeling stigmatized by their higher income neighbors within the
development, even as they shed the stigma they previously felt from outsiders because of where
they had lived. Lower and higher income residents spoke about negative interactions and feelings
of social detachment and social isolation within the development. In a second round of interviews,
the researchers found that residents talked more often of challenges than of positive interactions.
“Across tenure and class, many residents are simply withdrawing from engagement with others
locally and relying on pre-existing relationships for social and instrumental support” (Joseph and
Chaskin, 2010: 15).
Poverty Alleviation
There is near consensus in the research since the 1990s that mixed-income strategies have not
led to significant changes in the economic well-being of low-income households. Research on
outcomes for lower income residents living in mixed-income developments and income-diverse
neighborhoods has found some improvement in employment but little or no improvement in
income. Studies of low-income households that moved with a voucher to low-poverty areas
through the Gautreaux housing mobility program found increased job aspirations, job readiness,
and higher employment rates compared with those of counterparts living in poor, urban areas,

21Cityscape
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
but the movers’ wages were not higher than those of their counterparts (Briggs, 1997; Rosenbaum
and Popkin, 1991). Briggs argued that, although lower income households moved to areas with
more employment opportunities, they were not necessarily more likely to access and retain jobs or
obtain jobs with higher wages. Similar results have been found from the MTO demonstration pro-
gram. Households that moved to low-poverty areas as part of MTO had higher employment rates
than families who had not moved, but they had about the same hourly wage (Johnson, Ladd, and
Ludwig, 2001). More recently, Tach (2009) also found higher employment rates and educational
attainment among lower income residents of mixed-income developments.
Many researchers who found evidence of employment gains tempered their findings because of
sample selection bias. Tach (2009) attributed the improvements in employment rates among her
study participants to mixed-income developments’ screening requirements that created a selection
bias rather than to a change in work habits among the residents. Other studies whose findings of
employment and earnings gains were affected by sample selection bias include Kleit (2002) and
Galster et al. (2008). Kleit’s (2002) study found that low-income women who moved to scattered-
site public housing had employment and networking gains that women who remained in poverty-
concentrated areas did not have. Galster’s study of relocatees in Sweden found that low-income
laborers who moved to higher income areas had higher earnings than counterparts who remained
in lower income areas (Galster et al., 2008).
In their reanalysis of MTO data, Clampet-Lundquist and Massey (2008) found that the length of
time households resided in low-poverty areas correlated to better self-sufficiency outcomes. Each
additional month living in a low-poverty neighborhood correlated with an increase in the likeli-
hood of being employed. Each additional month living in a racially integrated low-poverty area
correlated with a greater decrease in the likelihood of receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families compared with living in a segregated low-poverty area. Other MTO researchers have
criticized this analysis and stand by previous findings that MTO has had little or no overall effect
on employment and earnings (Ludwig et al., 2012, 2008).
It is possible that additional research over longer periods might still show reductions in poverty
correlated with mixed-income strategies. Evidence from more than 20 years of research suggests,
however, that the door to this possibility is only slightly ajar. Without changes in other factors,
such as the availability and quality of education and job supports and increases in the availability
of jobs that pay a living wage and offer benefits, it seems safe to say that mixed-income strategies
alone are unlikely to achieve reductions in household poverty.
Urban Revitalization
The hypothesized benefits related to economic desegregation and poverty alleviation have not
materialized, but some benefits stemming from neighborhood investments have been found. As
anticipated by some researchers, most benefits reported by residents of mixed-income develop-
ments and income-diverse areas derive from improvements to their surroundings. A number of
studies found that residents of mixed-income developments were satisfied with their housing
quality and with the maintenance and management of the developments. Residents also indicated
satisfaction with neighborhood services and amenities. Perhaps most importantly, they commented
on safety improvements related to reductions in criminal activities. (See Brophy and Smith, 1997;

22 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
Buron et al., 2006; Calavita and Grimes, 1998; Doerr and Siegal, 1990; Fraser and Nelson, 2008;
Joseph and Chaskin, 2010; Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber, 2007; Libson, 2007; Mulroy, 1991;
Popkin et al., 2000; Rosenbaum, Stroh, and Flynn, 1998; Ryan et al., 1974; Schwartz and
Tajbakhsh, 2001; Smith, 2002.)
Related to these environmental improvements, low-income residents have identified benefits related
to health, particularly mental health. In their study of two mixed-income developments, Joseph and
Chaskin (2010) found that 75 percent of relocated, low-income residents reported psychological
benefits—namely, reductions in stress since moving from their old neighborhoods to the new
developments. People attributed the stress reduction to feeling safer than they had before. One-half
of the relocated residents in their study reported increased self-esteem and motivation as well.
Research on outcomes for MTO participants also has found evidence of mental health improvements.
Early studies of MTO in Boston and New York found that adults who relocated from high-poverty
to lower poverty neighborhoods experienced improvements in mental health (cited in Popkin et al.,
2000). Other MTO research found that the demonstration program had a marginally significant
positive effect on mental health and a not-quite-significant positive effect on physical health (Ludwig
et al., 2012). In their review of MTO and Gautreaux studies, Johnson, Ladd, and Ludwig (2001)
found that families who moved to lower poverty areas reported fewer mental or emotional health
problems and improved physical health. All these researchers cautioned interpretation of their
results, however, because of self-selection or endogeneity problems.
Studies have identified behavioral and mental health gains for children and some evidence of
positive effects on educational experiences and outcomes. Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber (2007)
found that children living in mixed-income developments are realizing educational, health, and
behavioral benefits, although the researchers stopped short of identifying residency in the develop-
ments as the cause. Schwartz (2010) argued that, although her study found academic gains among
children who moved to low-poverty areas, greater gains were found among those students who
attended low-poverty schools.
Gautreaux and MTO studies have found that children who relocate to income-diverse areas have
fewer behavioral and health problems. Johnson, Ladd, and Ludwig (2001) found that children
reported feeling less sad, arguing less, and disobeying their parents less often after moving to a
lower poverty area. They reported working harder in more challenging schools, and findings show
that they did not experience a drop in grades relative to nonmovers. Popkin et al. (2000) cited
findings that children who moved to low-poverty and lower poverty neighborhoods experienced
fewer incidences of arrest and convictions, fewer injuries, and fewer episodes of asthma. As with
many studies that have found positive outcomes, the Johnson et al. and the Popkin et al. works
cautioned that selection bias affects results.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Mixed-income strategies can succeed in spatially desegregating households by income and improv-
ing lives through environmental changes, but so far they have proven insufficient for overcoming
social barriers and alleviating poverty. We conclude by thinking through the literature and asking
how it might be possible to move the needle on economic segregation and poverty.

23Cityscape
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
Research suggests that the design of housing units or public spaces could encourage (positive) in-
teractions, although findings have been mixed. In a review of case studies from three developments
in the United Kingdom, Roberts (2007) found evidence that the organization of the housing units
mattered less than the organization of public space. Interaction was more likely among residents
when the layout of public spaces led to encounters, even casual ones. This increased likelihood
held, regardless of whether the housing units were integrated, segmented, or segregated by income.
Kleit (2005), however, noted that some residents in a Seattle development thought that the lack
of homeowner and rental unit integration made it less likely that owners and renters would cross
paths and possibly develop relationships. Joseph and Chaskin (2010) suggested that other factors
can be more important than any potential effect of design when residents make an effort to avoid
others. They found that most low-income residents in their study thought they were under greater
scrutiny and monitoring than they had been before they lived in a mixed-income development,
which could hinder interactions across income groups.
Research has shown that the lack of an effective development-wide organization for residents can
impede interactions and community-building efforts. Whether the obverse leads to greater interac-
tions is unclear, because few mixed-income developments that have development-wide resident
organizations appear to be available to study. In their study of two mixed-income developments
in Chicago, Joseph and Chaskin (2010) found that the governance structure in a mixed-income,
mixed-tenure building helped create a divide between low-income renters and the owners of con-
dominium units. The condominium association in the building has control over rules that govern
the entire building, effectively precluding opportunities for low-income residents to participate in
governance. Similarly, Brower (2009) argued that the lack of resident interaction can be attributed
in part to the lack of community organizations through which all residents can meet and perhaps
build trust. Although each mixed-income development he studied in Baltimore called for creating
a single residents’ organization to represent both homeowners and renters, only one development
established a joint organization. Even in this development, however, Brower found that renters felt
they had no say in decisionmaking. Perhaps organizational structure, like good design, can create
the opportunity for interaction, but it is only a first step. Brower found that no organizations in the
developments he studied focused efforts on community building among residents.
Another factor that can affect the environment for resident interactions is management practices.
Graves (2012) found that property managers can serve an important role in supporting or obstruct-
ing the development of social ties among residents. Even when managers act in supportive ways,
management rules still might stand in the way. For example, Brower (2009) found that eviction
rules that applied to renters but not homeowners were perceived as unequal and unfair and that
they affected interactions between residents of different tenure. The literature is quiet on whether
more (positive) resident interaction takes place in mixed-income developments with good manage-
ment practices and rules that residents perceive as fair.
Finally, one study found that resources in the broader neighborhood, such as grocery stores and
common spaces, were correlated with the development of social capital. Curley (2010) found that
residential income mix was not correlated with generalized trust or shared norms among neigh-
bors, but the presence of neighborhood resources was. Her work suggests that efforts that combine
income mixing and neighborhood investment might create additional layers of opportunity for
interaction and for developing relationships over time.

24 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
The literature hints at ways to increase opportunities for meaningful economic desegregation,
although it seems that, to achieve significant gains toward this goal, it will be necessary to actively
promote interactions across income groups and address challenges along the way. We do not venture
into the fields of community development or negotiations and mediation here, but both areas seem
relevant. Whether more significant interactions and relationships might develop over time, how-
ever, also depends on residents’ interest in and willingness to develop connections with neighbors.
The limited interactions documented so far might very well reflect the limited interactions among
residents in developments and neighborhoods of all types. As Briggs (2005: 9) noted, most neigh-
borhoods in the United States are “collections of strangers and those with mostly casual contacts.”
Studies that found little or no effect from living in mixed-income developments or income-diverse
areas on low-income households’ economic well-being point to factors that impede poverty alleviation.
Details vary slightly, but the conclusions drawn by a number of researchers are similar. Goetz (2010)
identified health status and other individual attributes as more important than neighborhood charac-
teristics for families’ well-being. Likewise, Levy and Woolley (2007) found that severe and multiple
health problems served as barriers to low-income residents’ ability to gain or retain employment.
Instead of approaching the goal of poverty alleviation through mixed-income strategies, efforts need
to be intentional and focused on a specific purpose, whether it be addressing physical or mental
health problems, low educational attainment, lack of job training or access to jobs that offer a living
wage and benefits, or something else. (See Brophy, Garcia, and Pooley, 2008; Sanbonmatsu et al.,
2006; Upshur, Werby, and Epp, 1981.)
Mixed-income strategies can help create spaces of opportunity for low-income families, especially
spaces in which people can find relief from stress related to unsafe living environments, but the
strategies have not been found to lift households out of poverty. Certainly, services and supports
focused on economic well-being could take place within mixed-income developments or be made
available to households living there or in income-diverse neighborhoods. If poverty alleviation is
the primary goal, however, the path to it does not appear to require mixed-income living.
The extant literature does not offer a clear response to the question posed in the section header:
Where do we go from here? Research on governance structures, resident participation, and
management practices in mixed-income developments could shed light on how to better create
and support opportunities for positive engagement among residents. Efforts to improve the health
and educational attainment of low-income households are necessary. Perhaps what we know most
clearly from research so far is that no single strategy will achieve the three goals of economic de-
segregation, poverty alleviation, and urban revitalization. A multifaceted, integrative approach that
focuses on people and place, such as the model provided by the Choice Neighborhoods initiative,
might prove more effective than a mixed-income strategy alone. Until Choice Neighborhoods or
other integrated efforts are fully implemented and studied, however, we do not know.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge Charles Rutheiser and the Annie E. Casey Foundation for supporting the
literature review from which this article was drawn, Mark L. Joseph for sharing his extensive bibli-
ography on mixed-income communities, and Simone Zhang for supplemental literature searches.

25Cityscape
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
Authors
Diane K. Levy is a senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy
Center at the Urban Institute.
Zach McDade is a research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
at the Urban Institute.
Kassie Bertumen is a research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy
Center at the Urban Institute.
References
Arthurson, Kathy. 2010. “Operationalising Social Mix: Spatial Scale, Lifestyle and Stigma As Medi-
ating Points in Resident Interaction,” Urban Policy and Research 28 (1): 49–63.
Blockland, Talja, and Gwen van Eijk. 2010. “Do People Who Like Diversity Practice Diversity
in Neighbourhood Life? Neighbourhood Use and the Social Networks of ‘Diversity Seekers’ in a
Mixed Neighbourhood in the Netherlands,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36 (2): 313–332.
Bretherton, Joanne, and Nicholas Pleace. 2011. “A Difficult Mix: Issues in Achieving Socioeconomic
Diversity in Deprived UK Neighbourhoods,” Urban Studies 48 (16): 3429–3443.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza. 2005. Social Mixing and the “Geography of Opportunity”: Lessons for Policy
and Unanswered Questions. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
———. 1997. “Moving Up Versus Moving Out: Neighborhood Effects on Housing Mobility
Programs,” Housing Policy Debate 8 (1): 195–234.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza, Greg Duncan, Katherine Edin, Mark Joseph, Robert D. Mare, John Mol-
lenkopf, Mary Patillo, Lincoln Quillian, Robert Sampson, Claudia Solari, Laura Tach, and Sudhir
Venkatesh. 2009. Research Design for the Study of Mixed-Income Housing. Los Angeles: University of
California, Los Angeles, California Center for Population Research.
Brophy, Paul C., Miguel Garcia, and Karen Pooley. 2008. Mixed-Income Housing: A Promising
Approach to Improved Housing and Neighborhoods. Unpublished manuscript.
Brophy, Paul C., and Rhonda N. Smith. 1997. “Mixed-Income Housing: Factors for Success,”
Cityscape 3 (2): 3–31.
Brower, Sidney. 2009. “The Feasibility of Mixed-Income Communities.” Paper presented at the
international symposium jointly organized by the IAPS-CSBE Network and the IAPS Housing
Network, Istanbul, Turkey, October.
Buron, Larry, Jill Khadduri, Judy Weber, and Frances Ferguson. 2006. “Seven Strategies for
Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties:
Summary Report.” Washington, DC: NeighborWorks America.
Calavita, Nico, and Kenneth Grimes. 1998. “Inclusionary Housing in California: The Experience of
Two Decades,” Journal of the American Planning Association 64 (2): 150–169.

26 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
Chaskin, Robert J., and Mark L. Joseph. 2011. “Social Interaction in Mixed-Income Developments:
Relational Expectations and Emerging Reality,” Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (2): 209–237.
———. 2010. “Building ‘Community’ in Mixed-Income Developments: Assumptions, Approaches,
and Early Experiences,” Urban Affairs Review 45 (3): 299–335.
Clampet-Lundquist, Susan. 2004. “Hope VI Relocation: Moving to New Neighborhoods and Building
New Ties,” Housing Policy Debate 15 (2): 415–447.
Clampet-Lundquist, Susan, and Douglas S. Massey. 2008. “Neighborhood Effects on Economic
Self-Sufficiency: A Reconsideration of the Moving to Opportunity Experiment,” American Journal
of Sociology 114 (1): 107–143.
Curley, Alexandra M. 2010. “Relocating the Poor: Social Capital and Neighborhood Resources,”
Journal of Urban Affairs 32: 79–103.
Doerr, Tom, and Joy Siegal. 1990. “Mixing Incomes at Timberlawn Crescent,” Urban Land 49 (4):
8–11.
Duke, Joanna. 2009. “Mixed Income Housing Policy and Public Housing Residents’ ‘Right to the
City,’” Critical Social Policy 29 (1): 100–120.
Fraser, James, and Michael H. Nelson. 2008. “Can Mixed-Income Housing Ameliorate Concentrated
Poverty? The Significance of a Geographically Informed Sense of Community,” Geography Compass
2 (6): 2127–2144.
Galster, George. 2007. “Neighborhood Social Mix As a Goal of Housing Policy: A Theoretical
Analysis,” European Journal of Housing Policy 7 (1): 19–43.
Galster, George, Roger Andersson, Sako Musterd, and Timo M. Kauppinen. 2008. “Does Neigh-
borhood Income Mix Affect Earnings of Adults? New Evidence From Sweden,” Journal of Urban
Economics 63: 858–870.
Galster, George C., Jason C. Booza, and Jackie M. Cutsinger. 2008. “Income Diversity Within
Neighborhoods and Very Low-Income Families,” Cityscape 10 (2): 257–300.
Gans, Herbert J. 1961a. “Planning and Social Life: Friendship and Neighbor Relations in Suburban
Communities,” Journal of the American Planning Association 27 (2): 134–140.
———. 1961b. “The Balanced Community: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity in Residential Areas,”
Journal of the American Planning Association 27 (3): 176–184.
Goetz, Edward G. 2010. “Better Neighborhoods, Better Outcomes? Explaining Relocation Outcomes
in HOPE VI,” Cityscape 12 (1): 5–32.
Graves, Erin. 2012. “Mixed Outcome Developments: Comparing Policy Goals to Resident Outcomes
in Mixed-Income Housing,” Journal of the American Planning Association 7 (2): 143–153.
Johnson, Michael P., Helen F. Ladd, and Jens Ludwig. 2001. “The Benefits and Costs of Residential-
Mobility Programs for the Poor.” Report prepared for the conference “Opportunities, Deprivation,
and the Housing Nexus: Trans-Atlantic Perspectives,” Washington, D.C., April 2001.

27Cityscape
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
Joseph, Mark, and Robert Chaskin. 2010. “Living in a Mixed-Income Development: Resident
Perceptions of the Benefits and Disadvantages of Two Developments in Chicago,” Urban Studies
47 (11): 1–20.
Joseph, Mark, Robert J. Chaskin, and Henry S. Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Address-
ing Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Joseph, Mark L. 2008. “Early Resident Experiences at a New Mixed-Income Development in
Chicago,” Journal of Urban Affairs 30 (3): 229–257.
———. 2006. “Is Mixed-Income Development the Antidote to Urban Poverty?” Housing Policy
Debate 17 (2): 209–234.
Khadduri, Jill, and Marge Martin. 1997. “Mixed-Income Housing in the HUD Multifamily Stock,”
Cityscape 3 (2): 33–69.
Kleit, Rachel. 2005. “HOPE VI New Communities: Neighborhood Relationships in Mixed-Income
Housing,” Environment and Planning A 37: 1413–1441.
———. 2002. “Job Search Networks and Strategies in Scattered-Site Public Housing,” Housing
Studies 17 (1): 83–100.
———. 2001. “Neighborhood Relations in Suburban Scattered-Site and Clustered Public Hous-
ing,” Journal of Urban Affairs 23 (3–4): 409–430.
Kleit, Rachel, and Nicole Carnegie. 2011. “Integrated or Isolated? The Impact of Public Housing
Redevelopment on Social Network Homophily,” Social Networks 33 (2): 152–165.
Levy, Diane K., Zach McDade, and Kassie Dumlao. 2010. Effects From Living in Mixed-Income
Communities for Low-Income Families: A Review of the Literature. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Levy, Diane K., and Mark Woolley. 2007. Relocation Is Not Enough: Employment Barriers Among
HOPE VI Families. Brief No. 6. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Libson, Brittany. 2007. ”River Garden: New Orleans’ Model for Mixed Income Housing,” Social
Policy 37 (3/4): 98–105.
Lipman, Pauline. 2008. “Mixed-Income Schools and Housing: Advancing the Neo-Liberal Urban
Agenda,” Journal of Education Policy 23 (2): 119–134.
Ludwig, Jens, Greg J. Duncan, Lisa A. Gennetian, Lawrence F. Katz, Ronald C. Kessler, Jeffrey R.
Kling, and Lisa Sanbonmatsu. 2012. “Neighborhood Effects on the Long-Term Well-Being of Low-
Income Adults,” Science 337 (6101): 1505–1510.
Ludwig, Jens, Jeffrey R. Kling, Lawrence F. Katz, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, Jeffrey B. Liebman, Greg J.
Duncan, and Ronald C. Kessler. 2008. “What Can We Learn About Neighborhood Effects From
the Moving to Opportunity Experiment?” American Journal of Sociology 114 (1): 144–188.
Mulroy, Elizabeth. 1991. “Mixed-Income Housing in Action,” Urban Land 50 (5): 2–7.
Patillo, Mary. 2007. Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.

28 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen
Popkin, Susan J., Larry Buron, Diane K. Levy, and Mary K. Cunningham. 2000. “The Gautreaux
Legacy: What Might Mixed-Income and Dispersal Strategies Mean for the Poorest Public Housing
Tenants?” Housing Policy Debate 11 (4): 911–942.
Roberts, Marion. 2007. “Sharing Space: Urban Design and Social Mixing in Mixed Income New
Communities,” Planning Theory and Practice 8 (2): 183–204.
Rosenbaum, James E., and Susan J. Popkin. 1991. “Employment and Earnings of Low-Income
Blacks Who Move to Middle Class Suburbs.” In The Urban Underclass, edited by Christopher
Jencks and Paul E. Peterson. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution: 342–356.
Rosenbaum, James E., Linda K. Stroh, and Cathy A. Flynn. 1998. “Lake Parc Place: A Study of
Mixed-Income Housing,” Housing Policy Debate 9 (4): 703–740.
Ryan, William, Allan Sloan, Maria Seferi, and Elaine Weberly. 1974. All In Together: An Evaluation
of Mixed-Income Multi-Family Housing. Boston: Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency.
Sanbonmatsu, Lisa, Jeffrey R. Kling, Greg J. Duncan, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. 2006. “Neighbor-
hoods and Academic Achievement: Results From the Moving to Opportunity Experiment,” The
Journal of Human Resources 41 (4): 649–691.
Schubert, F. Michael, and Alison Thresher. 1996. Lessons From the Field: Three Case Studies of
Mixed-Income Housing Development. Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago, Great Cities Institute.
Schwartz, Alex, and Kian Tajbakhsh. 2001. “Mixed-Income Housing As Social Policy: The Case for
Diminished Expectations.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate
Schools of Planning, Cleveland, November 2001.
———. 1997. “Mixed-Income Housing: Unanswered Questions,” Cityscape 3 (2): 71–92.
Schwartz, Heather. 2010. Housing Policy Is School Policy: Economically Integrative Housing Promotes
Academic Success in Montgomery County, Maryland. A Century Foundation Report. New York: The
Century Foundation.
Smith, Alastair. 2002. Mixed-Income Housing Developments: Promise and Reality. Cambridge, MA:
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.
Tach, Laura M. 2009. “More Than Bricks and Mortar: Neighborhood Frames, Social Processes,
and the Mixed-Income Redevelopment of a Public Housing Project,” City and Community 8 (3):
273–303.
Upshur, Carol C., Elaine Werby, and Gayle Epp. 1981. “Social Service Programs Essential for
Mixed-Income Housing Developments,” Journal of Housing 38 (5): 262–269.
Wilson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public
Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

29Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI
Redevelopments: A Community
Case Study From the Pacific
Northwest
JoDee Keller
Pacific Lutheran University
Janice Laakso
Christine Stevens
Cathy Tashiro
University of Washington, Tacoma
Abstract
The authors examine a Pacific Northwest Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere
(HOPE VI) site that, before redevelopment, was a vibrant, multiethnic community where
neighbors united to address personal and community problems. We explore residents’
sense of community, trust, feelings toward neighbors, and views about diversity before
and after redevelopment. Findings suggest that residents valued diversity before redevel-
opment and experienced a diminished sense of community after redevelopment. Results
are mixed regarding the re-emergence of community. Identifying and meeting the needs
of diverse populations is important to mixed-income HOPE VI sites, particularly with the
country’s increasing diversity. Challenges in building and maintaining community are
discussed, with recommendations for meeting the needs of ethnically diverse residents.
Introduction
The Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) program originally was developed
to address concerns with severely distressed public housing. Although the goals of the program
have evolved and expanded over time, Salama (1999), through a review of legislative history and
of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Notices of Funding Availability, distilled
a list of the program’s major objectives. They include reducing the concentration of low-income

30
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
residents, creating mixed-income communities, serving diverse households, promoting family
self-sufficiency, building sustainable communities, and involving residents in planning and imple-
mentation.
Extensive HOPE VI research has identified a number of wide-ranging outcomes (Hanlon 2010;
Popkin, Eiseman, and Cove, 2004; Popkin et al., 2004). General outcomes include significant im -
provements in the physical quality of housing; increases in residents’ incomes, employment, and
education (not surprising, because mixed-income communities have replaced exclusively low-
income communities); lower crime rates; an increase in racial diversity; and improved property
management (Fraser and Nelson, 2008; Holin et al., 2003; Popkin, Levy, and Buron, 2009; Turbov
and Piper, 2005). Other studies have found mixed results on the health and well-being of residents,
however (Curley, 2009; Goetz, 2010). Case studies of individual sites are less positive and raise
concerns about residents’ loss of social networks, instrumental support, and access to supportive
services (Clampet-Lundquist, 2004; Curley, 2009; Goetz, 2010, 2002; Keller, 2012). Although
an initial core principle expressed by architects of the HOPE VI program was the expectation that
mixed-income communities would increase the social capital of poor residents, little evidence
suggests that this outcome occurs (Curley, 2009; Goetz, 2010, 2002), and mixed-income commu-
nities may actually reduce social capital in formerly low-income communities (Clampet-Lundquist,
2004; Curley, 2010; Laakso, 2013).
Although HOPE VI sites have been studied extensively, it often is beyond the scope of the research
to determine whether changes attributed to HOPE VI can be sustained over time and whether even
the communities are viable. Increasingly, discussions have emerged about the program’s feasibility
(Abravanel, Levy, and McFarland, 2009; Holin, et al., 2003; Wexler, 2001). Indeed, perhaps
growing out of this concern, President Obama replaced HOPE VI with the Choice Neighborhoods
program (HUD, 2011), which seeks to directly build on but greatly expand the aims of HOPE VI.
Choice Neighborhoods focuses on the broader community and on services beyond housing, par-
ticularly services and amenities that have wide appeal across incomes, including schools, retail, and
parks (HUD, 2011). What about the communities that have been redeveloped under HOPE VI?
What are their prospects to maintain mixed-income and increasingly multiethnic communities?
Challenges of Mixed-Income, Mixed-Housing, and
Multiethnic Communities
Although focus on multiethnic aspects of HOPE VI communities has been limited, the literature
on income diversity can illustrate some parallels to the benefits and challenges of promoting ethnic
diversity. A central aim of HOPE VI was to create and maintain mixed-income communities. Al-
though such communities were viewed as being beneficial for low-income residents because they
could foster instrumental relationships in which low-income residents might find employment or
other resources, these instrumental relationships may not have emerged for a number of reasons
(Curley, 2009; Goetz, 2010, 2002). In fact, low-income residents may have had more instrumental
relationships and stronger social ties within their former communities (Joseph, 2008; Keller, 2011;
Kleit, 2010; Laakso, 2013) and may not feel as comfortable in mixed-income communities (Chaskin
and Joseph, 2011, 2010). Public housing residents may feel under increased scrutiny by their

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
31Cityscape
middle-income neighbors, believing that different social norms may lead to disapproval of partic-
ular behaviors and habits (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011; Joseph and Chaskin, 2010). Duke (2009)
noted that strict rules and expectations in mixed-income communities appear to emphasize the
rights of more affluent residents, leading lower income residents to view themselves as not truly
part of the neighborhood. The potential costs of mixed-income developments for residents of
former low-income communities include loss of support networks, increased stigma, increased
isolation, and feelings of relative deprivation (Curley, 2009; Joseph, 2006).
Social networks tend toward homogeneity; neighborhoods usually are homogeneous with regard
to socioeconomic status (Kleit and Carnegie 2011; Putnam, 2007), and neighboring relationships
are more frequent within homogenous networks than between them (Kleit, 2005; Putnam, 2007).
It is not surprising that artificially created mixed-income communities face a number of challenges,
including tensions about youth activities, race, parenting, and differences in the ways that parents
restrict their children’s activities (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011) and tensions among different groups
of people, including between renters and owners and between parents and nonparents (Joseph and
Chaskin, 2010).
Findings regarding ethnic diversity are mixed. In general, in ethnically diverse neighborhoods,
trust, altruism, and community cooperation are less common (Putnam, 2007). In their comparison
of two mixed-income communities, Chaskin and Joseph (2011) found more contentious social
interactions in the more ethnically diverse community. Similarly, in a Seattle study, Whites viewed
ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods as being more harmonious than heterogeneous neighbor-
hoods. In mixed neighborhoods, Whites reported more noise and trouble and less trusting rela-
tionships (Guest, Kubrin, and Cover, 2008). By contrast, Manzo, Kleit, and Couch (2008) found
that most residents of an ethnically and racially diverse community viewed diversity as an asset.
The variety of housing types, central to mixed-income HOPE VI developments, can also present
challenges. Renters tend to have fewer social relationships in their community than market-rate
owners and relocated public housing residents (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011). Homeowners have
noted the lack of integration between homes and rental units (Kleit, 2005), expressing concerns
about interactions between owners and renters and feelings that renters have less commitment to
the development (Joseph, 2008). Any correlations between housing type and race or ethnicity can
add to the challenges of building community.
Joseph (2008) found that former public housing residents expressed general dissatisfaction with
the sense of community in the new development. Barriers to social interaction included minimal
shared public space, physical and qualitative distinctions between subsidized and market-rate
units, stigma, self-isolation by former public housing residents, segregated residents association
structures, and perceived assumptions of property management staff about residents.
Development of Neighboring Relationships
Questions arise regarding how to promote neighboring relationships across income levels, housing
types, and ethnic groups. “Proximity is very important in the creation of neighboring relationships”
(Kleit, 2005: 1435). More than proximity is needed to foster community, however. Physical

32
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
integration can foster interaction, but Kleit found that public housing residents in a Seattle mixed-
income development were still isolated from nonpoor neighbors more than would be expected, and
residents knew more fellow residents who were of similar income and educational level. Ethnicity
and native language are important variables in looking at neighboring relationships, and children
also can promote ties across housing type and income (Kleit, 2005). Homogeneity in terms of
stage of life, homeownership, lifestyle, and values are more important than proximity (Kleit and
Carnegie, 2011).
The expectations of the community also may affect neighboring relationships. Joseph (2008) found
that market-rate owners expected little personal benefit from living in the mixed-income community,
apart from perhaps meeting some interesting people. Public housing residents valued both the
demographic makeup and the more idealized environment that they viewed as less chaotic and
potentially providing opportunities for their children. According to Joseph, most did not specifi-
cally expect benefits from having new neighbors, however, and planned to keep to themselves.
Some public housing residents thought that the potential benefits would include social mobility
and also thought that more affluent neighbors would develop more realistic and positive attitudes
toward them.
Families in Mixed-Income Communities
Families typically interact with those of similar age and stage of development. Whereas children
often provide a connection among parents, Kleit (2005) found that in NewHolly, a housing devel -
opment in Seattle, fewer homeowners had children, limiting opportunities for mixing across
incomes and ethnicities. Thus, another challenge of mixed-income housing is attracting a critical
mass of families with children (Varady et al., 2005). Middle-income families may not be attracted
to mixed-income developments, and those who are may not have much in common with lower
income residents (Popkin et al., 2000). Varady et al. (2005) suggested that, to attract families,
communities must have strong public schools, work collaboratively with the schools, and actively
market to families with children. Middle-class families with children are absent from many devel-
opments because of perceived safety issues in the community and the poor reputation of neighbor-
hood schools. In a comparison of three public housing communities, Varady et al. (2005) found
that one Louisville development was attracting families with children, although they speculate that
it was because housing location did not determine school attendance. A second site appears to
have promoted income mixing but not racial integration. Varady et al. concluded that attracting
middle-class families with children was not a prominent goal of any of the developments they
studied and highlighted the difficulty of maintaining an income mix that will lead to meaningful
social interaction across social class lines.
In Chicago, Joseph (2008) found that middle-income families made housing decisions that met
their basic interests and needs, looking specifically at the variables of location and affordability but
not necessarily at the mixed-income makeup or ethnic diversity of the community. Similarly, Kleit
and Manzo (2006) found that place dependence is important in shaping moving preferences, but
final relocation choices may be determined more by family factors such as the size of the family,
housing options, and employment opportunities. In addition, income differences exist in how

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
33Cityscape
residents’ needs are met in the community. Middle-class residents meet many of their needs out-
side the geographic community and are less place bound (Joseph and Chaskin, 2010). By contrast,
low-income neighboring networks tend to be more place based and homogeneously low income,
with more overlapping relationships (Kleit, 2005). Particularly for people who are mobility chal-
lenged, poor, or elderly, the neighborhood is still the place where many relationships are formed
(Curley, 2010). These differences between low- and middle-income groups can challenge cohesion
within the community.
A Northwest Housing Community
Salishan, the community addressed in this article, is named for the coastal Salish First Nation peo-
ples, and the name has been loosely translated as “people of many colors coming together.” Thus,
this multiethnic ideal is part of the historical fabric and lore of the community. The neighborhood
has always been more ethnically diverse than Tacoma, Washington, the city in which it is located.
“Salishan was one of the area’s first residential neighborhoods that was racially integrated on pur -
pose. Diversity by race, language, ethnicity, national origin, and age has remained a signature and
appealing aspect of Salishan to the present day, including the redevelopment of New Salishan”
(THA, 2009a: par. 4).
This housing development, along with many others in the Pacific Northwest (see Gibson, 2007;
Kleit and Galvez, 2011; Manzo, Kleit, and Couch, 2008), presents a different demographic than
many HOPE VI sites in other parts of the country. At the beginning of Salishan’s HOPE VI recon-
struction in 2003, nearly 60 percent of the residents were immigrants and refugees; roughly 25
percent were Cambodian, 25 percent were Vietnamese, and 10 percent were from countries in
the former Soviet Union (NICF, 2007). Many types of families were represented in the develop-
ment, including two-parent, multigenerational, and single-parent families; grandparents raising
grandchildren; and individuals living alone. This diversity is by contrast to many public housing
developments, which consist largely of female-headed, African-American families, many of whom
have lived in public housing for their entire lives (Holin et al., 2003; Joseph, 2008).
Another difference is the Tacoma Housing Authority’s (THA’s) goal of eventually increasing housing
density, from 855 to 1,278 housing units, although final projections are for 290 public housing units,
471 other subsidized rentals, and 100 homeownership units reserved for low-income residents.
Of those 100 homeownership units, 28 are sweat-equity homes for those whose incomes are less
than 40 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) and 72 are homeownership units for those whose
incomes are less than 60 percent of AMI (THA, 2009b). Instead of the highrise apartment model,
this community initially consisted primarily of single-family homes, interspersed with fewer duplexes
and triplexes, all of one story. The new community has a combination of one- and two-story single-
family homes but many more duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and apartment housing for seniors.
Although the Old Salishan (before HOPE VI) community faced significant issues, they were not to
the level of the nation’s “most severely distressed” housing, originally the target of HOPE VI. The
housing quality was poor, with poor wiring and insulation, no showers, and mold and mildew.
Community challenges included crime, drugs, gangs, and poverty, issues that were targeted by the
THA and residents. The census tract comprising this housing development had the highest poverty

34
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
rate in the Tacoma area, with 56 percent of residents falling below the poverty line in the 2000
census. More than 80 percent of the students in the elementary school serving this community
qualified for free or reduced-price meals in 2010. In many ways, the residents of this community
were socially and geographically marginalized.
Although the poor-quality low-income housing has been replaced with mixed-income housing,
market-rate rentals (18 units) are relatively few compared with primarily public housing and site-
based housing choice voucher (Section 8) rentals. Individual family homes consist of market-rate
homes (257, primarily on the periphery of the development), fewer (28) sweat-equity (Habitat for
Humanity) homes, and some (72) subsidized homes (THA, 2009b). It may seem ironic that, al-
though the goal was a mixed-income development, some displaced residents stated that they were
unable to return because they earned too much income to qualify for the rentals but not enough to
secure a mortgage.
Methodology
Data were gathered across nearly 4 years. The midpoint evaluation, in 2006, consisted of semi-
structured interviews with 52 current and former residents (20 nonmovers and 32 movers) of the
community 3 years into redevelopment. In 2009, 26 followup interviews, 7 focus groups, and
interviews with eight community stakeholders were conducted. Initial interviewees were heads
of household, randomly selected from THA occupancy lists, which were divided by housing
situation. Additional recruitment strategies were employed by caseworkers and members of the
various ethnic communities to obtain representation from the predominant ethnic groups residing
in Salishan and from each type of housing. Followup interviews were conducted with all initial
interviewees who agreed to a second interview and could be located and scheduled. Bicultural
translators and interpreters interviewed residents from the three major non-English speaking
language groups at Salishan: Khmer, Russian, and Vietnamese. All resident interviews were fully
transcribed into English from audio recordings.
The focus groups included former and current Salishan residents; some had taken part in the initial
and followup interviews and others were found through snowball and convenience sampling, in -
cluding youth and young adults, who were not part of the interviews. The focus groups included
(1) Russian homeowners, (2) Russian teenagers, (3) Cambodian young adults, (4) Cambodian elders,
(5) late-adolescent Cambodian and Vietnamese youth, (6) Vietnamese elders, and (7) long-term
female residents (four White and one African American). Focus groups also were conducted in
the primary language of the interviewees and transcribed into English. Stakeholders were recom-
mended by community members and THA staff and included representatives of local government,
clergy, and social service providers.
The transcripts were reviewed, looking specifically at issues relevant to sense of community and
valuing of diversity, including questions about trust, participation in neighborhood activities, and
views toward neighbors. The data analysis included descriptive coding to organize data and look for
patterns in segments of interviews and common threads in respondents’ accounts of life in Salishan,
using cross-case analysis. To verify the original coding, the data were continuously reviewed for
discrepancies or errors. The themes and conclusions were compared with those in the literature.

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
35Cityscape
The primary languages spoken in the homes of the initial 52 respondents were English (39 percent),
Khmer (23 percent), Russian (19 percent), Vietnamese (17 percent), and Vietnamese and English
(2 percent). Of the English speakers, 60 percent were White, 20 percent were African American,
10 percent were Asian or Asian American, and 10 percent were multiracial or another race. Thus,
compared with the housing development as a whole before redevelopment, Vietnamese speakers are
underrepresented and Russian speakers are overrepresented in the sample. Exhibit 1 provides a
comparison of the baseline and followup respondents with the county, city, and Salishan population.
Exhibit 1
Category Pierce County Tacoma Salishan Baseline Followup
Comparison of Baseline and Followup Sample With Total Salishan Households and
Surrounding Area
Population 700,820 193,177 2,802 52 26
Household in poverty (%) 9.6 14.1 56.0 67.0 57.6
White (%) 78.3 69.2 24.2 NA NA
Non-Russian-speaking White (%) NA NA NA 25.0 26.9
Russian-speaking White (%) NA NA NA 17.3 19.0
Asian (%) 4.9 7.4 51.3 NA NA
African American (%) 6.9 11.2 10.5 9.6 3.8
Cambodian (%) NA NA NA 23.0 26.9
Vietnamese (%) NA NA NA 21.0 26.9
Other (%) 2.1 2.7 2.9 3.8 3.8
Person age 5 or older with disability (%) 19.7 22.9 30.3 63.4 69.2
NA = not applicable.
Source: Data for Pierce County, Tacoma, and Salishan are from the 2000 census
Respondents first moved to Salishan an average of 12.6 years before the beginning of interviews in
2006. Nearly one-half of the respondents (48 percent) were married or partnered, 27 percent were
single, 15 percent were divorced or separated, and 10 percent were widowed. Slightly less than
one-half (48 percent) of the households included minor children, with an average of 1.84 children
per family. Most children (85 percent) were of school age, between the ages of 6 and 17.
With regard to education, 27 percent of respondents (mostly from Cambodia) had completed
eighth grade or less, 10 percent had completed some high school, 12 percent had earned a high-
school diploma, 6 percent had earned a general equivalency diploma, 15 percent had completed
some college, 23 percent had attended technical or vocational school, and 8 percent had earned a
college degree. The median combined household income was $903 per month although, as with
education, responses ranged widely; nearly one-third of respondents made less than $650 per
month, whereas the top 10 percent reported monthly incomes of between $2,500 and $4,000.
Sources of income included food stamps (62 percent); Supplemental Security Income, state disabil-
ity insurance, or Social Security (57 percent); employment (41 percent); and Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (10 percent).
Results
Before HOPE VI, residents had developed a strong sense of community with high levels of
trust and participation in community activities. Residents valued the multiethnic makeup of

36
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
the community. It is not surprising that they felt a loss of community through redevelopment.
Ethnic enclaves were disrupted and many, particularly elderly people and minorities, felt isolated.
Although they connected with neighbors in Salishan before development, followup interviews sug-
gested reluctance to connect with neighbors after redevelopment, for both those in New Salishan
and those living off site; 62 percent of respondents indicated that they associated less with their
new neighbors than previously.
Trust
Trust is an important aspect of community and of mixed-income, ethnically diverse neighbor-
hoods. Respondents were asked if they trusted their neighbors and if people in their community
generally got along with each other in Old Salishan. Roughly two-thirds of respondents in this
multiethnic community indicated that they trusted most people in their neighborhood and
more than 80 percent reported that neighbors generally got along with each other, although the
responses varied by ethnic group and by age (exhibit 2).
Exhibit 2
Resident
Subcategory
Percent Responding “Yes” to the Question ...
Mean
Number
of Years in
Salishan
“Did You Trust
Most of the People
in Your Neighborhood?”
“Did People in Salishan
Generally Get Along
With Each Other?”
Trust and Assessment of Neighbor Relationships
Cambodian 83.0 67.0 16.5
Vietnamese 78.0 62.5 10.4
Russian-speaking White 50.0 90.0 6.4
English-speaking White 63.0 94.0 15.2
Age 65 or older 87.5 87.5 NA
NA = not available.
The Russian-speaking residents exhibited the least trust for their neighbors although, as a group,
they also had lived in the community for the shortest amount of time. The Cambodian residents,
as a group, had been in the community the longest and showed one of the highest levels of feelings
of trust. The oldest residents, many of whom had lived in the community for the longest time,
demonstrated the highest level of trust in their neighbors, suggesting, at least in this ethnically
diverse community, a relationship between length of tenure and level of trust.
Many of the open-ended responses suggest a relationship between knowing one’s neighbors and
feeling trust. As a 60-year-old White woman stated—
I’ve never had anybody that I didn’t really trust. We lived next to some ... of the worst gang
members in town, but because they grew up with my kids they made it all through high school,
most of them, fine.
From another respondent, a 38-year-old African-American mother of two—
Everybody in the neighborhood knew everybody and everybody ... would watch out for each
other’s kids. ... If I needed something and didn’t have it, I could always go and knock on the
neighbor’s door and ask them.

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
37Cityscape
Although most respondents stated that they trusted the neighbors, a few did not share this percep-
tion, as the following comments indicate. “I don’t really trust anyone.” “In the old community, I
couldn’t trust people.” Respondents who indicated a lack of trust in Old Salishan said they did not
have friends or family there, or they had personally been a victim of or witnessed criminal acts.
“My car was broken into. There was crime and violence on the street.”
Sense of Community
A clear sense of community pervaded Old Salishan, some of which had arisen out of collective
efforts to address crime and other community issues. “By the late 1990s Salishan’s crime rate had
fallen to what other city neighborhoods were experiencing. By the time THA starting demolishing
it in 2001, Salishan was a successful and safe neighborhood that was well organized, tightly knit,
and occupied by people who were very fond of it” (THA, 2009a: par. 7). Residents relied on neigh-
bors for needs, including food, childcare, and transportation. The community had developed a
telephone tree. People looked out after each other’s children. As a 28-year-old Cambodian woman
stated—
On every block, there were always seven or eight families that you knew. And you’re always
friends with someone next door. And your parents knew everyone on that block. So when you’re
walking down the street, everyone’s like, ‘That’s so and so’s daughter.’ ... And you felt safe because
they would look out for you.
Although this respondent did not romanticize this community (in fact, she went to on to talk
about the crime in her neighborhood), the security of knowing her neighbors of varying ethnic
backgrounds and knowing they would watch out for her enabled her to thrive under otherwise
challenging circumstances.
More than 85 percent of respondents indicated that they socialized with neighbors in Old Salishan.
Respondents listed involvement in various activities, including holiday events and festivals, com-
munity gardening, resident council meetings, meetings regarding HOPE VI, and ethnically based
activities and meals for seniors. Proximity to an ethnically based agency was one of the positive
aspects of Old Salishan for the Vietnamese and Cambodians. One elder spoke of visiting this
agency for the “community senior lunch. Four times a week we had lunch together. ... It felt like
my own home.”
In commenting on community activities in Old Salishan, an elderly White woman stated—
We would have a night out. When we lived on 40th, everyone would get together, we would have
a potluck, everyone would bring a dish, and we would get together and know our neighbors.
Some community ties were very strong and provided instrumental help for residents. As an
80-year-old White woman stated—
I’ve got some very close people in Salishan, too. When I was getting ready to move into the (new)
house here in January, someone stole my check and my friend gave me money so I could move in.
We’re very close, have been ever since. That’s more than a special friend. There’s no adjective for it.

38
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Another resident, a White woman raising her granddaughter, stated, “It was a great place. We had
no problems and got along with all the neighbors. (My granddaughter) grew up there from when
she was 1 year old. That is the only home she knows.” Other residents spoke of the comfort of
living in the community for a long time, including the relationships with THA staff, as indicated
by this statement from a 63-year-old White woman—
Well, you really kind of got to be friends with everybody up there (in the THA office), you know.
And ... a few years after I moved in, my older daughter ... was killed. And ... her body had been
dumped right up here, and so everybody here knew who we were. And that because of (my son
with a disability) ... they were really good about, ‘You don’t worry about taking care of the rent;
when you get it in here, that’s fine.’
In addition, in the community, people came together to accomplish tasks. As a 63-year-old White
woman stated—
It was really a sense of community. Well, you really got to know your neighbors. The kids all got
out and played together. If somebody was driving too fast through there, everybody was up in
arms. You’d try to get the license plate. You know, people just kind of worked together.
A 60-year-old White woman stated—
I like the idea of a community. ... Everybody I know that lives elsewhere, they don’t really have
that thing where you’re coming together. Like, we have private security here. You know? And
that’s really nice and it’s because people got together and said, ‘Hey, this isn’t safe. We need
something.’
These responses illustrate human agency, the residents of the community coming together to
tackle a specific problem or issue. As an older female focus-group participant stated, “you ladies
were right, when something needed to be done in the community, you ladies were wonderful,
you knocked on doors.”
One stakeholder, a Cambodian woman who was a former resident and later worked in the com-
munity, listed some of the benefits of the community and the shared activities—
Residents strongly bonded together. ... Housing also threw the Thanksgiving party for residents
every year. ... The school offered both Cambodian-language class and Cambodian classical folk
dance. ... They also celebrated a night-time fest once a month that brought lots of residents and
kids. ... (The) phone tree, ... we had three languages in Khmer, Vietnamese, and English. ... If any
incident happened, we contacted one another immediately.
A city councilman made a similar statement—
People who lived within Salishan were fairly tight knit in terms of banding together. Very active
with regards to crime prevention and that kind of stuff, so I would just say the strength of com-
munity was ... a sense of community. ... There has always been a relatively diverse community.
... Within each of those (ethnic) communities, I think there is obviously a clustering of folks who
rely on one another, but I’ve also seen over the years people of different cultural and ethnic back-
grounds band together as the Salishan community. And so you’d see Asian and Native American
and African American and whatever banding together on certain projects.

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
39Cityscape
Valuing Diversity
This ethnic and religious diversity is one of the strengths frequently identified by Salishan residents,
stakeholders, and many in the larger urban community. They take genuine pride in the ability of
so many different groups of people to support each other, to live together, to be a community.
Although they are quite diverse in some ways, a tie held that community together—the common
experience of being in public housing, of being marginalized, of surviving trauma, of being vulner-
able. One community stakeholder, a member of the clergy, noting that trauma was a part of the
lives of many residents, stated that—
The strength of the community came together during suffering, death, and tragedy. Dealing with
that and helping each other, I see as a strength. It was an authentic community. ... They knew
how to celebrate together with a diverse population. There was no dominant minority to claim,
like those in the big cities claim.
Another stakeholder, a school social worker, stated—
(Salishan was) a place where cultures could live together and as a whole be nourished. ... When
I first came, it was heavily African Americans. That waned as the Vietnamese, ... Cambodians,
and Laotians (arrived). It became a place of wonderful ethnic diversity. And now ... Hispanic, ...
Eastern European. ... And I think this is very rich.
A community stakeholder who worked with children and youth commented—
There was a strong community fabric. ... It was very culturally diverse. ... There was different
cultural and ethnic groups that were tighter knit than others. But there was still kind of woven
together, ‘Everyone’s in this.’ ... You can definitely notice when they would blend when we’d all be
playing and doing stuff together.
Residents talked about the “good people,” stating that despite different cultures or language
barriers, they found ways to communicate. They also expressed positive feelings about the
neighborhood diversity—
I love some of the people. ... There’s a couple of moms down at the school that I can’t really
communicate with and some of them are learning English and I’m so thrilled we can talk. We’ve
talked through translators and we’ve got, like, so happy to see each other and they’re just so
sweet. You just kinda learn about their culture by being around them, ... it’s like, I wish I can be
more involved with all that.
An older White woman caring for her granddaughter stated—
They would all kinda look out for each other. I didn’t speak their language, but they respected me
and I respected them. I wouldn’t have to worry that someone would break in. My granddaughter
at the time was only 2-and-a-half or 3. She’d go out on the block, and the people would watch
her. I felt very safe she could go a couple of houses down. I’m very protective of my granddaugh-
ter. The Asian ladies would give her doughnuts and stuff. They looked out for her. She’s 10 years
old (now), and I don’t let her go across the street to the playground. I’ve tried, but there’s too
much going on. I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t know these people.
Her response illustrates the diminished sense of community she felt after redevelopment.

40
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Loss of Community After Hope VI Development
Many respondents talked about the loss of feelings of community. A 63-year-old White female
resident stated, “I think there isn’t a sense of community there was. There isn’t the contact with the
people that work up here (THA staff) that there was.” She went on to say—
I don’t really visit with my neighbors or anything much. (In Old Salishan) I had kids that were
out and about and made friends. There was a bunch of kids my kids’ age and they played
together. It seems like the kids that are here that are my children’s age, it’s like their families are
just, I don’t know, kind of wild.
Residents also expressed concerns about the loss of the community center and youth programs. An
elderly White female long-term resident stated—
We talked till we were blue. Kids need activities. A lot of these activities are leaving. ... What we
tried to communicate, that once these programs leave, not everybody has parks, not everybody
can get there. How do people get to the centers? Now these things are just broken up everywhere.
They’re scattered. Not everyone can walk. When someone lives here, you could feasibly walk, but
it’s a long walk, up the hill.
This loss of shared common space is echoed by another long term resident, stating, “There’s
nowhere to congregate now. ‘Hi. How are you?’ That’s what we do. ‘Smooches. I have to go in the
house now, I have laundry to do.’ That’s how it is now.”
Another resident said of the new community, “People don’t have the same values. I’m not really
planted here. I’m not invested in the community. I was hesitant about my child going out there,
because there’s always a fight or something going on.”
Some of the seniors with the longest tenure in Salishan described trust, interaction, and sharing
with neighbors in their old community, noting less interaction in the community since the redevel-
opment. Many of their friends have moved out and they don’t know their new neighbors as well.
Health problems contribute to challenges in getting out and meeting new people. A stakeholder, a
member of the clergy, stated—
It is the hardest on the seniors, specifically ethnic groups who already had a sense of community.
Especially those that had family nearby. ... A lot of the people got used to the space, contributed
to the gardens. It has become more dense in the new location.
Respondents identified other barriers to neighbor relationships, including language differences,
busy schedules, and more limited opportunities to meet. “We socialize, but our ties are not as
strong. Everyone is so busy in America. No one has time.” “I don’t know them and I don’t speak
English. I don’t know what to do.” Another, a 45-year-old Russian woman stated—
I study at the college now and work. There is no time. Another reason is that no one is ever
outside. You don’t really see people on the street. ... In the old community, people spent more time
outside and there was more socializing.

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
41Cityscape
It is not surprising that ties in New Salishan were not yet as strong as they were in the old com-
munity. “We don’t know as many people here yet. ... In a new place, people are more careful. They
just look at each other.” “As far as friendships and relations, the old community was much better.
It was like living in a small town, where everybody knows each other.”
One respondent recognized that New Salishan would have more economic diversity and thought
that this diversity was an improvement. “Income will be more diverse and there will be less poor
people and crime.” Another respondent had a different understanding and was disappointed, say-
ing, “They told me that they built them for low-income people, but it is not true.”
Socializing in the New Community
After relocation, 62 percent of respondents reported socializing less with new neighbors than pre-
viously, and 35 percent indicated no participation in community activities in their new location.
Overall, isolation seemed to have increased among relocated residents, particularly elderly ethnic
minority respondents. The Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Russian-speaking seniors thought that
being close to others who spoke their language was an important aspect of community life. Some
had been involved in strong support networks, such as a Vietnamese phone tree and burial society.
As one 73-year-old Vietnamese man said, “The life over here (Salishan) was more comfortable,
but here it is nothing; it is just an apartment.” He does not socialize much with new neighbors
because, “We cannot talk to each other. ... No Vietnamese here. Only me. ... Living here is very
sad.” A 65-year-old Vietnamese male respondent expressed the same sentiment: “I am very sad to
live here. ... The Old Salishan was happier than here.”
Cambodians provided mutual aid for each other in times of need, both as individuals and through
their temples and churches. One Cambodian respondent explained that the decrease in socializing
with neighbors in the new community was “because they are Americans.” Another elder said, “I
don’t know [the neighbors] because we don’t speak English and they always go to work.”
Some residents, however, do report positive feelings toward their ethnically diverse neighborhood
in New Salishan, suggesting that community is beginning to emerge again. A 63-year-old White
woman stated—
We have a Russian family next door; they’re from Ukraine. I love them. I mean, we’ve been to
their daughter’s wedding. You know the adults don’t speak English, so it’s hard to have a real ...
relationship with the adults, but the kids, they do.
She continued, “It really fascinates me, all of the different cultures. And we have a lot of our church
people that are from Tonga and Samoa. ... I gravitate towards it.” Some connections are being made
across cultures in spite of language differences. As a 52-year-old Russian woman said, “I could not
speak English. I communicate mostly with Russian neighbors. I do not speak with Americans or
Mexicans, but I do know them. My husband speaks to them.” She did state, however, that what
she likes most about the community is “Probably the fact that many Russian-speaking people live
in this area. In the evenings, especially during summer, people going outside for fellowship talk,
like in Russia.” Other signs that community may be beginning to emerge include the fact that 61
percent of parents stated that their children do have friends in the new neighborhood.

42
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Discussion
We see a community that was ethnically diverse but that came together to address common prob-
lems and concerns. Residents felt a strong attachment to the location and to each other. With
relocation, the existing community was disrupted. Some of the most vulnerable residents, elderly
people, in particular elderly immigrants, seem to have been the most negatively affected by this
disruption of community and have experienced increased isolation in relocation. Immigrants’ feel-
ings of not fully belonging anywhere, neither their homeland nor their new home, may be partially
eased by living in a community such as this one, with a critical mass of people from the same
cultural background and other immigrants with at least some shared experiences.
When considering the increasing diversity of the United States (see Census Bureau, 2011; DHS,
2012), recognizing and meeting the needs of immigrants in public housing are critical. Based on
this examination of the Salishan community, immigrants’ adjustment to the community is enhanced
by ethnic-specific agencies and onsite case managers who speak their language. The immigrants
who lived in Salishan were strongly connected to ethnically based agencies, churches, temples,
and groups such as the Vietnamese burial society. The older generation, in particular, relies on
this sense of community. It also is important to recognize the circumstances of their immigration
and the resources they bring with them, which may include history of trauma, limited access to
education, different living circumstances (urban or rural), and different cultural traditions. Putnam
(2007) spoke of “bonding ties” (with one’s own group) and “bridging ties” (across groups) and
stated that they are not negatively correlated, as one might imagine. Rather, strong bonding ties
may be important if people are to develop strong bridging ties, suggesting that if one feels comfort-
able and supported within one’s own ethnic group, one may be more likely to bridge with other
groups. This comfort and support appeared to be the case in Old Salishan, where residents had
strong ties to their ethnic community but also were able to reach out to neighbors. When this con -
centrated ethnic base dispersed, residents had a difficult time adjusting to new neighbors and the
new community. In fact, a key element to the success of Old Salishan may have been this combina tion
of the ethnic diversity of the community as a whole (“I love all the different ethnic backgrounds”)
and the ability to live near others of the same ethnic background (“There are lots of Vietnamese here”).
To sustain the kind of multiethnic, mixed-income neighborhoods envisioned by HOPE VI, then,
the community at large must be more willing to accept refugees and immigrants, recognizing the
strengths they bring to the community. In addition, when residents have opportunities to interact
with each other, they are more likely to build connections. People need shared space to observe
and interact with each other and ultimately develop feelings of trust (Curley, 2010). Many partici-
pants in this study noted that people are not outside as much as they used to be and that some
of the previous shared spaces no longer exist. Several mentioned the need for a common space.
The ultimate conclusion was that neighborhood resources such as common spaces, parks, social
services, and residents’ feelings of safety and attachment to place are more important than a mixed-
income community for enhancing social capital (Curley, 2010; Laakso, 2013).
Given that this sample was a small nonrandom sample of residents who lived in Salishan before
HOPE VI, the results of these findings cannot be generalized to other populations in public hous-
ing. In qualitative research, however, even small samples of a nonrepresentative nature can provide

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
43Cityscape
potentially useful insights. Further, the results of this study ring true when compared with other
recent research on HOPE VI that have come to similar conclusions about challenges in mixed-
income neighborhoods and the loss of community.
What does the future hold for Salishan? The demographics continue to change, as they have over
time in the past. Salishan remains one of the most diverse communities in Tacoma. Whether this
neighborhood can regain its true sense of community remains a question, because communities
take time to grow and develop. The history of Salishan shows that diverse groups of residents can
work together. What remains to be seen is how the greater income spread will affect the formation
and stability of the community. Salishan worked because of a sense that “we’re all in this together.”
That feeling may not exist in a mixed-income community. With the increasingly diverse U.S.
population and continual flow of immigrants from various parts of the world, public housing will
likely continue to be a destination for those immigrants and require attention to their needs.
Recommendations
To maintain a truly diverse community, a critical mass, not dispersal, of immigrants and refugees
is needed. The experiences of residents in Salishan demonstrate the importance of institutions such
as, in the case of the Russian speaking, the church, and, in the case of the Vietnamese and Cambo-
dian, the temples, church, and a small ethnic-based social-service agency. Another important con-
sideration is the needs of multigenerational families. Many multigenerational immigrant families
were broken up as a result of relocation, because either housing units were not large enough or
multiple incomes disqualified the families from public housing. We recommend that stringent
readmission criteria be waived when appropriate to allow for more former residents to return to
these redeveloped communities. Residents also have decried the loss of a community center as a
place to meet. The shared space of pocket parks and a few larger parks may not be widely used.
Elderly people and those with disabilities have limited mobility and access and may need some
additional support. Housing authorities should develop and enhance partnerships for targeted sup-
ports to people with disabilities, children and youth, monolingual refugees, and immigrants.
Finally, rather than adopting the one-sided emphasis on mixed-income and ethnically diverse com -
munities as places where poor people can benefit from interactions with those who have higher
incomes, it is important to recognize that all residents can benefit from vibrant, ethnically diverse
and income-diverse communities. Indeed, middle-income residents can learn resourcefulness and
strategies for building community from their lower income neighbors. The long-term viability of
these communities demands this recognition of the strengths of all community members.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the residents in this public housing community for sharing their insights,
wisdom, and time. They also acknowledge Elizabeth Brusco, Emeritus Faculty, Pacific Lutheran
University, for her contributions to and participation in much of this research.

44
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Authors
JoDee Keller is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Pacific Lutheran University.
Janice Laakso is an associate professor in the Social Work Program at the University of Washington,
Tacoma.
Christine Stevens is an associate professor in the Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Program at
the University of Washington, Tacoma.
Cathy Tashiro is Emeritus Faculty in the Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Program at the
University of Washington, Tacoma.
References
Abravanel, Martin D., Diane Levy, and Margaret McFarland. 2009. The Uncharted, Uncertain Future
of HOPE VI Redevelopments: The Case for Assessing Project Sustainability. Washington, DC: Urban
Institute.
Chaskin, Robert, and Mark L. Joseph. 2011. “Social Interaction in Mixed-Income Developments:
Relational Expectations and Emerging Reality,” Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (2): 209–237.
Chaskin, Robert J., and Mark L. Joseph. 2010. “Building ‘Community’ in Mixed-Income Develop-
ments: Assumptions, Approaches, and Early Experiences,” Urban Affairs Review 45 (3): 299–335.
Clampet-Lundquist, Susan. 2004. “Moving Over or Moving Up? Short-Term Gains and Losses for
Relocated HOPE VI Families,” Cityscape 7 (1): 57–80.
Curley, Alexandra M. 2010. “Relocating the Poor: Social Capital and Neighborhood Resources,”
Journal of Urban Affairs 32 (1): 79–103.
———. 2009. “Draining or Gaining? The Social Networks of Public Housing Movers in Boston,”
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 26 (2–3): 227–247.
Duke, Joanna. 2009. “Mixed Income Housing Policy and Public Housing Residents’ ‘Right to the
City,’” Critical Social Policy 29 (1): 100–120.
Fraser, James, and Michael H. Nelson. 2008. “Can Mixed-Income Housing Ameliorate Concentrated
Poverty? The Significance of a Geographically Informed Sense of Community,” Geography Compass
2 (6): 2127–2144.
Gibson, Karen J. 2007. “The Relocation of the Columbia Villa Community: Views From Residents,”
Journal of Planning Education and Research 27 (1): 5–19.
Goetz, Edward G. 2010. “Better Neighborhoods, Better Outcomes? Explaining Relocation Outcomes
in HOPE VI,” Cityscape 12 (1): 5–31.
———. 2002. “Forced Relocation vs. Voluntary Mobility: The Effects of Dispersal Programmes on
Households,” Housing Studies 17 (1): 107–132.

Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments:
A Community Case Study From the Pacific Northwest
45Cityscape
Guest, Avery M., Charis E. Kubrin, and Jane K. Cover. 2008. “Heterogeneity and Harmony:
Neighbouring Relationships Among Whites in Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods in Seattle,” Urban
Studies 45 (3): 501–526.
Hanlon, James. 2010. “Success by Design: HOPE VI, New Urbanism, and the Neoliberal Transfor-
mation of Public Housing in the United States,” Environment and Planning A 42 (1): 80–98.
Holin, Mary J., Larry Buron, Gretchen Locke, and Alvero Cortes. 2003. Interim Assessment of the
HOPE VI Program Cross-Site Report. Bethesda, MD: Abt Associates. Also available at http://www.
huduser.org/Publications/pdf/HOPE_VI_Cross_Site.pdf (accessed July 20, 2011).
Joseph, Mark L. 2008. “Early Resident Experiences at a New Mixed-Income Development in Chicago,”
Journal of Urban Affairs 30 (3): 229–257.
———. 2006. “Is Mixed-Income Development an Antidote to Urban Poverty?” Housing Policy
Debate 17 (2): 209–234.
Joseph, Mark L., and Robert J. Chaskin. 2010. “Living in a Mixed-Income Development: Resident
Perceptions of the Benefits and Disadvantages of Two Developments in Chicago,” Urban Studies 47
(11): 2347–2366.
Keller, JoDee G. 2012. “Confronting Stereotypes: Children and Families in Public Housing.”
In Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research, Policy and Praxis, Vol. 8, Living on the
Boundaries: Urban Marginality in National and International Contexts, edited by Carol Camp Yeakey.
Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing Limited: 291–312.
———. 2011. “Experiences of Public Housing Residents Following Relocation: Explorations of
Ambiguous Loss, Resiliency, and Cross-Generational Perspectives,” Journal of Poverty 15 (2): 141–163.
Kleit, Rachel G. 2010. “Draining Ties: Tie Quality Versus Content in Low-Income Women’s Social
Networks When Displaced by Redevelopment,” Journal of Social & Personal Relationships 27 (4):
573–588.
———. 2005. “HOPE VI New Communities: Neighborhood Relationships in Mixed-Income
Housing,” Environment and Planning 37: 1413–1441.
Kleit, Rachel G., and Nicole B. Carnegie. 2011. “Integrated or Isolated? The Impact of Public Hous-
ing Redevelopment on Social Network Homophily,” Social Networks 33 (2): 152–165.
Kleit, Rachel G., and Martha Galvez. 2011. “The Location Choices of Public Housing Residents
Displaced by Redevelopment: Market Constraints, Personal Preferences, or Social Information?”
Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (4): 375–407.
Kleit, Rachel G., and Lynne C. Manzo. 2006. “To Move or Not To Move: Relationships to Place
and Relocation Choices in HOPE VI,” Housing Policy Debate 17 (2): 271–308.
Laakso, Janice. 2013. “Flawed Policy Assumptions and HOPE VI,” Journal of Poverty 17: 29–46.
Manzo, Lynne C., Rachel G. Kleit, and Dawn Couch. 2008. “‘Moving Three Times Is Like Having
Your House on Fire Once’: The Experience of Place and Impending Displacement Among Public
Housing Residents,” Urban Studies 45 (9): 1855–1878.

46
Keller, Laakso, Stevens, and Tashiro
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Northwest Institute for Children and Families (NICF), Evaluation Services. 2007. The Community
HOPE VI Redevelopment Midpoint Evaluation. Seattle: University of Washington School of Social Work.
Popkin, Susan J., Larry F. Buron, Diane K. Levy, and Mary K. Cunningham. 2000. “The Gautreaux
Legacy: What Might Mixed-Income and Dispersal Strategies Mean for the Poorest Public Housing
Tenants?” Housing Policy Debate 11 (4): 911–942.
Popkin, Susan J., Michael Eiseman, and Elizabeth Cove. 2004. “How Are HOPE VI Families Faring?
Children.” In Urban Institute Brief No. 6, October. Washington, DC: Urban Institute: 1–7.
Popkin, Susan J., Diane K. Levy, and Larry F. Buron. 2009. “Has HOPE VI Transformed Residents’
Lives? New Evidence From the HOPE VI Panel Study,” Housing Studies 24 (4): 477–502.
Popkin, Susan J., Diane K. Levy, Laura E. Harris, Jennifer Comey, Mary K. Cunningham, and Larry
F. Buron. 2004. “The HOPE VI Program: What About the Residents?” Housing Policy Debate 15 (2):
385–414.
Putnam, Robert. 2007. “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-First Century.
The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture,” Scandinavian Political Studies 30 (2): 137–174.
Salama, Jerry J. 1999. “The Redevelopment of Distressed Public Housing: Early Results From
HOPE VI Projects in Atlanta, Chicago, and San Antonio,” Housing Policy Debate 10 (1): 95–142.
Tacoma Housing Authority (THA). 2009a. “History of Salishan and New Salishan.” Available at
http://www.tacomahousing.org/Salishan (accessed July 27, 2011).
———. 2009b. “Salishan Overall Unit Mix.” Available at http://www.tacomahousing.org/Salishan
(accessed July 27, 2011).
Turbov, Mindy, and Valerie Piper. 2005. HOPE VI and Mixed-Finance Redevelopments: A Catalyst for
Neighborhood Renewal. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau). 2011. “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin.” Available at
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf (accessed July 27, 2011).
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 2012. “Refugees and Asylees: 2011.” Available at
http://www.dhs.gov/refugees-and-asylees-2011 (accessed February 7, 2013).
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 2011. “Choice Neighborhoods.”
Available at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/
programs/ph/cn (accessed July 27, 2011).
Varady, David P., Jeffrey A. Raffel, Stephanie Sweeney, and Latina Denson. 2005. “Attracting
Middle-Income Families in the HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization Program,” Journal of Urban
Affairs 27 (2): 149–164.
Wexler, Harry J. 2001. “HOPE VI: Market Means/Public Ends—The Goals, Strategies, and Mid-
Term Lessons of HUD’s Urban Revitalization Demonstration Program,” Journal of Affordable Housing
10 (3): 195–233.

47Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy:
Practitioner Reflections on
Policy Effects
Ade Kearns
University of Glasgow
Martin McKee
UK Medical Research Council
Elena Sautkina
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
George Weeks
Transport for London
Lyndal Bond
Centre for Excellence in Intervention and Prevention Science
Abstract
This article examines mixed tenure as a policy orthodoxy. It first sets out how mixed
tenure may be considered to constitute an orthodoxy within planning, being generally
accepted as a theory and practice even in the absence of supporting evidence. Five
elements of this orthodoxy are identified, relating to (1) housing and the environment,
(2) social change, (3) economic impacts, (4) sustainable communities, (5) and socio-
spatial integration. Interviews with practitioners involved with three social housing
estates that have experienced mixed-tenure policy interventions are reported to consider
why the implementation and effects of mixed tenure might not correspond with the ortho -
dox understanding. It is argued that policy ambiguity and weaknesses in policy theory
and specification, alongside practical constraints, lie behind incomplete and counter-
productive policy implementation, but a belief in pursuing the policy orthodoxy persists
nevertheless.

48
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Introduction
Planning has been described as, or in some cases accused of, from time to time having orthodox
approaches to creativity and problem solving. The most famous critic in this regard was Jane
Jacobs, who railed against the “saints and sages of modern orthodox planning” (emphasis added)
and what they had to say “about how cities ought to work and what ought to be good for people
and business in them” (Jacobs, 1961: 8). Planning orthodoxies are not unchanging however; as
Dudley (2012: 1) said, “one generation’s orthodoxies … may be subject to condemnation in the
next.” Thus, although in urban planning we can find critical commentary on the orthodoxy in
favor of “fast and efficient freeways” for U.S. cities in the 1950s (Dudley, 2012) and the negative
consequences of associated “urban renewal” (Anderson, 1964), more recently we can observe the
opposite in the form of resistance to what has been called the “planning orthodoxy” of compact
cities and higher density redevelopment (Randolph, 2006).
Orthodoxy can be defined as an “authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine, or practice”
(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com) or “the generally accepted beliefs of society at a particular
time” (http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org). Professions like to operate with orthodoxies because
doing so gives the impression of authority, expertise, and coherence within the body of practition-
ers, in that a marshaling of the evidence and their professional experience leads them to adhere to
the general approach. The orthodox approach may eventually achieve the status of unassailable
conventional wisdom, something that is hard to shift and where appropriate evidence is often
not collected to enable a challenge to be made from within or outside the profession. When the
orthodox approach is perpetuated without any evidence of effectiveness or successful outcomes, or
even in the face of evidence of negative effects, then it may be all the stronger for surviving as belief
as much as on authority.
We would argue that the promotion and development of mixed-tenure communities have con-
stituted an orthodoxy within housing, urban, and planning policies during the past two decades,
at least within the United Kingdom if not also in a number of other Western European countries.
Accounts of the rise and persistence of mixed-tenure policies have been given in several reviews:
see Kleinhans (2004); Bond et al. (2011); and Sautkina, Bond, and Kearns (2012). Having pursued
mixed-tenure policies since at least the early 1990s (Tunstall, 2003), governments in both England
and Scotland recently commissioned evidence reviews on the subject. Tunstall and Lupton (2010)
concluded that mixed tenure has a limited role and is unlikely (alone) to improve individuals’
life chances, thus questioning its function as an antidote to concentrated poverty or multiple
disadvantage (see Berube, 2005). In relation to council estates, Tunstall and Lupton said that the
evidence of mixed-tenure benefits is not strong enough to justify the financial and social costs of
restructuring social housing areas. Monk, Clarke, and Tang (2011) also concluded that, although
the evidence is supportive of mixed tenure in new developments, the evidence is less clear that
mixed tenure is effective in existing social housing estates, over and above traditional renewal (in
physical, environmental, and service terms). Lastly, Tunstall and Lupton (2010) highlighted that
the evidence is too weak to offer guidance about the levels of mixing required to produce benefits.
These reviews highlight the weakness of the evidence base for mixed-tenure policy, and thus help
confirm its position as orthodoxy.

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
49Cityscape
Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy
This section reviews some of the main tenets of mixed-tenure housing policy, in terms of both how
policy intends or expects them to operate and what is known about their functioning and effects.
The most immediate effects of mixed tenure on existing social housing areas are expected to be
on housing and environmental quality within neighborhoods, possibly due to the provision of a
greater variety of house types and designs by private developers, because of associated physical im-
provements made as part of mixed-tenure developments, or as a result of the care and maintenance
behaviors of owner occupiers. Several U.K. studies have reported greater resident satisfaction with
the surrounding physical environment in mixed-tenure neighborhoods, although its attribution to
mixed tenure rather than to other planning policies has been questioned (Atkinson and Kintrea,
1998; Beekman, Lyons, and Scott, 2001; Pawson, Kirk, and McIntosh, 2000). Whether or not the
expected caring behaviors of homeowners—as might be observed in mono-tenure, suburban situa-
tions—can be translated to mixed-tenure, inner-city neighborhoods is also uncertain. Evidence on
the extent of owner occupier reinvestment in their properties shows that owners’ attitudes to their
neighborhoods are very influential on their maintenance behaviors, particularly their feelings of
solidarity with their neighbors and their short- or long-term plans to move (Galster, 1987), both of
which might be expected to reduce maintenance behaviors in mixed-tenure neighborhoods.
Tenure mix is also intended to have significant social effects within communities, partly through
the increased responsibility that comes with home owning rather than renting, and partly through
altering the social composition of neighborhoods through the introduction of higher income groups.
Two difficulties emerge in this regard. First, tenure mixing is not guaranteed to deliver substantial
income mix; one of the few empirical studies of this issue in Europe concluded that “the associa-
tion between housing mix and social mix is not very strong” (Musterd and Andersson, 2005: 26).
Second, it has been argued that if the income or social-class gap between co-resident groups is too
great, then the transmission of social changes from one group to another may not happen.
Thus, the assumption is that having a greater diversity of residents, especially including higher
income groups alongside poorer and more deprived residents, has the potential to change the
attitudes and behaviors of the disadvantaged group. This change is expected to happen through a
number of social mechanisms (Galster, 2007), some operating on an individual basis (for example,
through peers and role models) and some on a collective basis (for example, through social pres-
sures to conform and the exercise of informal social control). These mechanisms may serve to
change the aspirations and behaviors of individual residents and the transmitted expectations and
norms of the community. Key behavior areas of concern in this regard are attitudes to the local
environment (as discussed previously); to education and employment; and to crime, antisocial
behavior, and the exercise of informal social control.
A number of studies have indicated the operation of social-mix neighborhood effects on education,
albeit with different minimum levels of affluent neighbors required for beneficial influences on
specific outcomes: school-leaving age and teenage childbearing (Crane, 1991), educational attain-
ment (Duncan, Connell, and Klebanov, 1997; Kauppinen, 2004), and intellectual and behavioral
development scores (Chase-Lansdale et al., 1997).

50
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Two propositions relate to informal social control regarding mixed communities. First, that owners
or higher income residents will be less likely to put up with crime and antisocial behavior and will
either intervene directly or call on the authorities to act, and they will generally support enforce ment
of rules (Rosenbaum, Lurigio, and Davis, 1998). Second, communities with more middle-class resi -
dents will be more socially organized and therefore better able to supervise their members, develop
and transmit social norms, and ensure compliance with those norms so that problems occur less
often. Although studies have shown that crime and informal social control are generally related to
community characteristics such as socioeconomic status, residential stability, levels of homeowner-
ship, and organizational participation (Sampson and Groves, 1989; Sampson, Raudenbush, and
Earls, 1997; Veysey and Messner, 1999), “the available evidence is inconclusive about whether
increased levels of social control have been observed in existing mixed-income developments and,
if so, what the source of that increased control is” (Joseph, 2006: 219). A recent review of U.K.
research on existing developments reported very inconclusive evidence about the relationship
between tenure mix and perceptions of crime and antisocial behavior among residents (Sautkina,
Bond, and Kearns, 2012), and the review found only one study showing that mixed tenure
resulted in a reduction in crime (Page and Boughton, 1997).
The economic impacts of mixed communities are held to be of two broad types. With the first type,
a social-capital argument asserts that weak social ties between neighbors who are different from
each other will particularly benefit lower income groups by providing access to employment infor -
mation and job opportunities (Granovetter, 1995; Lin and Dumin, 1986). The European evidence
for such employment or income effects of residential mixing is limited and inconsistent, however.
Scottish longitudinal research has found no effect of tenure mix on individuals’ ability to obtain
employment over time and an only minimal positive effect on their ability to remain in employment
(van Ham and Manley, 2010). Swedish evidence, on the other hand, points to some gains in earn-
ings for low-income groups from having middle-income neighbors as a dominant group; having
other lower income neighbors, however, can erode the positive effect (Galster et al., 2008), indicat-
ing that precision in mixing may be important to deriving the best outcomes for residents.
Despite the empirical evidence for social-interactive effects of mixing—be it for the environment,
employment, education, and so on—questions remain about the mechanisms involved. Galster
(2012) asked whether the effects of affluent neighbors derive from role-model effects or from the
extra resources brought into local institutions, like schools. Joseph (2006) questioned whether
role modeling concerns the transmission of values or relates more to skills and opportunities; that
is, whether it involves observation (“distal role-modelling”) or direct contact involving advice,
feedback, and accountability (“proximal role-modelling”). He concluded that, “Although the pres-
ence of middle-class role models has become a fundamental and commonly accepted rationale for
mixed-income development, my review raises serious questions about the relative importance of
this proposition” (Joseph, 2006: 221). These things matter for our purposes, as the mechanisms
involved in neighborhood effects from social mix have different implications for the other neigh-
borhood conditions required for those effects to operate.
The second type of economic effect of mixed communities is that higher income residents are
expected to help “create a market for services” (Smith, 2002) through their spending power, thus
attracting private investment into the local area. By contrast, some U.K. research has reported that

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
51Cityscape
more affluent residents in deprived areas “are able to escape [the] area by car to access external
services” (Atkinson and Kintrea, 2004: 451), thus undermining the local economic impact of mix.
On the area economic impact, however, Joseph (2006: 221) remarked, “Despite a lack of empirical
evidence, this proposition remains a compelling argument.”
Mixed communities are often discussed as part of the “sustainable communities” policy agenda
(ODPM, 2003), with tenure mix seen as a means to developing greater sustainability for the
future. For existing social housing areas, the sustainability question relates to issues of housing,
reputation, and management. In housing terms, the identified problem was of low demand to live
in some social housing estates, attributed to poor-quality housing or a lack of the right types and
sizes of dwellings to meet people’s needs or aspirations (Bramley and Pawson, 2002). This issue
was seen to be exacerbated by the fact that some areas had negative reputations, being seen as run
down, poverty stricken, suffering problems of crime and antisocial behavior, and lacking a sense
of cohesion or community, all of which could lead existing residents to leave and deter others
from moving to the area (Permentier, van Ham, and Bolt, 2007). Mixed-tenure communities are
intended to improve the external reputation of social housing or deprived areas.
The management issue is a slight variant on the issue identified in Joseph’s version of the “political
economy of place” (Joseph, 2006). The case of social housing areas has raised dual concerns. One
concern has been not so much that such estates were ignored by the authorities and lacked effective
advocates for public-sector attention, but rather that they relied too heavily on public interventions
and services and would benefit from more self-governance, aided by the participation and voice
of higher income groups and homeowners. More recent research, however, has indicated that de-
prived areas may still suffer from a level of public services that is insufficient to compensate for the
problems of disadvantage. This lack may be because of low expectations, rationing, discrimination,
or competition with other areas (Hastings, 2009), all of which effects may be reduced by having a
more diverse resident group.
As we have seen, some of the intended benefits from residential social mix are expected to be pro -
duced via social interaction between income or tenure groups, although recent reviews have been
pessimistic on this point. Galster (forthcoming) concluded that social mix was probably insufficient
to generate substantial interactions between groups, and Tunstall and Lupton (2010: 20) went
further to state that “Limited social interaction between tenure, employment and income groups …
[was] partly … because of design and layout which tend to mean people from different groups are
not literally neighbours.” Similarly, Kleinhans (2004: 378) observed that cross-tenure interactions
were “hampered by spatial separation between tenures as a result of neighbourhood layout.” This
observation echoes Kleit’s (2005) finding that social connections were greater with spatial proxim-
ity and shared attributes.
This consensus of view about the causes of limited social interaction in mixed situations is con-
sistent with the view among housing and planning professionals that fuller spatial integration of
housing tenures is more beneficial. Thus, a best-practice guide to mixed communities recommends
that through a “pepper-potted” or “dispersal” approach, “the greatest integration between tenures is
achieved” and stigmatization of groups avoided (Bailey et al., 2006: 49).

52
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
To summarize, we identify the following elements of orthodoxy within mixed-tenure housing and
planning policies.
• Tenure mix will deliver improvements in the quality of the residential and physical environments.
• Tenure mix will result in social change within communities, in terms of both social composition
and social behaviors.
• Tenure mix will have a positive effect on the local economy, helping to reduce unemployment
and boost local spending.
• Communities will become more sustainable because of tenure mix, through increased housing
demand and reduced public-sector inputs.
• Spatially integrated forms of tenure mix will be the more successful in producing positive results.
Our aim in this research is to see how practitioners who have been involved in developing and
managing mixed-tenure housing estates reflect on their achievement of these objectives and then to
consider why such orthodoxies might be clearer and simpler in theory than in practice.
Methods
This section describes the urban setting for our study, the specific study areas involved, and the
composition of our qualitative sample of interviewees.
Study Communities
We studied three postwar council estates—that is, “rationally planned schemes” (Ravetz, 2001)—
in Glasgow, each changed in different ways from being entirely socially rented housing to becoming
mixed tenure during the past 20 years or so. Castlemilk and Drumchapel are two of Glasgow’s four
peripheral estates, built on the edges of the city in the 1950s and now containing approximately
7,000 and 6,000 dwellings, respectively. The tenure structure is identical for the two estates, with
74 percent social renting, 23 percent owner occupation, and 3 percent private renting (GCC, 2011).
Part of the tenure change in each estate was a result of Right to Buy, a policy of the 1980s that
gave council tenants the option to buy their homes at discounted prices. Furthermore, Castlemilk
was subject to a government-led regeneration program in the 1990s, which reduced densities on
the estate and allowed for infill private development, especially along the southern and eastern
boundaries of the estate (CPC, 1999). Drumchapel was extended on its western edge through a
new access road that opened up green land for private housing development (GCC, 1992). More
recently, several infill private housing developments have been started as part of the council’s
New Neighbourhoods Initiative, intended to bring middle-income families into social housing
areas (DAHP, 2002). In the case of the two peripheral estates, the housing tenures tend to exist in
segregated and segmented developments, for example, in separate culs-de-sac or across the street
from one another.
The third study area is what is now called New Gorbals, comprising the redevelopment in the
1990s of part of the wider Gorbals estate through large-scale demolition and a master-planning

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
53Cityscape
exercise (CZWG, 1990; Tiesdell and MacFarlane, 2007) with a strong emphasis on urban design
and mixed-use (residential and commercial) buildings and boulevards, a grid street layout, and
higher densities (Thompson-Fawcett, 2004). According to local property tax records, New Gorbals
consists of 1,800 dwellings with a tenure mix of 50 percent social renting, 38 percent owner
occupation, and 12 percent private renting. Because of the redevelopment, the tenures are more
integrated in New Gorbals than in the two peripheral estates, with the tenures sometimes alternat-
ing between staircases (“closes”) in the same street block.
Interviews
Interviewing “stakeholders” and “implementers” has been identified as a useful, perhaps even neces -
sary, part of understanding how programs and policy actions might have effects through aiding an
evaluator’s understanding of the intended outcomes, contextual influences, and resource require-
ments and “the sheer complexity of the interventions” (Mackenzie and Blamey, 2005: 155). Using
practitioners as key informants in the study of urban, community-level policy interventions has been
done before. In the field of urban health, research has used “key stakeholders,” including local
policymakers and practitioners, to investigate how programs are developed in the absence of good
evidence to guide community and environmental interventions (Goodwin et al., 2012). A previous
study in Scotland targeted practitioners to examine area effects on life chances in deprived areas
consisting of both social housing and mixed tenure by selecting for interview public service and
welfare professionals with knowledge of the patterns of social life on the estates (Atkinson and
Kintrea, 2004). Given the fact of policy orthodoxy, practitioners may be inclined to view the policy
in a positive light, but in asking them to consider a range of outcomes, we are more likely to open
up a space within which they can consider how well-founded that belief is.
We purposively sampled practitioners through our contacts with the city council, using a snow-
balling method to reach others thereafter, and we sought to include people involved in decisions
about the development of the three estates in the 1990s and people working on the estates today.
In total, 17 practitioners were recruited and interviewed, including urban planners, housing man -
agement staff, regeneration agency staff, and head teachers at local schools for all three estates.
One socioeconomic development officer, one chair of a community organization, and one architect
were also interviewed. The interviews were equally balanced among the three estates, 11 interview-
ees were male and 6 female, and the response rate was 84 percent. The semistructured interviews
lasted 45 to 60 minutes, were digitally recorded, and were professionally transcribed before being
thematically analyzed. The first part of the interview concerned previous conditions on the estate
and the history of its redevelopment. The second part of the interview concerned the operation
and contribution of tenure mix and the improvements still required on the estates.
Findings
In this section, we present the findings from our interviews with policymakers and practitioners
pertaining to each of the five main elements of planning orthodoxy around mixed-tenure com-
munities.

54
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Housing and the Environment
In the case of all three estates, physical improvements were emphasized as one of the main achieve -
ments of the past two decades, but this achievement was attributed to several factors, not solely
tenure mix. The two peripheral estates saw many of the 1950s tenements improved, others demol -
ished, and houses with front and back doors developed, both by social landlords and private
developers.
There is also a better housing conditions (sic) for residents, a better fit between household type
and dwelling type.
—Urban planner, Drumchapel
The role of design in environmental improvement was stressed, particularly in the case of New
Gorbals but was also mentioned to a lesser degree in the case of Castlemilk.
There was money put into it … to achieve better standards of building, like stone and better
materials in the roads and that, some public art and things like that.
—Urban planner, New Gorbals
The first thing I was impressed with was the attention to detail that the planners had used. There
were a lot of small parks, or areas where there’s little bits of artwork—and they’d obviously tried to
make each street different and give it a bit of identity and also create places that encouraged people
to be out, other than the shops—so they were encouraging people to sit outside and play outside.
—Teacher, New Gorbals
Also, as might be expected, improved maintenance of housing and its surroundings was identified,
although this improvement was attributed not so much to tenure mix as conventionally understood.
Rather, it was attributed to diversification of ownership of the social housing stock on the estates
and the localization of management that came with it.
At one time, there was nearly 10,000 houses, you know, that were all council. … So what has
been achieved is not just diversification of broad tenure; it’s the, how many different landlords
have we got, social landlords have we got in Castlemilk? Probably about 10 or 11, if you count
all the housing associations. So, you know, that’s been something that has been achieved.
—Urban planner, Castlemilk
This tenure diversification was linked to improved maintenance through the operation of competi-
tive behaviors among landlords, landlords’ desire to protect their recent investment in the housing
stock, and their use of behavioral contracts with tenants. Reference was also made, however, to the
effects of housing improvements and the good neighbor effect of having owners around to influence
others.
I’m sure, if you’ve got nice houses round about you and people are looking after their houses bet-
ter because they have bought them, rather than rented them, then you would have to think that
people feel better about their own locale within Castlemilk.
—Teacher, Castlemilk

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
55Cityscape
More than any other change, the physical improvements were attributed with psychological gains
for residents.
I think people … generally do feel more confident in themselves, and there’s a feeling of pride in
if a child goes to this school to be associated with it. … To say that you come from Castlemilk has
a better feel to it now than it may well have done in the past.
—Teacher, Castlemilk
A good, warm, safe, protected environment gives people more peace of mind.
—Housing officer, Drumchapel
Well, I think it’s positive because what you have, … it’s helped to raise the overall quality of, you
know, visual appearance, it’s taken away the kind of stigma of poor housing, particularly where
we were in the ’80s.
—Housing officer, New Gorbals
Social Change
Social change was considered insufficient in all three areas, with interviewees describing persistent
poverty and deprivation, social fragility, and a set of behavioral problems. These issues were identi-
fied most readily, but not exclusively, by teachers.
The HMI [Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education] report, the background says that we’ve got
a number of issues of alcohol abuse, drugs, gang cultures, poor diet, breakdown in relationships
between families … there are many, many families with social-work connections. … So I
think, in terms of the regeneration, there may well be houses out there that are better stock and
healthier places to live in, but I think it’s things like the diet, the social and emotional well-being
of adults and young people, and I think that’s still a factor.
—Teacher, Castlemilk
The interviewees shared a common view that tenure mixing within council estates could not be
expected to shift social problems or alter communities on its own.
The community as a whole being improved, simply by tenure diversification? Never seen that
happening anywhere, including Drumchapel. … A sprinkling of homeowners doesn’t really affect
the chronic unemployment and the deprivation.
—Socioeconomic development officer, Drumchapel
Social change was described more in the case of New Gorbals than in the case of the two peripheral
estates, with an influx of young professionals since redevelopment partly because of the types of prop -
erties for sale (of the right size and price), but also because of the area’s location near the city center.
I do believe that the tenure mix and the change has helped, because then you don’t have an
overconcentration of a certain type of group of people, … you’ve got a community that can be
a working community, you can have a community that’s an aging community, but you can also
have a community that’s a young community and that’s coming up, so I think that has helped to
rebuild a variety of people within the Gorbals.
—Housing officer, New Gorbals

56
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Although it may have helped the situation, redevelopment with tenure mix was also seen as giving
an inflated view of progress in an area.
It’s definitely changed. It’s certainly not as bad as it was before ... but it’s not quite as trans-
formed, in my opinion, as people who have nothing to do with the area think it has.
—Teacher, New Gorbals
I think the slight downside with all the new buildings is that it’s put a little bit of a veneer over
the area, because there are still problems that, compared to other areas of the city, are higher in
number than it looks.
—Teacher, New Gorbals
Economic Impacts
Economic compositional changes within the areas are evident, in that owner-occupied houses
are now on the estates. Practitioners were uncertain, however, about whether these changes were
affecting the local economy through greater local expenditures.
As previously noted, the estates are still considered deprived, and persistent unemployment was
referred to in the interviews. There was little talk of change at a household level.
There are a third generation of workless people living in Castlemilk; this cannot be improved
immediately by renewing houses. And nothing can be done alone; there is a need of partnerships.
—Teacher, Castlemilk
We’ve got 64 percent of children living in workless households in the Gorbals. That’s people who
are traditionally Gorbals born and bred. That’s the Gorbals; that’s the Gorbalites.
—Regeneration officer, New Gorbals
In relation to employment, rather than talking about the effects of employed, owner-occupier
residents on their neighbors (for example, through raising aspirations or through informational
or job networks), interviewees spoke about the need to develop the local economic base in and
around the estates to provide job opportunities and to overcome poor transport connections. In
respect to the two peripheral estates, the general view was that these things had not been achieved
sufficiently.
Drumchapel Business Village still hasn’t been completely developed; it is currently a partly
vacant serviced site. All the infrastructure’s in place, waiting for a developer to come along to a
serviced plot.
—Urban planner, Drumchapel
It’s that issue of proximity to where the economic base actually sits. We have a business park in
Castlemilk, which has got 70 businesses on it. They employ around 750 people, and about 60
percent of those are Castlemilk residents. And that’s fabulous; but outside of that, there’s very
little employment in terms of an economic base.
—Regeneration officer, Castlemilk

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
57Cityscape
It’s bus services from Castlemilk; whilst there, those bus services are reasonably well connected if
you’re coming into the city. To cross the area, at all, is virtually impossible. … If you take recent
employment opportunities in places like Silverburn, where there was a new retail development,
… it was hugely difficult for people to pick up employment in somewhere like Silverburn, simply
because of the transport infrastructure.
—Regeneration officer, Castlemilk
When economic impacts were discussed, the discussion related to improved local amenities,
especially for the peripheral estates, such as new high schools, supermarkets, leisure and sports
facilities, and family centers, among other things. These improvements were attributed to tenure
mix for two reasons: (1) selling land to developers, or striking planning-gain deals, provided the
resources for facilities; and (2) the development of tenure mix provided confidence within the
public sector for investment in the areas.
Tenure diversification absolutely helped changing the infrastructure of Castlemilk, because the
council would never have had enough money to do it.
—Housing officer, Castlemilk
In Drumchapel’s case, it was nevertheless held that despite the new school and new leisure center,
and the existence of a master plan for improving the town center, amenities were still very poor.
… there is a limited amount of things available for social interaction in terms of, you know,
where mothers could meet or, you know, take their kids, you know, for a coffee or things like that.
That’s quite limited in Drumchapel. The shops are very limited, so you couldn’t wander around.
—Regeneration officer, Drumchapel
Food shops were particularly criticized in Drumchapel.
If you look at the shopping center, there are no good quality food shops. You’ve got Farmfoods,
which sells processed frozen food, cheaply. The nearest supermarket is Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s is
one of the most expensive supermarkets. There’s nothing in Drumchapel Shopping Centre where
they can go and buy fresh fruit and stuff like that.
—Teacher, Drumchapel
Sustainable Communities
In all three cases, interviewees considered the creation of a viable housing market in the area as
a success, reflecting both the confidence in the area and the quality of housing provided.
I think that most of what’s been built in the last 20 years is good and worth keeping. I don’t think
there’s much that I would say wasn’t a success.
—Urban planner, New Gorbals
Owner occupation was seen as having provided stability to the estates, either as an innate charac-
teristic of the tenure or as a result of providing greater housing opportunities for locals.
Yes, well, it’s [owner occupation] a positive contributing factor because it’s a stability.
—Housing officer, Drumchapel

58
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
A lot of the locals are moving into the houses for sale. If they’re getting good enough jobs to be
able to move on, a lot of them are moving up within the area, rather than moving out of the area,
so I’ve seen a big, big change that way.
—Housing officer, Castlemilk
Owner occupation was not necessarily seen as making the estates self-sustainable or self-managing,
however. The estates were viewed as still requiring more attention and ongoing maintenance than
many other areas.
We have to make sure that people care for their area and we care for the houses, you know? If
we don’t do that, it’ll go back the way it was years ago... We still have to deal with the people
from day to day, you know? If there’s a repair needing done, they might report it to us, or if they
want to complain about a neighbor or if a neighbor complains about them, we still have to take a
certain amount of responsibility for them.
—Housing officer, Castlemilk
In the case of all three estates, issues of local control were raised with regard to the question of sus-
tainability. For the two peripheral estates, the absence of estate-level management was considered
an obstacle.
One of the things that Castlemilk lacks now, ever since ’06, has been a dedicated body that looks
at Castlemilk itself and looks at it in a strategic manner. And that’s unfortunate; I think …
the area is suffering from not having local residents and officials from various agencies getting
together and hammering out the problems and trying to find solutions.
—Urban planner, Castlemilk
A different issue of control, indirectly stemming from the switch to mixed tenure, was identified
in the case of New Gorbals, so that stability was not discussed to the same degree in this area.
Much of the private housing had changed tenure from owner occupation to private renting, over
which the community could not exercise control. The expansion of private renting was seen to
cause problems of antisocial behavior, lack of commitment to the area, and unfamiliarity with one’s
neighbors, resulting in local frustration with the situation.
It’s not amazing; it is disgusting to people who have saved hard to buy their own property. And
they don’t know who’s moving in next door to them.
—Community chair, New Gorbals
Interviewees talked about how visitors to the estates and service providers such as taxi drivers often
remarked on how much the areas had changed and improved, but in the case of both Drumchapel
and New Gorbals, a view remained that the negative reputations of the areas had not been shifted
and that many potential residents did not consider them suitable places to bring up children.
We’ve got lots of—we’ve got a member of staff who grew up in Drumchapel, which a whole lot of
others, he’s a deputy head in the school, but he moved out of Drumchapel because of the percep-
tion that it wasn’t a good place to raise a family.
—Teacher, Drumchapel

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
59Cityscape
There does seem to be a feeling that, if you’re moving here with children, there’s more to consider
about whether or not you’d want to come here.
—Teacher, New Gorbals
Although the Gorbals has got a bad name, it shouldn’t have the bad name. The bad name’s from
years ago.
—Community chair, New Gorbals
Sociospatial Integration
The two peripheral estates suffered from a longstanding problem of parochialism, which interview-
ees thought had been exacerbated by the way in which tenure diversification (including mixed
tenure) had been implemented. It was still thought to be the case that social-sector tenants living
on the estates were reluctant to move elsewhere or to go elsewhere for jobs or training. The fact
that a significant proportion of the owner-occupied housing was bought by people with a local
connection had not helped to change the outlook of the estate residents.
It was people returning to Castlemilk—but it was then also people who would have left Castlemilk
were also staying—one, to either be in a housing association, or two, to buy and buy locally, close
to their parents and things like that. So we didn’t, there weren’t a huge number of new people, really.
—Housing officer, Castlemilk
Tenure diversification within the socially rented sector, through the splitting up of the council
housing stock into local housing associations, likewise may have solidified or exacerbated issues of
local identity.
There are small pockets of very self-contained groups, and you know … to a certain extent, the
housing associations have contributed to that. ... They identify more closely with their housing
association as their area than they do as people from Castlemilk.
—Regeneration officer, Castlemilk
Just from the youth diversionary work that we’ve done, they definitely have a new sense of place
and attachment to Drumchapel, but it tends to be a particular part, whichever part they come from.
—Housing officer, Drumchapel
In Castlemilk and Drumchapel, unlike in New Gorbals, the two main tenures are visually and
spatially distinct, mostly existing in separate pockets of development in certain parts of the estates.
They’re only mixed within the areas where we originally owned the houses. If you get, the areas
that have been built for owner occupation are aside from our rented areas. There’s not a house
next door that’s rented and one private.
—Housing officer, Castlemilk
This physical distinction (in appearance and location) did not assist with integration, and the
prospect of polarization was mentioned.
I would say that there’s a pretty healthy number of private houses out in this area and the
northern edge. But they might not think they’re part of Drumchapel.
—Housing officer, Drumchapel

60
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Castlemilk could become even more polarized into two communities: a stable work-rich, owner-
occupation sector and a more vulnerable work-poor, socially rented sector.
—Housing officer, Castlemilk
In New Gorbals, where the housing tenures were much more spatially integrated, difficulties of
generating social interaction were still reported, again attributed to the localized nature of the
development and its separate identity.
The housing has been significantly improved, but there are no people moving around. If you go
into the central square of Gorbals—sorry, New Gorbals—there are people moving around. If you
go less than 100 yards away from there, there are no people. It doesn’t connect in a—I don’t feel
it connects as a community in the way that it did previously.
—Regeneration officer, New Gorbals
People in Gorbals now live in a very, very small proximity. Gorbals used to be linked—it was
Laurieston, it was Gorbals, it was Oatlands, etc. Oatlands is now absolutely separate, and
people in Oatlands object that they’ve got to go to Gorbals Cross to shop. … So there’s a different
mentality in terms of the way that we’ve created this infrastructure and created the tenure. And
I’m not convinced that it’s absolutely right at the moment. What I think it does is, it’s created a
very sterile atmosphere.
—Regeneration officer, New Gorbals
Low levels of social integration in New Gorbals, however, were also seen to be a product of the fact
that the owner-occupied housing was predominantly lived in by nonfamily households.
So, some people are quite happy being single, or being a couple with no children, having their
friends, wherever they are, and not needing to feel fully engaged in the community.
—Teacher, New Gorbals
Discussion and Conclusion
From the practitioners’ accounts of change, we know that they identify advances for all three estates
during the past 20 years. We can also see that they realize that many components of the mixed-
tenure orthodoxy have not been achieved, and some of them clearly have not been attempted. In
this section, we identify a number of possible reasons why this might be the case.
There has been a selective emphasis within the attempt to transform these neighborhoods, with a
predominant focus on housing and physical changes, including housing-quality improvements
and housing-tenure change at the estate level, with the development of a housing market within
the estates considered a major success. The practitioners’ many concerns about the continued
deprived status of the estates, however, undermine the notion that mixed-tenure policy success can
be measured through housing price impacts (Groenhart, 2013). Indeed, the practitioners raised
concerns about problems of ongoing affordability of homeownership lying beneath the aggregate
tenure-change statistics, especially in relation to maintenance and utility bills for new owners on
the estates.

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
61Cityscape
The desire to develop a housing market on the estates also reveals an ambiguity and vagueness of
intention behind mixed-tenure policy. Sometimes practitioners talk about bringing “new blood” to
the estates as a means of transformation and rejuvenation, but at other times they emphasize the
expansion of house purchase opportunities for those living on the estates or with roots in the estate
but currently living elsewhere. Both goals are legitimate, although they have yet to be compared as
effective routes to change for social housing estates. They also reflect a classic case of “vagueness”
in policy goals (Hogwood and Gunn, 1984), however, because the objective of achieving “mixed
communities” (Holmes, 2006) is not specified in terms of the types or levels of tenure or other mix
desired within any locality. This ambiguity of intention is hidden by means of “framing success” in
terms of aggregate tenure change at the level of the estates (McConnell, 2010).
Practitioners would identify that the “job is not finished” on the three estates, but whether it will
ever be so is open to question as a result of incomplete implementation. Elements of the transforma-
tion of places that are necessary for the creation of sustainable places have either not been tackled,
such as area reputation (Kearns, Kearns, and Lawson, 2013), or weakly or incompletely tackled,
such as the provision of local amenities and commercial premises. This implementation gap, an
apparent inability to address the estates’ social and market failures, may partly reflect pragmatism
(Hill and Hupe, 2002)—that is, that policy cannot “buck the market”—but it is also partly a prod -
uct of not envisioning the task of neighborhood and community change as more than a spatial
planning process.
We can also identify what we might term counterproductive delivery, which goes against the tenets
of the prescribed orthodoxy. In the case of the two peripheral estates, little attempt was made
to spatially integrate the main housing tenures. On the contrary, delivery has taken the form of
segregated and segmented mono-tenure developments alongside one another, which is often what
most suits housing providers of either tenure. Social landlords argue for clustering of properties
for efficiency of management purposes; private house builders argue for separate developments
to assist with property values and marketing. Practitioners now admit, however, that the estates
suffer from forms of parochialism, with identities and boundaries hardened by the developments
and tenure diversifications that have taken place. They also identify a lack of strategic, estate-level
governance—such community organization and management being a key principle of sustainable
communities—to assist the future development of the areas (Power, 2003). Although the spatial
integration of tenures was achieved to a greater degree on the one estate (New Gorbals) where a
master-planning process occurred than on the two estates that followed a process of incremental
adaptation (Castlemilk and Drumchapel), across all three estates the general criticism of traditional
planning could be applied that “land use and physical planning remained the central concern, with
little attention to environmental, economic and social dimensions” (Todes et al., 2010: 415).
This last point reflects the fact of weak belief in an underspecified policy theory (Knoepfel et al., 2007),
despite adopting mixed tenure as a policy instrument. The interviews contained little evidence that
practitioners believed in the social-interactive, behavioral effects of tenure mixing beyond, perhaps,
some influence on property-maintenance behaviors. Policy documents at the national and local
levels in the United Kingdom contain little if any specification as to how, or under what condi-
tions, any of the various social-interactive mechanisms associated with mixed communities within
neighborhoods (Galster, 2012) are meant to operate. This lacuna in policy guidance, including on

62
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
the role of mediating amenities and social venues and the possible importance of thresholds of mix
(Galster, Quercia, and Cortes, 2000), has arguably left practitioners to focus on what they were
familiar with, hoping at least for policy effects on housing and environmental quality and possibly
also area reputation (for example, through housing market formation), if nothing more.
In effect, policy for these estates has turned out to be about the production of a static tenure mix,
rather than the nurturing of dynamic social mixing (see Livingston, Kearns, and Bailey, forthcoming).
In addition, despite weaknesses in the policy process at all stages (Hill, 2005)—from problem
identification, through policy formulation (including weaknesses in evidence and theory), to policy
implementation—practitioners nonetheless subscribe to the mixed-tenure approach, believing that
it has not done any harm even if it has not achieved all it might. They do not ask the counterfactual
questions, “What would have happened in the absence of mixed tenure?” or “What else might we
have done?” The belief that mixed tenure is “the only game in town” for social housing estates, ir-
respective of context, how it is delivered, and what types of mix are produced and with or without
other supporting elements, indicates that it has achieved the position of orthodoxy in the critical
terms set out by George Orwell (1949: 56):“Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think.
Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
To overcome this adoption of unconscious orthodoxy, policymakers and practitioners might need to
change the lens through which they view social change brought about by tenure mix within social
housing estates. The scale of focus is often too broad; that is, aggregate change at the estate level is
not the same thing as neighborhood changes within the estate. In addition, the focus on tenure mix,
although seemingly fundamental, does not equate to comprehensive improvement; that is, other
key elements of the physical, social, and economic environment also need plans for transformational
change. Even in relation to tenure mix, insufficient attention is given to outcomes of interest and mecha -
nisms for neighborhood effects, right from policy formulation to implementation and evaluation.
Policymakers and practitioners would do well to question the easy adoption of policy trends and
conventional wisdoms, remembering that although “process success” is valuable within policy
communities it is not the same thing as “programme success” in the real world (McConnell, 2010).
The effects of mixed-tenure policies involve a great deal of context-related variability. To properly
understand this variability, and to be able to tailor policy implementation accordingly, requires a
greater acquisition and use of available evidence through systematic reviews of research findings
and through consultations with and the use of expert panels. In this way, practitioners might be
able to adjust orthodoxy to suit the circumstances in which it is to be pursued.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the staff in Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, for
assisting with this research. They also thank all the individuals who agreed to be interviewed. This
research formed part of the GoWell research and learning program, a collaborative partnership
among the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), the University of Glasgow, and the
UK Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office, Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. The
Scottish Government, the Glasgow Housing Association, NHS Health Scotland, and NHS Greater
Glasgow and Clyde sponsor GoWell, for which the authors are grateful.

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
63Cityscape
Authors
Ade Kearns is professor of urban studies in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Martin McKee is a research assistant in the UK Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office,
Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, Scotland.
Elena Sautkina is a research fellow in the Department of Social and Environmental Health Research
at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, England.
George Weeks is an urban designer at Transport for London, London, England.
Lyndal Bond is the principal research officer at the Centre for Excellence in Intervention and
Prevention Science, Carlton, South Victoria, Australia.
References
Anderson, Martin. 1964. The Federal Bulldozer. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Atkinson, Rowland, and Keith Kintrea. 2004. “Opportunities and Despair, It’s All There: Practitioner
Experiences and Explanations of Area Effects and Life Chances,” Sociology 38 (3): 437–455.
———. 1998. Reconnecting Excluded Communities: The Neighbourhood Impacts of Owner Occupation.
Research Report 61. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Homes.
Bailey, Nick, Anna Haworth, Tony Manzi, Primali Paranagamage, and Marion Roberts. 2006. Cre-
ating and Sustaining Mixed Income Communities: A Good Practice Guide. Coventry, United Kingdom:
Chartered Institute of Housing.
Beekman, Tony, Frank Lyons, and John Scott. 2001. Improving the Understanding of the Influence of
Owner Occupiers in Mixed Tenure Neighbourhoods. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Homes.
Berube, Alan. 2005. Mixed Communities in England: A US Perspective on Evidence and Policy Prospects.
York, United Kingdom: JRF.
Bond, Lyndal, Elena Sautkina, and Ade Kearns. 2011. “Mixed Messages About Mixed Tenure:
Do Reviews Tell the Real Story?” Housing Studies 26 (1): 69–94.
Bramley, Glen, and Hal Pawson. 2002. “Low Demand for Housing: Incidence, Causes and UK
National Policy Implications,” Urban Studies 39 (3): 393–422.
Cambridge Policy Consultants (CPC). 1999. An Evaluation of the New Life for Urban Scotland Initiative
in Castlemilk, Ferguslie Park, Wester Hailes and Whitfield. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Executive.
Chase-Lansdale, P. Lindsay, Rachel A. Gordon, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Pamela K. Klebanov.
1997. “Neighborhood and Family Influences on the Intellectual and Behavioral Competence of
Pre-School and Early School-Age Children.” In Neighborhood Poverty. Vol. 1, Context and Conse-
quences for Children, edited by Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, J. Lawrence Aber, and Greg J. Duncan. New
York: Russell Sage Foundation: 79–118.

64
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Crane, Jonathan. 1991. “The Epidemic Theory of Ghettos and Neighborhood Effects on Dropping
Out and Teenage Childbearing,” American Journal of Sociology 96 (5): 1226–1259.
CZWG. 1990. Crown Street Regeneration Project Masterplan Report. Glasgow, United Kingdom:
Crown Street Regeneration Project.
Drumchapel Area Housing Partnership (DAHP). 2002. Final Area Housing Plan. Glasgow, United
Kingdom: Glasgow City Council.
Dudley, Michael. 2012. “Professional Planning Literature: Between Orthodoxy and Contrarianism
in Challenging Times.” Available at http://www.planetizen.com (accessed May 21, 2013).
Duncan, Greg J., James P. Connell, and Pamela K. Klebanov. 1997. “Conceptual and Methodological
Issues in Estimating Causal Effects of Neighborhoods and Family Conditions on Individual Devel -
opment.” In Neighborhood Poverty. Vol. 1, Context and Consequences for Children, edited by Jeanne
Brooks-Gunn, J. Lawrence Aber, and Greg J. Duncan. New York: Russell Sage Foundation: 219–250.
Galster, George. Forthcoming. “Neighborhood Social Mix: Theory, Evidence, and Implications for
Policy and Planning.” In Policy, Planning, and People: Promoting Justice in Urban Development, edited
by Naomi Carmon and Susan S. Fainstein. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
———. 2012. “The Mechanism(s) of Neighbourhood Effects: Theory, Evidence and Policy Impli -
cations.” In Neighbourhood Effects Research: New Perspectives, edited by Maarten van Ham, David
Manley, Nick Bailey, Ludi Simpson, and Duncan Maclennan. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer:
23–56.
———. 2007. “Neighbourhood Social Mix As a Goal of Housing Policy: A Theoretical Analysis,”
European Journal of Housing Policy 7 (1): 19–43.
———. 1987. Homeowners and Neighbourhood Reinvestment. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Galster, George, Roger Andersson, Sako Musterd, and Timo M. Kauppinen. 2008. “Does Neigh-
bourhood Income Mix Affect Earnings of Adults? New Evidence From Sweden,” Journal of Urban
Economics 63 (3): 858–870.
Galster, George, Roberto G. Quercia, and Alvaro Cortes. 2000. “Identifying Neighbourhood
Thresholds: An Empirical Exploration,” Housing Policy Debate 11 (3): 701–732.
Glasgow City Council (GCC). 2011. Housing Stock by Tenure for Glasgow’s SP Areas, LHF Areas and
Neighbourhoods. Glasgow, United Kingdom: Glasgow City Council, Development & Regeneration
Services, Development Plan Group.
———. 1992. Drumchapel Housing Strategy for the 1990s. Glasgow, United Kingdom: Glasgow City
Council.
Goodwin, Denise May, Steve Cummins, Elena Sautkina, David Ogilvie, Mark Petticrew, Andy
Jones, Katy Wheeler, and Martin White. 2012. “The Role and Status of Evidence and Innovation in
the Health Towns Programme in England: A Qualitative Stakeholder Interview Study,” Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health. doi:10113/jch-2012-201481.

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
65Cityscape
Granovetter, Mark. 1995. Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Groenhart, Lucy E. 2013. “Evaluating Tenure Mix Interventions: A Case Study From Sydney,
Australia,” Housing Studies 28 (1): 95–115.
Hastings, Annette. 2009. “Neighbourhood Environmental Services and Neighbourhood ‘Effects’:
Exploring the Role of Urban Services in Intensifying Neighbourhood Problems,” Urban Studies
46 (13): 2907–2928.
Hill, Michael. 2005. The Public Policy Process, 4th ed. Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education.
Hill, Michael, and Peter Hupe. 2002. Implementing Public Policy. London, United Kingdom: SAGE
Publications.
Hogwood, Brian W., and Lewis A. Gunn. 1984. Policy Analysis for the Real World. Oxford, United
Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Holmes, Chris. 2006. Mixed Communities: Success and Sustainability. Foundations 0176. York,
United Kingdom: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Jacobs, Jane. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage.
Joseph, Mark L. 2006. “Is Mixed Income Development an Antidote to Urban Poverty?” Housing
Policy Debate 17 (2): 209–234.
Kauppinen, Timo M. 2004. “Neighbourhood Effects in a European City: The Educational Careers
of Young People in Helsinki.” Paper presented at European Network for Housing Research meeting,
Cambridge, United Kingdom, July.
Kearns, Ade, Oliver Kearns, and Louise Lawson. 2013. “Notorious Places: Image, Reputation, Stigma:
The Role of Newspapers in Area Reputations for Social Housing Estates,” Housing Studies 28.
doi 10.1080/02673037.2013.759546.
Kleinhans, Reinout. 2004. “Social Implications of Housing Diversification in Urban Renewal:
A Review of Recent Literature,” Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 19 (4): 367–390.
Kleit, Rachel Garshick. 2005. “HOPE VI New Communities: Neighbourhood Relationships in
Mixed-Income Housing,” Environment & Planning A 37 (8): 1413–1441.
Knoepfel, Peter, Corinne Larrue, Frederic Varone, and Michael Hill. 2007. Public Policy Analysis.
Bristol, United Kingdom: Policy Press.
Lin, Nan, and Mary Dumin. 1986. “Social Resources and Occupational Attainment,” Social Forces
59 (4): 1164–1181.
Livingston, Mark, Ade Kearns, and Nick Bailey. Forthcoming. “Delivering Mixed Communities:
The Relationship Between Housing Tenure Mix and Social Mix in England’s Neighbourhoods,”
Housing Studies 28 (8).

66
Kearns, McKee, Sautkina, Weeks, and Bond
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Mackenzie, Mhairi, and Avril Blamey. 2005. “The Practice and the Theory: Lessons From the
Application of a Theories of Change Approach,” Evaluation 11 (2): 151–168.
McConnell, Alan. 2010. Understanding Policy Success: Rethinking Public Policy. Basingstoke, United
Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Monk, S., A. Clarke, and C.P.Y. Tang. 2011. Mixed Communities Literature Review. Edinburgh,
United Kingdom: Scottish Government Social Research.
Musterd, Sako, and Roger Andersson. 2005. “Housing Mix, Social Mix, and Social Opportunities,”
Urban Affairs Review 40 (6): 1–30.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). 2003. Sustainable Communities: Building for the
Future. London, United Kingdom: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Orwell, George. 1949. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books.
Page, David, and Rosie Boughton. 1997. Improving the Design and Management of Mixed Tenure
Estates in London: A Study Undertaken for Notting Hill. London, United Kingdom: Notting Hill
Housing Association.
Pawson, Hal, Karen Kirk, and Sarah McIntosh. 2000. Assessing the Impact of Tenure Diversification:
The Case of Niddrie, Edinburgh. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Homes.
Permentier, Matthieu, Maarten van Ham, and Gideon Bolt. 2007. “Behavioural Responses to
Neighbourhood Reputations,” Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 22: 199–213.
Power, Anne. 2003. Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Development: A Review of the Sustainable
Communities Plan. London, United Kingdom: Sustainable Development Commission.
Randolph, Bill. 2006. Housing Renewal and the Compact City: The Social Implications of a Planning
Orthodoxy. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales, City Futures Research Centre.
Ravetz, Alison. 2001. Council Housing and Culture: The History of a Social Experiment. London,
United Kingdom: Routledge.
Rosenbaum, Dennis, Arthur Lurigio, and Robert Davis. 1998. The Prevention of Crime: Social and
Situational Strategies. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Sampson, Robert, and William Groves. 1989. “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social
Disorganization Theory,” American Journal of Sociology 94 (4): 774 –802.
Sampson, Robert, Stephen Raudenbush, and Felton Earls. 1997. “Neighborhoods and Violent
Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy,” Science 277 (5328): 918–924.
Sautkina, Elena, Lyndal Bond, and Ade Kearns. 2012. “Mixed Evidence on Mixed Tenure Effects:
Findings From a Systematic Review of UK Studies, 1995 –2009,” Housing Studies 27 (6): 748–782.
Smith, Alastair. 2002. Mixed-Income Housing Developments: Promise and Reality. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University, Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects
67Cityscape
Thompson-Fawcett, Michelle. 2004. “Reinventing the Tenement: Transformation of Crown Street
in the Gorbals, Glasgow,” Journal of Urban Design 9 (2): 177–203.
Tiesdell, Steve, and Garry MacFarlane. 2007. “The Part and the Whole: Implementing Masterplans
in Glasgow’s New Gorbals,” Journal of Urban Design 12 (3): 407–433.
Todes, Alison, Aly Karam, Neil Klug, and Nqobile Malaza. 2010. “Beyond Master Planning? New
Approaches to Spatial Planning in Ekurhuleni, South Africa,” Habitat International 34: 414–420.
Tunstall, Rebecca. 2003. “‘Mixed Tenure’ Policy in the UK: Privatisation, Pluralism or Euphemism?”
Housing, Theory and Society 20 (3): 153–159.
Tunstall, Rebecca, and Ruth Lupton. 2010. Mixed Communities. Evidence Review. London, United
Kingdom: Department for Communities and Local Government.
van Ham, Maarten, and David Manley. 2010. “The Effect of Neighbourhood Housing Tenure Mix
on Labour Market Outcomes: A Longitudinal Investigation of Neighbourhood Effects,” Journal of
Economic Geography 10 (2): 257–282.
Veysey, Bonita M., and Steve F. Messner. 1999. “Further Testing of Social Disorganisation Theory:
An Elaboration of Sampson and Groves’s ‘Community Structure and Crime,’” Journal of Research on
Crime and Delinquency 36 (2): 156–174.

68 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

69Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Levy, McDade,
and Bertumen, by Keller et al., and by Kearns et al.
On Spatial Solutions to
Social Problems
James DeFilippis
Rutgers University
One of the persistent themes in the history of housing policy in the United States is that we almost
never do housing policy for its own sake; that is, to provide or ensure the provision of “a decent
home and suitable living environment” (to borrow the famous language from the 1949 Housing
Act
1
) for all people. Instead, housing policy has long been about using housing for other purposes,
such as limiting the potential for political unrest in the tenements during the Progressive Era’s
reforms or absorbing surplus labor in the Great Depression with the initiation of federal public
housing in 1937. In this way, the current emphasis on mixed-income housing fits into a long and
not particularly glorious history. Mixed-income housing also fits into another, and comparably
inglorious, history: that of trying to solve social problems by way of spatial solutions. In this brief
commentary, I will discuss the goals of poverty alleviation and socioeconomic interaction and the
failures of mixed-income housing policy to achieve its nominal goals.
Poverty Alleviation
A central theme in, and justification for, mixed-income housing has always been its potential role
in poverty alleviation. I am thus heartened by the recognition from Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade,
and Kassie Bertumen that, after their exhaustive review of the evidence thus far, mixed-income
housing does not reduce poverty. Furthermore, the useful (for reducing poverty and increasing
incomes) things within mixed-income housing developments are services and interventions that
could be implemented regardless of mixed-income housing. As Levy, McDade, and Bertumen put it,
“If poverty alleviation is the primary goal, however, the path to it does not appear to require mixed-
income living.” In this, the authors echo Joseph and his colleagues’ conclusions of several years ago
from their meta-analysis of the evidence (see Joseph, 2006; Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber, 2007).
Simply, very little evidence indicates that living in mixed-income housing increases the earnings
or wealth of poor people. This recognition does appear to be the emerging consensus, and I am
1
The Housing Act of 1949. Public Law 81-71.

70
DeFilippis
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
glad to see the change in perception. To be clear, I am not glad to see that poor people living in
mixed-income developments have failed to realize improvements in their incomes or wealth. I am,
however, glad that this view is being acknowledged as the consensus, because it means that perhaps
we can finally stop talking about mixed-income housing as a solution to poverty. Because doing so
is fundamentally a distraction from addressing the real ways in which poverty reduction happens.
Poverty is not a function of the spatial configuration of poverty. The concentration of poor people
in geographic space may well make the experience of poverty worse for some, and it certainly seems
to lead to unjust outcomes such as poor quality services, schools, and amenities. But the root causes
of poverty within capitalism are the organization of labor markets (and the structure and character
of the demand for labor in those markets) and the centrality of wage labor to household income and
wealth. Efforts to deal with poverty must, on some level, deal with this reality. At the risk of being
overly reductionist, we can thus reduce poverty in one of two primary ways: (1) by transforming
the operation of labor markets such that being employed in waged labor means not being poor, or
(2) by providing income support to those not in waged labor such that not being employed does
not mean being poor.
Theoretically, mixed-income housing does intervene in the operation of labor markets, in two
different ways: (1) it potentially increases the social capital of poor people, and (2) it improves the
soft skills that employers always say they want from their employees via middle-class role models
(of course, employers often say that to mask their discriminatory hiring practices; see Moss and
Tilly, 2003). These interventions are modest in the operations of labor markets, however—focusing
solely on fairly limited supply-side components of labor markets
2
—and their effects are more
apparent than real.
Spatial Fixes for Sociopolitical Economic Problems
Besides trying to deal with poverty in a roundabout and theoretically and empirically dubious way,
space as the solution is a problem. And just as mixed-income housing policy is repeating the story
(doing housing policy for reasons other than housing), so too is it mimicking the history of urban
planning; a history that is littered with efforts to solve social problems by using a rearranged spatial
form. Spatial determinism has been nearly endemic in planning. Ebenezer Howard, one of the
definitive figures in the history of urban planning (whose influence is acknowledged by Jim Fraser,
Deirdre Oakley, and Diane K. Levy in the introduction to this Cityscape symposium) began this
process. His anarchist-inspired, revolutionary book To-Morrow: The Peaceful Path to Real Reform
was about how to fundamentally transform the brutal living conditions for working-class people
in late-19th-century England without violent revolution (Howard, 1898). It was rebranded a few
years after its initial publication into Garden Cities of Tomorrow, and instead of real social reform,
2
Theoretically, mixed-income developments may lead to significant increases in economic activity (primarily retail) in those
neighborhoods. For this increase to yield significant growth in demand for labor, however, it would need to be in places
with very little previous economic activity; changing from cheaper retail to wealthier retail does not lead to changes in
aggregate demand for labor in a place, and it may not even much alter the mix or quality of the jobs for the workers. I am
not sure much evidence suggests that such an increase in economic activity has occurred in too many mixed-income sites.

On Spatial Solutions to Social Problems
71Cityscape
we got spatial changes and, ultimately, garden suburbs for rich people. This spatial determinism
continued with the Le Corbusier modernist work that inspired so much of postwar public housing
construction; thus the machine for living became the towers in parks and all that. Finally, the cur-
rent moment has given us the new urbanist designs that will purportedly solve so many ecological,
political, and social problems (and have been so central to so much of the HOPE VI—or Housing
Opportunities for People Everywhere—housing that has been constructed).
We have seen this movie before; several times. We know how it ends. Spoiler alert: it ends with
people a few decades from now deciding on a different spatial solution. They will then ridicule the
old solutions, because all good Utopian thinking requires a rejection of what came before. Then
they will not actually deal with the social problems. I am being glib here, but the idea that the way
to deal with poverty or race or class relations is through a different demographic map and different
design is one that really is remarkably similar to so many solutions in the past—solutions that have
simply failed to achieve their stated goals.
The spatial component of mixed-income housing is intended to have clear implications for the
relations between groups. That is, the proximity is intended to lead to interactions and observa-
tions that help poor people; that is, improve and increase the social capital of poor people. It is
unclear whether this increase ever happens—and the evidence from the articles by Levy, McDade,
and Bertumen, by JoDee Keller, Janice Laakso, Christine Stevens, and Cathy Tashiro, and by Ade
Kearns, Martin McKee, Elena Sautkina, George Weeks, and Lyndal Bond further suggests that it
does not. When thinking about why it does not happen, I have often been reminded of intergroup
contact theory. Allport (1954) had a set of criteria for when contact between groups could reduce
prejudice and produce meaningful intergroup interactions. The first criterion he had was that the
groups have equal status. I have also been reminded of the tradition of community studies from
the 1950s to the early 1970s within sociology. Writing at the tail end of that period and surveying
what research had been done and what had been learned from it, Tilly (1973) famously asked, “Do
Communities Act?” He also had three main criteria for when people in communities were likely to
come together and act. His first criterion was “when communities are homogenous with respect to
the main divisions of power at the regional or national level” (Tilly, 1973: 213).
3
I mention these research traditions because we have allowed a very ahistorical and ageographic
understanding of space and its role in social cleavages to take hold. We have viewed poverty
reduction through the lens of the postwar city-versus-suburb divide (and the poor-versus-rich and
Black-versus-White dichotomies that are so often piled onto city versus suburb in American social
science). This has led us to simply overstate the significance of space in the production of social
relations, processes, and divisions. Space may divide groups, but little reason exists, either theo-
retically or empirically, to believe that geographic proximity leads to greater equity, understanding,
or even interaction between groups in society. Southern U.S. cities, after all, have long had lower
3
I recognize that intergroup contact theory is about reducing prejudice and increasing social understanding, and Tilly
was primarily focusing on collective action within communities as places. Thus, neither one is a direct match with mixed-
income housing. Both, however, contribute to the larger understanding of dynamics between social groups and in urban
space. Both also remind us that we should not expect much when both tenure and class are different between market-rate
renters or owners and affordable-housing renters or owners.

72
DeFilippis
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
rates of racial segregation than Northern U.S. cities (see Denton, 2006), but this has hardly sug-
gested the absence of racism or White privilege in Southern U.S. cities. And Manhattan Island has
far less geographic distance between rich and poor than most American metropolises (if for no
other reason than its compact size), and yet it has income inequality worse than any other city in
the country; inequality that rivals that in Namibia or Sierra Leone (Roberts, 2012). In both of these
cases, the relative absence of spatial separation has been a function of the strength and durability of
the social divisions in question. And in both cases, nothing about proximity bridges those divides
or enables those on the losing end to gain anything.
We need different maps; more precisely, we need our maps to convey different realities. One of the
principal components of racial and economic justice is a very different set of spatial processes and
spatial outcomes in our cities, and these efforts must include race- and class-integrated neighbor-
hoods. But that new cartography must be created as part of the social processes of struggling for
racial and economic justice. We cannot create a new cartography and then expect the social out-
comes to simply emerge from the new spatial form. The gaps between groups are simply too great
to be bridged by a new geography alone. Even if we seem as yet unable to break the mixed-income
orthodoxy, I am glad to see that we are finally recognizing this.
Author
James DeFilippis is an associate professor in the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public
Policy at Rutgers University.
References
Allport, Gordon. 1979 (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Denton, Nancy. 2006. “Segregation and Discrimination in Housing.” In A Right to Housing: Founda-
tion for a New Social Agenda, edited by Rachel G. Bratt, Michael E. Stone, and Chester Hartman.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press: 61–81.
Howard, Ebenezer. 1898. To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. London, United Kingdom:
Swan Sonnenschein.
Joseph, Mark, Robert J. Chaskin, and Henry S. Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Addressing
Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Joseph, Mark L. 2006. “Is Mixed-Income Development the Antidote to Urban Poverty?” Housing
Policy Debate 17 (2): 209–234.
Moss, Philip, and Chris Tilly. 2003. Stories Employers Tell: Race, Skill, and Hiring in America. New
York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Roberts, Sam. 2012. “Income Data Shows Widening Gap Between New York City’s Richest and
Poorest,” New York Times, September 20, A22.
Tilly, Charles. 1973. “Do Communities Act?” Sociological Inquiry 43 (3–4): 209–240.

73Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Cityscape
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Levy, McDade,
and Bertumen, by Keller et al., and by Kearns et al.
Mixing Policies: Expectations
and Achievements
Hilary Silver
Brown University
This symposium offers a wide-ranging critique of the often unspoken assumptions underlying social
mixing policies. The rubric is very broad and consequently, mixes mixing policies, so to speak. The
articles address racial and ethnic diversity, income mixing, and tenure mixing at different scales—
buildings, housing developments, and neighborhoods—in two different liberal welfare states, the
United States and United Kingdom.
This breadth poses the danger of conflating some different subjects, so I will begin by making some
distinctions. Then I revisit a key assumption underlying all these mixing policies, namely, that
spatial proximity breaks down social distance. The evidence masterfully reviewed in this sympo-
sium by Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen shows that it does not, challenging
what Ade Kearns, Martin McKee, Elena Sautkina, George Weeks, and Lyndal Bond refer to in their
article as the mixed-tenure policy “orthodoxy.” Everyone seems to agree that the built environment
of mixed-income developments is an improvement from public housing, but that poverty and social
relations have not improved. Attractive, accessible, and safe public spaces are facilitating, if insuf-
ficient, conditions for social interaction across class and racial boundaries.
The mixing policy persists despite the evidence. Fortunately, in the process of evaluating mixed-
income housing programs, we have learned that community building should be part of housing
policy. This lesson has implications for the President Barack Obama Administration’s comprehen-
sive neighborhood initiatives, as we begin the next generation of government attempts to disperse,
mix, and improve the lives of poor people.
Some Distinctions
The term “social mix” is ambiguous and can refer to diversity of many different kinds, in different
proportions, at different geographical scales. “Mixing,” as Kearns et al. note, may signify physical
proximity or social interaction. If the latter, it varies by context and social distance. Mixing at one
point in time may not be sustained. The motives for mixing range from crime reduction to poverty
alleviation to property value appreciation. Mixing can be achieved through a number of mechanisms.

74
Silver
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
The two empirical articles under discussion here refer to different kinds of mix. The Scottish estates
mix tenure. Kearns et al. acknowledge that, “tenure mixing is not guaranteed to deliver substantial
income mix.” In the United Kingdom, people with the same income may own their homes or rent
council housing. Diversity also becomes visible on different scales. The newly constructed houses
are physically distinct in two of the Glasgow, Scotland estates as well, visibly marked off on the
periphery from the rentals. By contrast, the original Tacoma, Washington development was ethni-
cally mixed, with immigrants and refugees living alongside African Americans and Whites. The
income mixing in the new Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) project could
not restore the previous mixing across social lines.
These differences in emphasis reflect broader national differences in housing policies.
1
In spite
of the centrality of the so-called American Dream, tenure distinctions play a much greater role in
British housing policy and scholarship. Council housing long preceded American public housing
historically, became a much larger share of the total stock, and is more salient in national politics
and class relations. Indeed, renting as opposed to owning even predicts how one votes far more in
the United Kingdom than the United States. The UK tenure mix changed partly through the Right
to Buy program, turning council tenants and housing associations into owners but without moving
residents or disrupting the community. Kearns et al. report very little turnover in the Glasgow
estates. Unlike in the United States, however, racial or ethnic concentrations do not raise much
concern in multicultural Britain. In the Netherlands, by contrast, the fear of creating ethnic ghettos
led to a prohibition on concentrating the unemployed or low-income households in rental housing
of certain neighborhoods (van Eijk, 2010).
Racial or ethnic mixing, or desegregation, is a central policy concern in the United States. The
1968 Fair Housing Act
2
has been notoriously inefficient in reducing U.S. racial segregation, which
has declined at a glacial pace. Audit studies continue to reveal discrimination in the housing
market. By concentrating on concentrated poverty, Wilson (2012/1987) may have deflected
political attention from the continuing spatial separation of African Americans and Whites, even
within the middle class, but it persists nonetheless. Americans know income mixing has racial
undertones. Indeed, most residents of the public housing demolished in the United States were
African American (Goetz, 2010). Unfortunately, the slow decline in racial segregation is accompa-
nied by greater income polarization in American metropolitan areas (Reardon and Bischoff, 2011).
Mixed-income housing policies are bucking the tide.
Mixing Mechanisms
The mechanism that policymakers select to achieve social mixing also matters considerably
(Chaskin and Joseph, 2011; Galster, 2007). Social mixing can result from dispersing the poor,
1
British scholars point to U.S. housing policies as the origins of “neoliberal” approaches to urban revitalization. For example,
New Labour drew on HOPE VI for its New Deal for Communities policy, claiming that the segregation of areas by owner
occupation versus renting “led to social polarization and social exclusion” (Lees, Butler, and Bridge, 2012: 5). Both countries
demolished large public housing projects. The British influences on Obama’s urban policy have been overlooked, however.
For instance, taking a page from Tony Blair’s playbook, candidate Barack Obama’s 2007–08 platform committed his admin-
istration to “eradicating poverty,” pledging that, “working together, we can cut poverty in half within 10 years” (Tough, 2012).
2
42 U.S.C.A. §§ 3601-3631 is also Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Mixing Policies: Expectations and Achievements
75Cityscape
minorities, and tenants, on the one hand, or from attracting more affluent households to areas of
concentrated poverty, on the other. Dispersing the poor can be more or less voluntary. Some low-
income residents may flee from dilapidation or crime if offered the opportunity. As JoDee Keller,
Janice Laakso, Christine Stevens, and Cathy Tashiro illustrate in Tacoma, however, displacing
low-income families by demolishing their entire development also disrupts communities. Too
often, it is erroneously assumed that there are no organizations in public housing (for an excep-
tion, see Small, 2004), but in fact communities in addition to Tacoma’s bitterly resisted the razing
of their projects, the only homes they ever knew (Venkatesh, 2002).
Since 1994, HOPE VI has demolished more than 500,000 public housing units, or 20 percent of
the stock in the United States. Only 100,000 replacement units were built and of those, only one-
half are subsidized for very low-income families. Therefore, HOPE VI may have mixed income
levels in the new units where public housing once stood, but it displaced even more of the previous
tenants to other poor neighborhoods, resegregating them elsewhere. Previous tenants are sent off
with housing choice vouchers to rent from private landlords who deign to accept them; some evi-
dence from Wisconsin suggests long-term, but not short-term, improvement in the neighborhood
quality of voucher movers and some perverse effects on employment and earnings (Haveman, 2013).
The multisite Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration evidence shows that not too many
poor families with vouchers stayed in low poverty neighborhoods (Briggs, Popkin, and Goering,
2010; Turner et al., 2011). Rather, as in Chicago, “While residents’ current neighborhoods are
relatively better than their original developments, most are still very poor with large African Ameri-
can populations … many families appear to still lack stable housing, moving relatively often with
no perceptible improvement in housing or neighborhood quality, [and] continue to experience
serious material hardship” (Buron, Hayes, and Hailey, 2013: 4). Given that “Moving Three Times Is
Like Having Your House on Fire Once” (Manzo, Kleit, and Couch, 2008), however, most displaced
public housing tenants do not return to the new HOPE VI buildings or their original neighborhoods
(Chaskin and Joseph, 2011, 2010; Goetz, 2003; Joseph and Chaskin, 2010). It is not just because
of the hassle. In Tacoma, some residents could not return because they earned too much for the
subsidized units and too little to qualify for a mortgage to buy one at market rate. Other families
may be screened out by stringent rules. Considerable evidence suggests that HOPE VI severed exist-
ing social networks, instrumental helping relationships, and institutional supports in public housing
developments, without reknitting social capital in the new mixed-income communities for the small
percentage of tenants who moved back (Clampet-Lundquist, 2004; Curley, 2010; Goetz, 2010).
A second mechanism of mixing is the attraction of working- and middle-class households to poor
neighborhoods, where they receive incentives to live with former public housing tenants. The newly
constructed HOPE VI units are designed to please this market. The only low-income households
allowed to live in the new mixed units have to deserve it. They are intensively screened and moni-
tored. Managers consider this necessary to reassure potential middle-class residents.
Normally, when higher income households move into lower income neighborhoods without
public intervention, it is called “gentrification.” This apt label explains why the British literature
sometimes calls mixing policies state-led gentrification or gentrification by stealth (Bridge, Butler,
and Lees, 2012). State-led demolition of social housing uses eminent domain to further real estate
interests. The stealthy aspect is that any initial social mix, critics maintain, is unsustainable. Either

76
Silver
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
the more advantaged residents leave or they take over. Low-income households are eventually
displaced or at least disempowered. In the American context, critics of mixing point to White flight
or African-American displacement. Racially integrated neighborhoods are less stable over time
when compared to segregated White and African-American neighborhoods (Ellen, 2000; Ellen,
Horn, and O’Regan, 2012).
A third mechanism to create mixed-income housing is not considered in these articles. Some con-
tend that social mixing policy is one sided because it is rarely advocated for socially homogeneous
affluent neighborhoods, only homogeneous poor ones (Lees, Butler, and Bridge, 2012). Inclusion-
ary zoning policies, aided by allocations of low-income housing tax credits, are starting to mix the
American suburbs, however. Inclusionary zoning integrates municipalities that have long used land
use controls to exclude affordable housing and thereby, poor residents. Contrary to conventional
wisdom, a recent assessment of the impact of the Mt. Laurel, New Jersey decisions that mandated
inclusionary zoning of affordable housing finds few if any negative impacts of socioeconomic
integration on property values, property taxes, or crime (Massey et al., 2013). Ground zero for
most of the discussion in this symposium is project-based low-income public housing, but starting
the analysis of mixing from single-family, owner occupied suburbs calls attention to the fact that
diversity and mixing may be accomplished at varying scales. Inclusionary zoning often operates at
the state level, below the radar.
Expectations and Achievements: Spatial Proximity Versus
Social Mixing
Despite these distinctions among types and mechanisms of mixed housing, they all rest upon a
few common assumptions. At least since the first urban renewal programs, planners and architects
have shared an article of faith in social engineering or environmental determinism. This faith implies
that if we can only build the right kind of housing and design the right kind of neighborhoods,
we can end poverty and all get along. A second related assumption is a sort of Anglo-American
liberal expectancy that the things that divide groups will become less salient and important over
time if only reason prevails. Education, communication, and modernization will wear differences
away. Integration and diversity are enriching, according to liberal pluralism, as long as neighbors
do not take their differences too seriously. Third, the expectation that mixing will increase positive
interaction and tolerance rests on the familiar social psychological contact hypothesis. Allport’s
(1954) intergroup contact theory held that, over time and under conditions of equal status and
cooperation towards shared goals, interpersonal contact and communication reduces prejudice.
Contrary to these optimistic assumptions, the vast bulk of evidence shows little interaction across
income or racial groups in mixed developments or neighborhoods. Policies of social mix are different
from support for social mixing or social inclusion (Lees, Butler, and Bridge, 2012). In mixed hous-
ing, the middle class stigmatizes and avoids the poor who in turn feel disrespected and withdraw
from community life, keeping a low profile, protecting their privacy from heightened surveillance,
and worrying about losing eligibility by getting into unexpected trouble. Without exceptional
conditions, integrated neighborhoods produce interracial friendships of a superficial quality at best
(Britton, 2011). Withdrawal and isolation may just as easily result. Low-income residents in three

Mixing Policies: Expectations and Achievements
77Cityscape
mixed-income developments in Chicago felt that, while the stigma associated with living in public
housing was reduced, they experienced new stigmas, heightened scrutiny, and negative responses
from higher income residents (Joseph and Chaskin, 2010; McCormick, Joseph, and Chaskin, 2012).
On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, little social mixing occurs among higher and lower income
people in redeveloped mixed communities. In London, for example, gentrifiers in new housing
built along the Thames River had little interaction with the previous residents (Davidson, 2010).
Of course, we have long known that physical proximity alone does not guarantee good social
relations. In fact, forcing diverse groups into close proximity may provoke avoidance and invidious
distinctions, if not conflict (Chamboredon and Lemaire, 1970; Elias and Scotson, 1994; Gans, 1961;
Goodchild and Cole, 2001). As Putnam (2007) and others discovered, rather than contribute to
trust and community participation, ethnic diversity may produce discord. Keller et al. rightly remark
that living with people who have different lifestyles and types of households can as easily produce
conflict as understanding.
Mixed-income housing is also supposed to do more than just build intergroup relations, however.
It should reduce poverty. Spatial mobility—escaping the “neighborhood effects” of concentrated
poverty and the spatial mismatch isolating the poor from jobs—was supposed to increase social
mobility (Haveman, 2013). This assumption was a foundation of MTO (Sampson, 2012). In theory,
the social mix would give low-income residents access to middle-income resources, such as job
contacts and information and mainstream norms and values. Even if low-income residents do not
develop friendships with residents of other income classes, they can benefit from passive observa-
tion of respectable behavior. Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber (2007) offered a helpful list of ways
that mixed-income neighborhoods are supposed to help poor families. Their evidence suggests
that low-income residents may enjoy a higher quality of life through greater informal social control
and access to higher quality services, but not that social interaction, networks, or role models will
improve the socioeconomic status of low-income residents. Levy, McDade, and Bertumen’s article
confirms the conclusion that mixed-income housing is not an efficient way to reduce poverty.
Obviously a more direct way to reduce poverty with housing policy would be to make low-income
housing subsidies universal. If means-tested housing vouchers were distributed like the Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), we could certainly improve the standard of
living of poor families. That is not going to happen any time soon.
Kearns et al. argue that middle-income groups can only transmit desirable values, norms, and
resources to lower income groups if the income gap among residents is not too large. On even the
more spatially integrated estate in their study, however, cross-class social interaction was scarce
and the community did not connect the way it previously had. The authors report that managers
and others responsible for mixed-income housing found the social and economic impacts wanting,
yet they still adhered to the overall philosophy of mixing. The informants did feel that local amenities
and infrastructure—schools, shops, family centers, and recreation facilities—had improved, thanks
to the additional resources that redevelopment brought. Resident involvement in community
governance was limited, however.
The singular emphasis on spatial mixing downplays the specific needs and interests of low-income
tenants (Berry, 2005). The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandates

78
Silver
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
participation of residents in policymaking, but the extent and mechanism for that participation
is vague. One study of a HOPE VI project in Phoenix, Arizona, found that the participation of
dispersed tenants in planning the redevelopment was minimal, and that in the wake of demolition,
an organization was needed to protect their rights to involvement in making the new place (Lucio
and Wolfersteig, 2012). Rebuilding community takes more than coresidence.
Although many assumptions underlying social mixing policies are erroneous, spatial proximity still
enables social relations. Thoughtful design of common spaces—lobbies, laundry rooms, elevators,
benches, and pathways—can increase the probability of chance encounters and the formation of
informal relations in the neighborhood (Kleit, 2005). Local facilities and public spaces, such as
parks, libraries, and recreation facilities, are strong predictors of trust, norms, and reciprocity—
social capital—among neighbors (Curley, 2010). Formal institutions can encourage or dissuade
friendships and neighboring. One study of a mixed-income housing community in Boston found
that the private management company discouraged interaction through rules, social signaling,
and explicit communication (Graves, 2010). Conversely, the community center, the local school,
the management office, local coffee shops, and so on provided spaces in which to conduct more
purposive interaction and build formal associations. Keller et al. remark on the diminished sense of
community among the low-income residents who returned to the HOPE VI mixed-income devel-
opment in Tacoma because of the layout of common areas. Levy, McDade, and Bertumen suggest
that, to increase participation in community across income lines, it helps to give people common
places and a reason to cooperate in them. Those reasons may be children, old age, or other demo-
graphics or lifestyles (Varady et al., 2005), or they may unite around practical community affairs.
Keller et al. remind us that a common concern like crime prevention or institutions like churches,
senior activities, and community centers can unite neighbors across class and ethnic lines.
Contemporary Housing Policy
Having discussed how community building in mixed housing matters, I turn finally to contem-
porary American housing policy. One might have thought that the Obama Administration would
have seen the bottom line of the HOPE VI and MTO evaluations and concluded enough is enough.
Instead, confirming the orthodoxy, HUD forged full steam ahead into the Choice Neighborhoods
(Choice) initiative. The Choice initiative is presented as the new and improved successor to
HOPE VI. Choice neighborhoods are supposed to reknit new housing into broader communities.
The goals of the participating partnerships extend far beyond housing, aiming to improve the life
chances of residents and community members and to reestablish the neighborhood “as a com-
munity of choice”—that is, attractive to the middle class.
3
3
The White House Office of Urban Affairs touts the Choice initiative as providing “local leaders with flexible funds to
transform high-poverty neighborhoods with distressed public housing into sustainable communities with mixed-income
housing, safe streets, and economic opportunity. Choice Neighborhoods is one of the signature programs of the White
House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which supports innovative, holistic strategies that bring the right partners
together to help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.” See http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/10/
building-neighborhoods-opportunity.

Mixing Policies: Expectations and Achievements
79Cityscape
Choice has three core goals.
1. Housing. Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income
housing that is well managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood.
2. People. Improve educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility for youth.
3. Neighborhood. Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed
neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and
commercial activity, that are supposedly important to families’ choices about their community.
The dozen or so Choice neighborhoods already selected for implementation are not simply rebuild -
ing or rehabilitating public housing and adding considerable numbers of new mixed-income units.
They are also introducing or improving neighborhood services—health clinics, childcare centers,
schools, police, recreation facilities, even commercial districts—and providing better transportation
connections to employers. To create synergy, some of these sites are leveraging Promise Neighbor-
hood funds too, stitching together small pots of money from the Department of Education, HUD,
and other agency silos to intensify cooperation within small confined areas. Some 42 Choice
planning grants were also distributed. In December 2012, HUD awarded $231 million in Choice
implementation grants. Not all the lead agencies were housing authorities; some were community
development corporations eager to build new workforce units. Planning groups include a wide
range of “stakeholders”—local leaders, residents, public housing authorities, cities, schools, police,
business owners, nonprofits, and even private developers. Their plans go beyond subsidized or
mixed housing to improve collective neighborhood assets.
It is hard to remember that, back in the depths of the “Great Recession,” candidate Obama
pointed to the isolation of the inner-city poor and, in a nod to Wilson (2012/1987), promised
Promise Neighborhoods “to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone in 20 cities across the country.”
Today, Promise Neighborhoods, like Choice neighborhoods, are “a small item tucked away in
the discretionary budget of the Department of Education” (Tough, 2012). Both programs are
now subsumed under the administration’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, an interagency
“place-based approach to help neighborhoods in distress transform themselves into neighborhoods
of opportunity.”
Starved for funds by the depressed economy and a recalcitrant Congress, President Obama’s
urban policy is in fact found less in the federal agencies than concealed in the macroeconomic
stimulus and infrastructural investments (Silver, 2010). That neo-Keynesian intervention may
be coming to an end. In 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt inaugurated the American
public housing program with the aim of reducing unemployment as well as blight. In early 2013,
President Obama relaunched his appeal for renewing America’s public school buildings, roads, and
bridges, on which American cities—and jobs—rely. If public works of this magnitude are funded
in this time of fiscal austerity, they would do a lot more to reduce poverty than the construction of
mixed-income housing.

80
Silver
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Author
Hilary Silver is a professor of sociology and urban studies and of public policy at Brown University,
where she is also Director of the Urban Studies Program.
References
Allport, Gordon. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Berry, Ellen. 2005. “Divided Over Diversity: Political Discourse in a Chicago Neighborhood,” City
& Community 4 (2): 143–170.
Bridge, Gary, Tim Butler, and Loretta Lees, eds. 2012. Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth?
Bristol, United Kingdom: Policy Press.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza, Susan Popkin, and John Goering. 2010. Moving to Opportunity: The Story of
an American Experiment To Fight Ghetto Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
Britton, Marcus. 2011. “Close Together but Worlds Apart? Residential Integration and Interethnic
Friendship in Houston,” City & Community 10 (2): 182–204.
Buron, Larry, Christopher Hayes, and Chantal Hailey. 2013. An Improved Living Environment, but….
Long-Term Outcomes for CHA Residents Brief 3. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Chamboredon, Jean-Claude, and Madeleine Lemaire. 1970. “Proximite Spatial et Distance Sociale:
Les Grands Ensembles et Leur Peuplement,” Revue Francaise de Sociologie 11: 3–33.
Chaskin, Robert, and Mark L. Joseph. 2011. “Social Interaction in Mixed-Income Developments:
Relational Expectations and Emerging Reality,” Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (2): 209–237.
Chaskin, Robert J., and Mark L. Joseph. 2010. “Building Community in Mixed-Income Develop-
ments: Assumptions, Approaches, and Early Experiences,” Urban Affairs Review 45 (3): 299–335.
Clampet-Lundquist, Susan. 2004. “HOPE VI Relocation: Moving to New Neighborhoods and
Building New Ties,” Housing Policy Debate 15 (2): 415–447.
Curley, Alexandra. 2010. “Neighborhood Institutions, Facilities, and Public Space: A Missing Link
for HOPE VI Residents’ Development of Social Capital?” Cityscape 12 (1): 33–54.
Davidson, Mark. 2010. “Love Thy Neighbor? Interpreting Social Mixing in London’s Gentrification
Frontiers,” Environment and Planning A 42 (3): 524–544.
Elias, Norbert, and John L. Scotson. 1994. The Established and the Outsiders. London, United
Kingdom: SAGE Publications.
Ellen, Ingrid. 2000. Sharing America’s Neighborhoods: The Prospects for Stable Racial Integration.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ellen, Ingrid, Keren Horn, and Katherine O’Regan. 2012. “Pathways to Integration: Examining
Changes in the Prevalence of Racially Integrated Neighborhoods,” Cityscape 14 (3): 33–54.

Mixing Policies: Expectations and Achievements
81Cityscape
Galster, George. 2007. “Neighborhood Social Mix As a Goal of Housing Policy: A Theoretical
Analysis,” European Journal of Housing Policy 7 (1): 19–43.
Gans, Herbert J. 1961. “The Balanced Community: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity in Residential
Areas,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners 27 (3): 176–184.
Goetz, Edward. 2010. “Gentrification in Black and White: The Racial Impact of Public Housing
Demolition in American Cities,” Urban Studies 48 (8): 1581–1604.
———. 2003. Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America. Washington, DC:
Urban Institute Press.
Goodchild, Barry, and Ian Cole. 2001. “Social Balance and Mixed Neighborhoods in Britain Since
1979,” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 19 (1): 103–122.
Graves, Erin M. 2010. “The Structuring of Urban Life in a Mixed-Income Housing ‘Community,’”
City & Community 9 (1): 109–131.
Haveman, Robert. 2013. “Do Housing Vouchers Work?” Pathways Spring: 15–17.
Joseph, Mark L., and Robert Chaskin. 2010. “Living in a Mixed-Income Development: Resident
Perceptions of the Benefits and Disadvantages of Two Developments in Chicago,” Urban Studies
47 (11): 2347–2366.
Joseph, Mark L., Robert Chaskin, and Henry Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Addressing
Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Kleit, Rachel. 2005. “HOPE VI New Communities: Neighborhood Relationships in Mixed-Income
Housing,” Environment & Planning A 37 (8): 1413–1441.
Lees, Loretta, Tim Butler, and Gary Bridge. 2012. Introduction: Gentrification, Social Mix/ing and
Mixed Communities. In Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth? edited by Gary Bridge, Tim
Butler, and Loretta Lees. Bristol, United Kingdom: Policy Press: 1–16.
Lucio, Joanna, and Wendy Wolfersteig. 2012. “Political and Social Incorporation of Public Housing
Residents: Challenges in HOPE VI Community Development,” Community Development 43 (4):
476–549.
Manzo, Lynne, Rachel Kleit, and Dawn Couch. 2008. “Moving Three Times Is Like Having Your
House on Fire Once: The Experience of Place and Impending Displacement Among Public Housing
Residents,” Urban Studies 45 (9): 1855–1878.
Massey, Douglas, Len Albright, Rebecca Casciano, Elizabeth Derickson, and David N. Kinsey. 2013.
Climbing Mount Laurel: The Struggle for Affordable Housing and Social Mobility in an American Suburb.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
McCormick, Naomi, Mark L. Joseph, and Robert J. Chaskin. 2012. “The New Stigma of Relocated
Public Housing Residents: Challenges to Social Identity in Mixed-Income Developments,” City &
Community 11 (3): 285–308.

82
Silver
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Putnam, Robert. 2007. “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-First Century.
The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture,” Scandinavian Political Studies 30 (2): 137–174.
Reardon, Sean F., and Kendra Bischoff. 2011. “Income Inequality and Income Segregation,”
American Journal of Sociology 116 (4): 1092–1153.
Sampson, Robert. 2012. Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Silver, Hilary. 2010. “Obama’s Urban Policy,” City and Community 10 (1): 1–10.
Small, Mario Luis. 2004. Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Tough, Paul. 2012. “What Does Obama Really Believe in?” New York Times, August 15. Available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/magazine/obama-poverty.html?pagewanted=1&ref=magazine
(accessed 20 May 2013).
Turner, Margery, Jennifer Comey, Daniel Kuehn, and Austin Nichols. 2011. Helping Poor Families
Gain and Sustain Access to High-Opportunity Neighborhoods. Urban Institute Notes, October.
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
van Eick, Gwen. 2010. “Exclusionary Politicies Are Not Just About the ‘Neoliberal City’: A Critique
on Theories of Urban Revanchism and the Case of Rotterdam,” International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research 34 (3): 820–824.
Varady, David, Jeffrey Raffel, Stephanie Sweeney, and Latina Denson. 2005. “Attracting Middle-
Income Families in the HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization Program,” Journal of Urban Affairs
27 (2): 149–164.
Venkatesh, Sudhir. 2002. American Project. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wilson, William Julius. 2012/1987. The Truly Disadvantaged, 2
nd
ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.

Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Making Mixed-Income
Neighborhoods Work for
Low-Income Households
James C. Fraser
Vanderbilt University
Robert J. Chaskin
University of Chicago
Joshua Theodore Bazuin
Vanderbilt University
Abstract
Mixed-income housing policies such as Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, or
HOPE VI, are an outcome of historical processes that have limited the scope of subsidized
public housing in America, leading to disinvestment in government housing programs in
favor of reinvestment in market-based solutions. The underlying assumption has been that
reinvestment deconcentrates poverty and addresses other perceived failures of traditional
public housing. Although they provide some benefits to lower income residents, such initi-
atives have not produced many of the outcomes for which their advocates had hoped. The
goal of this article is to reinvigorate the conversation about how, and if, mixed-income
housing policies can be implemented in ways that work with and for the benefit of low-
income populations. The article draws on literature about public housing and mixed-
income development to posit ways that mixed-income initiatives might be combined with
other programmatic efforts to foster upward trajectories for those experiencing poverty
and to create public housing environments where people can thrive in all aspects of their
lives. In the final section, we reimagine mixed-income housing in ways that could result
in more inclusive communities—a reimagination that we suggest may better meet the
original goals of such programs without dismissing the inherent limitations of solving
entrenched poverty.

84
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Introduction
The goal of this article is to reinvigorate the conversation about how, and if, mixed-income housing
policies can be implemented in ways that work with and for the benefit of low-income populations.
In part, this effort is motivated by the more critical treatments of mixed-income development that
fundamentally challenge this agenda toward city building as incapable of achieving both place-based
and people-based goals. These critiques suggest that, rather than achieving balanced development
that effectively addresses the problems of concentrated urban poverty, mixed-income development
schemes are more properly seen as veiled efforts at gentrification, appropriating inner-city neighbor -
hoods with renewed market value for development that disproportionately benefits capital interests
and the middle class. In light of these critiques, we ask: Can the twin goals of improving neighbor-
hood conditions and assuring opportunities for low-income people be simultaneously realized?
How can mixed-income initiatives be combined with other policy instruments to address poverty
in a more holistic manner? What types of community are possible in a mixed-income environment?
In cities across the United States, public housing developments and entire neighborhoods have
been sites for mixed-income and mixed-tenure initiatives aimed at transforming urban areas. Pro-
ponents of these policies frame mixed-income housing as a route toward building better neighbor-
hoods that will promote poverty amelioration by supplying low-income, “workforce,”
1
and higher
income housing products to attract socioeconomic mix (Cisneros and Engdahl, 2009). Alterna-
tively, opponents frame mixed-income housing development as a tool for gentrification founded
on the displacement of low-income populations from target neighborhoods under the banner of
poverty deconcentration (Bridge, Butler, and Lees, 2012; Lees, 2008). A third position is that many
mixed-income initiatives might create some neighborhood change and provide some response to
urban poverty but that its effects are more modest than either the gentrification-oriented critics or
poverty-deconcentration champions suggest (Fraser, DeFilippis, and Bazuin, 2012). These multiple
perspectives on the promise and limitations of mixed-income development strategies arise in part
because mixed-income policies and programs, although grounded in a recognition of the deleteri-
ous effect of concentrated urban poverty and operating from a set of broad assumptions about the
potential benefits of income diversity and neighborhood restructuring, lack a coherent intervention
model built from a clear theory of change. Instead, they pull together elements of initiatives
(neighborhood planning, architectural design, social-service provision, and “community building”
strategies) that seek to materialize certain spatial and social imaginaries of what neighborhoods and
public housing developments ought to be.
These contemporary imaginaries are based on ideas about how the built environment might engen-
der certain forms of sociality and how certain forms of sociality might produce locality in line with
the dominant political-economic mode (that is, welfare capitalism and post-welfare capitalism)
and assumptions about civil society (that is, regarding neighborly interaction and associational
engagement). Whereas public housing began by housing a “submerged middle-class” of families
who were still connected to the formal economy (Friedman, 1966: 646), since the 1960s it has
1
Workforce housing typically refers to properties that are priced for households earning 80 to 120 percent of the Area Median
Income for a city or county.

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
85Cityscape
transformed into a place where incomes are low or nonexistent, rendering it out of sync with the
dominant American culture that stresses employment as a prerequisite for exercising citizenship
rights such as access to subsidized housing. It is not surprising that the sociological theory of
concentrated poverty leading to social pathology (for example, Kasarda, 1990; Wilson, 1987) has
been applied to housing policies, most notably the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment’s Moving to Opportunity and Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI)
programs. Deconcentrating poverty is a central component of both these policies. Although both
programs seek to relocate households to higher income neighborhoods, the HOPE VI program
has also razed 254 public housing developments and rebuilt them as mixed-income communities.
Research to date has not provided much evidence that living in a mixed-income environment
alone propels people out of poverty and into the workforce (Chaskin et al., 2012) or breaks down
social barriers (Brophy and Smith, 1997; Buron et al., 2002; Chaskin and Joseph, 2011, 2010;
Graves, 2010; Kleit and Manzo, 2006; Tach, 2009). Employment or participation in an educational
program has nonetheless become a requirement for working-age adults to gain entry to these new
developments (Popkin, Levy, and Buron, 2009).
This article draws on literature about public housing and mixed-income development to posit
ways that mixed-income initiatives might be combined with other programmatic efforts to foster
upward trajectories for those experiencing poverty and to create public housing environments
where people can thrive in all aspects of their lives. Since its inception, public housing has been
proffered as some version of a safety net or, more negatively, as housing of last resort (Henderson,
1995). The ideological frames that lie behind these orientations present poverty as a temporary and
individual issue, the remedy for which is acquiring the requisite skills to reenter the workforce and
move back into private-sector housing. We think this individualist focus is a mistake. Structural
factors—from the shifting nature of economic opportunity (and constraint) under global capitalism
to the enduring effects of racism and racial inequality and the uneven distribution of quality public
goods like education—fundamentally shape individuals’ experiences of poverty and their access to
avenues out of it.
In its early incarnation, the government designed public housing to provide a safety net for people
who were made (temporarily) surplus by the capitalist system (Vale, 2000). Today, the housing
safety net relies largely on market actors and public-private partnerships. Most people who receive
housing subsidies are part of the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which provides the private
sector with guaranteed rents for workers with insufficient wages to move into the private sector
without state support (Vale and Freemark, 2012). As Nguyen, Rohe, and Cowan (2012: 461)
pointed out, project-based public housing developments have faced “substantial cutbacks of fed-
eral funds for housing and the adoption of neoliberal housing policies, [with] many local public
housing agencies [turning] to social entrepreneurs to maintain their existing housing.”
In recent times, the most significant transformation in the delivery of public housing is the HOPE
VI program. Descriptions of the program may be found elsewhere (Abravanel, Levy, and McFarland,
2009), but a brief summary is that it aims to accomplish four primary goals: to (1) improve housing
conditions by providing reinvestment in the public housing stock; (2) provide safe, decent housing
for people who cannot provide it for themselves; (3) move people away from dependence and
toward independence by facilitating entry into private job and housing markets; and (4) stabilize

86
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
and improve the neighborhoods in which HOPE VI complexes are located. To accomplish these
goals, the HOPE VI model has relied heavily on developing public-private partnerships for financing,
management, and other aspects of the program.
Many observers in academic and policy circles consider HOPE VI a success; public-private partner -
ships have been forged, blighted housing has been replaced with attractive mixed-income devel-
opments, and poverty has been reduced at the redeveloped sites (Cisneros and Engdahl, 2009).
Important critiques of HOPE VI, however, center around the rationale used for tearing down housing
that might have been renovated and the forced displacement of tens of thousands of people who
never returned to the redeveloped sites (DeFilippis and Fraser, 2010; Goetz, 2012a). Goetz (2012b)
examined three discourses about public housing that have legitimated its demolition: (1) the path-
ologizing of public housing, (2) the proposition that neighborhood effects of concentrated poverty
create social ills, and (3) the notion that public housing is simply obsolete. The discourse of public
housing as obsolete refers to the buildings being outdated and in disrepair but also to “outdated
notions of government control and direction that are embedded in the public housing program”
(Goetz, 2012b: 3). The discourse of obsolescence not only puts forth a description, but it is also
performative in the sense that it suggests that the state cannot produce adequate housing, which is
the appropriate domain of the private sector. As a performative act, the discourse of obsolescence
legitimates state withdrawal from providing public housing and, in its place, makes the claim that
something essential about the private sector—its efficiency and flexibility—makes it superior. In
this way, the cutbacks of federal funding for and the privatizing of public housing seem logical and
appealing.
The private sector has not been a good steward of public housing, however, in part because the
real estate interests that comprise the sector are not legally compelled by the state to perform a
public function. This condition renders the provision of adequate amounts of low-income housing
a likely unattainable goal; the private sector may choose to participate in developing affordable
housing, but it rarely does so unless the state provides deep discounts. Indeed, the number of
vacant housing units in the United States would easily house most U.S. citizens, but citizenship
rights to housing are eschewed by the private sector and not supported by the U.S. government.
Private interests have substantially shaped the state’s position on public housing (Hunt, 2009;
Vale, 2000). One need only review the history of debates on public housing to glean the private
sector’s attempts to stop the state from entering into what the National Association of Real Estate
Brokers (NAREB) claimed was its domain. During the 1930s, NAREB launched a campaign that
skillfully linked homeownership to nation building and forcefully promulgated the message that
public housing was “a dangerous socialist experiment which threatened free enterprise and the
traditional American values of government” (Parson, 2007: 17). This campaign was taken to cities
across the country to speak out against government-owned public housing, reiterating to people
that homeownership was the hallmark of American “exceptionalism” and individualism (Gotham,
2002; Vale, 2000; Williams, 2003).
This campaign constituted the context within which public housing developments were built
after the Housing Act of 1937,
2
and it is arguably still operative today. Not long after the Act was
2
The Housing Act of 1937. Public Law 75–412.

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
87Cityscape
passed, “[a] growing number of anti-New Deal politicians elected to Congress between 1938 and
1942 cut off funding for the public housing program. … During World War II, Congress funded
housing for defense but banned its use for low-income households. Not until the passage of the
Housing Act of 1949 did Congress authorize any more public housing” (Von Hoffman, 2000: 303).
Throughout the 1950s, real estate interests continued to affect public housing policy through the
enforcement of income limits that radically changed the population composition of developments.
During this era, any semblance of public housing being mixed by incomes faded. Pressure from
real estate interests, rapid suburban housing growth, and the introduction of public housing
policies (such as income-based rents) that targeted those with very low or no incomes dramatically
reshaped the public housing landscape. As Friedman (1966: 651) put it, public housing “was
relegated to the permanent poor in the city … [and] was exclusively for those who were certainly,
indisputably, and irreversibly poor.”
Simultaneously with the exodus of higher income and White residents from many inner-city pub-
lic housing developments in large cities, racialized images of public housing as a breeding place
for social ills began to shape the American imagination. In a study of media portrayals of public
housing between 1950 and 1990, Henderson (1995) found that—
The “implied messages” embedded in public housing photographs were fairly clear by the
late 1960s: welfare-dependent African-Americans subverted the objectives as well as the
actual structures of public housing. While these images were probably part of a broader
trend that witnessed increased depictions of African-Americans in the popular press
during the late 1960s, they nevertheless advanced stereotypes that demeaned both public
housing and those who lived in it. (Henderson, 1995: 27)
Critiques of public housing were manifold, from pointing toward the atomizing effects of large-
scale housing projects like Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis (Yancey, 1974) to less sympathetic attacks that
condemned public housing tenants as being problem families associated with an internal “culture
of poverty” that was transmitted from generation to generation. Henderson continued—
During the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, the popular press perpetuated the
almost entirely negative image of public housing that had emerged in the mid-1960s.
This image was maintained by using stark visual imagery and simplified explanations of
complex and often ambiguous policy issues. One of the period’s dominant motifs was that
public housing re-created rather than eliminated slums. (Henderson, 1995: 40)
These images continually reappeared in press coverage during the 1970s through the 1980s, a
period when Congress did not appropriate enough funds for the maintenance of public housing
developments and passed legislation that unintentionally created large gaps between tenant rents
and maintenance and operation costs for many public housing authorities (Fraser, Oakley, and
Bazuin, 2012).
Vale and Freemark (2012: 382) summarized the different periods of public housing as an initial
25-year period of accommodating “the upwardly mobile working class between 1935 and 1960,
and thereafter the worthy elderly”; 30 years of “consolidation of the poorest into welfare hous-
ing between 1960 and the mid 1980s, coupled with efforts to introduce direct private sector

88
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
involvement in public housing and other programs”; and, since the late 1980s, an effort “to return
more of public housing to a less-poor constituency, while furthering growth in other kinds of both
deep and shallow subsidy programs through mixed-finance projects and tax-code intervention.”
Many scholars view recent changes to public housing policy like the HOPE VI program, which has
mixed-income housing as a central feature, as an ideological shift back to the initial role public
housing played; that is, to house an upwardly mobile, “submerged” middle class alongside those
who are experiencing greater poverty but have employment (Fraser, Oakley, and Bazuin, 2012;
Heathcott, 2012; Nguyen, Rohe, and Cowan, 2012; Vale and Freemark, 2012). The next section
provides a brief overview of the challenges posed by establishing mixed-income developments
under policies like HOPE VI.
Mixed-Income Housing and Its Discontents
Before exploring the challenges of mixed-income development approaches to public housing
reform, it is crucial to note that public housing throughout its history has endured ideological,
political, economic, and cultural factors that have worked against it. In particular, the emptying
out of central-city neighborhoods near public housing complexes in the 1950s and 1960s and
racial discrimination intersected to promote the enabling conditions for representations of, and
attitudes toward, public housing that were deeply disadvantaging to public housing residents.
With the onset of the Nixon Administration in 1969 and the 1973 oil crisis, the operating and
maintenance budget subsidies received by public housing authorities from the federal government
began to shrink. During the 1980s, public housing declined because of depreciation of the housing
stock and became a signifier for social pathology. Given these circumstances, it is not surprising
that, redevelopment under the HOPE VI program notwithstanding, the specter of “the projects”
haunts public housing authorities. It is also not surprising that most HOPE VI developments follow
a relatively conservative path, having had to adapt to the devolution of responsibility for raising
operating and maintenance costs for their housing stock (Kleit and Page, 2012). In addition,
although the evidence is insufficient to claim that institutional isomorphism exists among housing
authorities, since the 1980s, the trend of public housing authorities becoming hybrid organizations
that seek out private capital for investment in their portfolios is certainly growing (Nguyen, Rohe,
and Cowan, 2012). Speaking about public housing authorities’ strategies to become solvent by
relying heavily on low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), Kleit and Page (2012: 15) concluded
that even “with the combination of LIHTC and vouchers, pressures to break even as an organiza-
tion while meeting federal requirements for a portion of their units can make the arrangement
barely sustainable.” The consequences of this move toward hybridization or privatization of hous-
ing management and units, respectively, can be an issue. As Kleit and Page (2012: 5) further sug-
gested, “diversification of an agency’s housing stock can be symptomatic of a retreat from serving
very low-income households.” This retreat translates into selective occupancy that is reminiscent of
previous phases of public housing (Vale and Freemark, 2012).
HOPE VI and other mixed-income approaches to remaking public housing embrace this trend
toward privatization. Although the promotion of mixed-income housing initiatives varies slightly
in content, intent, and design, it inevitably comes back to a stylized vision of helping the poor
in addition to significant reliance on market-oriented strategies to promote their relocation into

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
89Cityscape
neighborhoods where they can live in proximity to moderate- and middle-income households.
Although the theoretical antecedents are more nuanced, this conceptual model is based on the
neighborhood effects perspective, which posits that the disadvantaging effects of individual-level
poverty are exacerbated when living in highly concentrated areas of poverty, cut off from institu-
tional and relational ties that characterize flourishing communities (Wilson, 1987). Researchers
have identified the routes through which mixed-income housing might achieve such outcomes,
and social networking figures prominently among them (Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber, 2007).
Empirical studies to date, however, suggest that these proposed routes for increasing life oppor-
tunities for low-income residents have proven to be elusive, and it is unclear how these residents
benefit from the relational, political, and economic resources that higher income households may
bring to an area (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011; Levy, McDade, and Bertumen, 2011).
Parallel to these findings, case studies focusing on the everyday realities of residents living in
mixed-income public housing developments have found multiple obstacles to building cross-class
ties and social networks based on a sense of community (Chaskin and Joseph, 2010; Graves, 2011;
Kleit, 2005; McCormick, Joseph, and Chaskin, 2012; Sedlak, 2008; Varady et al., 2005). These
empirical findings are not surprising given that HOPE VI neglects any specification on why or how
cross-class alliances would emerge. This aspect of HOPE VI has informed arguments that the call
for mixed-income housing may actually be a state-led effort to colonize former public housing
developments to prepare neighborhoods for market reinvestment (Hackworth, 2005). In Bridge et
al., 2012, the central questions about mixed-income housing initiatives revolved around the con-
tention that mixed-income policies may be less about helping people in poverty and more about
neighborhood revitalization for the middle classes. Although gentrification occurs around some
HOPE VI developments, in many cases it is a protracted, and often unsuccessful, process (Fraser,
DeFilippis, and Bazuin, 2012), further complicated by the Great Recession of 2008. Nonetheless,
although some initiatives may not be successful at promoting neighborhood revitalization, doing
so is a stated goal of the program. One need only look to Chicago and Atlanta to see examples of
rapid gentrification around areas that were considered no-go zones during the 1980s (Keating,
2000; Pattillo, 2008). Even in smaller cities, mixed-income development has led to clear instances
of dramatic increases in housing values (Bair and Fitzgerald, 2005; Fraser et al., 2003; Voith and
Zielenbach, 2010; Zielenbach, 2003).
A growing number of studies have examined the realities of low-income residents returning to
redeveloped HOPE VI sites (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011, 2010; Kleit, 2011; Levy, McDade, and Ber-
tumen, 2011). A common starting point for these examinations has been to ask: do mixed-income
environments engender meaningful resident engagement across income lines and, if so, does this
social interaction effect positive changes in the lives of low-income residents? These studies report
that social relations among HOPE VI residents that cross class lines tend to be rare. In addition,
although some benefits accrue to low-income residents by virtue of the relative safety and quality
of the built environment compared with that of the public housing communities from which they
moved, the possibility of promoting access to the social networks and resources of higher income
neighbors in ways that might promote instrumental gains, such as access to employment or infor-
mation about schools, services, or other resources, generate no clear benefits (Chaskin and Joseph,
2011, 2010; Fraser and Nelson, 2008; Kleit, 2011; Tach, 2009).

90
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Multiple case studies find that residents tend to interact with their neighbors based on perceived
characteristics in common (Levy, McDade, and Bertumen, 2011), and that, in some cases, “manage -
ment encouraged social distance between market-rate and subsidized neighbors” (Graves, 2010:
127). Indeed, subsidized renters in mixed-income developments are often the objects of intensified
surveillance and discipline, in part because site management is charged with drawing middle-income
residents into these developments to capture enough ground rent to offset the costs associated with
a devolved public housing program (Kipfer and Petrunia, 2009). Enhanced social control emerges
in these contexts, even when little social interaction takes place between residents of dissimilar
backgrounds or class lines. The effect of such control is often felt disproportionately by relocated
public housing and other low-income residents, whose actions are constrained by the privatization
of space and by heightened surveillance and the establishment and monitoring of stringent rules
curtailing a broad range of behaviors, access to space, and use of space (Chaskin and Joseph, 2012).
In many cases, disputes around whether residents should have the right to occupy public space are
raced, gendered, and classed. For example, studies find that market-rate residents tend to identify
young African-American men as a threat simply because they are exerting a right to convene and
converse in public space (Chaskin and Joseph, 2012; Fraser et al., 2012). In a sense, this finding
should not be surprising, because society at large has a long history of making such identity categor-
ies the foundation for direct and indirect discrimination (O’Connor, 2002; Vale, 2000). The regu-
lation of belonging is distinct among differing groups. DeFilippis and Fraser (2010: 144) noted
that “for mixing to have a role in making our cities more just, the people being mixed need to be
in proximity on their own terms and those terms need some level of equivalence or comparability.”
As numerous studies have demonstrated, however, this is simply not the case for the HOPE VI
program (DeFilippis and Fraser, 2010). Thus, the broad consensus among those who have studied
social networks in HOPE VI developments is that improving the life opportunities of low-income
residents cannot hinge on social mixing (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011, 2010; Graves, 2011; Kleit, 2011).
An alternative orientation to how mixed-income housing might operate is needed. Rather than as-
suming that low-income people will benefit from merely living near more well-off people, research
on mixed-income housing initiatives suggests that, to the extent that low-income residents benefit
from living in these contexts, it is because of improved housing in a safer place and, in some cases,
access to better schools and neighborhood amenities. Moving beyond a principal focus on the poten-
tial of mixed-income communities to improve the lives of low-income residents by virtue of their
proximity to higher income neighbors, consideration of how mixed-income housing should oper-
ate requires attention to strategies that might be put into practice to support low-income residents.
(Re)Imagining Mixed-Income Public Housing Developments
It is apparent that mixed-income housing initiatives alone do not necessarily engender the benefits
for low-income public housing residents assumed in policy circles. Although it is not fully acknow-
ledged among advocates of such programs, this shortcoming is in part because of the limitations of
housing provision in the context of a much broader range of challenges that people experiencing
poverty face. More specifically, the provision of housing is not directly tied to (although it is often
dependent on) people being employed, nor does living in a mixed-income environment alone

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
91Cityscape
promote social relations among income groups that foster social support systems and information
exchange about employment opportunities. Although some mixed-income development efforts
acknowledge the need for broader neighborhood improvements (amenities, commercial activity,
public space, and schools), most have back-ended a focus on these aspects of development in an
effort to build out the residential components of these developments, to the extent they plan to
address them at all.
3
HOPE VI mixed-income housing developments rely heavily on housing as
the principal developmental input and on mechanisms of social control to achieve neighborhood
quality of life, thus inhibiting resident participation, engagement, interaction, and, ultimately, so-
cial cohesion (Chaskin and Joseph, 2010). This can lead to a sense of social isolation and political
disenfranchisement for low-income residents in these contexts (Chaskin, Khare, and Joseph, 2012;
Fraser, DeFilippis, and Bazuin, 2012; Lucio and Wolfersteig, 2012). In the absence of these aspects
of holistic community, active citizenship becomes both formally and informally discouraged, which
can lead to conflicts and hierarchies concerning the expectations of how people use space and
neighborhood amenities (Chaskin and Joseph, 2012).
Based on previous research, we suggest that a variety of potential interventions could overcome
these obstacles and perhaps subsequently lead to improved socioeconomic status. Broadly, we con-
ceptualize potentially effective interventions as being in four realms: (1) housing, (2) social services
and supports, (3) employment, and (4) neighborhood life. These domains are certainly interrelated
and, we believe, all tend to reinforce well-being and quality of life. Some of these recommenda-
tions would likely require major policy interventions by the state, and other strategies, based on
some examples of what public housing authorities are currently doing, could be implemented
without a great deal of additional resources being advanced.
Regarding housing, many HOPE VI developments currently include homeownership opportunities
for moderate-income and higher income populations. Although they arguably provide a foundation
of residential stability in these communities, many market-rate buyers consider these properties as
investments and may plan to live in them for a relatively short period (Joseph and Chaskin, 2010).
Subsidized for-sale units that exist in some sites are contractually constrained from being sold at
market rates for a period of years after purchase, but over time the access that owners have to the
market, the potential volatility of the market, and the uncertainty surrounding contractual arrange -
ments and broader relationships of responsibility between owners and housing authorities suggest
that income mix may be difficult to sustain (Abravanel, Levy, and McFarland, 2009). The stability
of lower income residents in these contexts is yet more difficult to ensure. Lease compliance require -
ments often extend beyond timely payment of rent and adherence to lawful behavior to include a
range of (often relatively minor) behaviors that can place tenants at risk of eviction (Chaskin and
Joseph, 2012). Residents who are successful in these contexts are often expected to move on if they
can get effectively established in the workforce and establish some level of self-sufficiency. In some
cases, subsidized renters who go through “the program” at HOPE VI sites are given homeownership
3
This more narrow focus on housing has been expanded in HOPE VI’s successor, the Obama Administration’s Choice
Neighborhoods demonstration program, which explicitly seeks to support investment beyond housing and social services
for low-income residents and to include an emphasis on dimensions of community health, including education, public
assets, transportation, and access to jobs.

92
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
classes and assistance to save toward the down payment for a house through individual develop-
ment accounts. Although some sites have units set aside for potential purchase by relocated public
housing residents, most of those who do eventually buy their own homes (relatively few to begin
with) have to leave the complex. Given that studies of existing HOPE VI sites have shown that,
at times, cleavages among homeowners, market-rate renters, and subsidized renters occur in part
because of the perceived lack of investment in the development that renters may have because
they have no equity stake in their units (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011), and given the benefits of
residential stability for aspects of neighborhood well-being such as safety and density of acquain-
tanceship networks (Freudenburg, 1986; Sampson and Groves, 1989), we suggest that subsidized
renters should be supported to make them eligible to buy the HOPE VI unit they occupy. To
support likely sustainability of this income mix over time, this lease-to-purchase program could be
implemented through a shared-equity housing model operated by a community land trust (CLT).
A CLT is “a nonprofit organization that utilizes public and private funds to provide affordable
home ownership opportunities for low-income households” (Thaden, 2010: 2–3). The CLT would
retain title to the land, meaning that the prospective owner needs to pay only for the building or a
unit within the building. Moreover, the CLT can ensure the long-term affordability of the unit by
providing some of the initial downpayment for the house. If the homeowner sells the property, the
CLT gets its money back plus a portion of any appreciation to put the funds back into the property
and sell to another low-income individual (Thaden, 2010). Using this model in HOPE VI develop-
ments would assist renters toward homeownership if they so desire. Homeownership could create
longer term, more stable communities; provide incentives for low-income renters to contribute
to the community; and also help renters build wealth. In tandem, public housing authorities will
likely need to develop new complexes to provide subsidized units within a mixed-income environ-
ment; if mixed-income housing strategies show any promise in spurring reinvestment in their
surrounding neighborhoods, rolling development provides the opportunity to sustain this promise
over time and spread it across more neighborhoods.
Homeownership is not (nor should it necessarily be) an option for everyone, however. Anyone
moving into homeownership needs sufficient income, stability, and capacity to maintain payments
and their property and needs access to loan instruments that tailor financial burden to ability to
pay over time. For some, homeownership will not be an option for any of a number of reasons. In
HOPE VI developments, some public housing residents will choose or need to stay in a subsidized
rental situation. Often these residents face multiple barriers to employment such as childcare,
transportation, and health issues (Popkin, Levy, and Buron, 2009). HOPE VI has had a positive
effect on creating better public housing environments characterized by less crime, but the program’s
limited funds for community and social services have not translated into “gains in employment,
earnings, or health” (Theodos et al., 2012: 518). Whether striving for homeownership or simply
to support stability and well-being, services and supports for public housing residents need to be
enhanced. Indeed, studies have found that in the isolated cases in which effective and intensive
services have been provided, they have produced positive results (Popkin et al., 2010). The sup-
ports have included financial supports, social services (counseling, job training, and case manage-
ment), child care, health care, and transportation services. Whereas transportation may be a more
difficult problem to solve, child care seems relatively simple; HOPE VI complexes can be built
with facilities that can be operated as childcare cooperatives, potentially priced based on parents’

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
93Cityscape
income and staffed by qualified people from the neighborhood. In addition to these cooperatives,
we suggest that additional elements would include youth activities and after-school programs.
On the financial front, a key concern for public housing residents is the ability to save money on
utility bills. In regular public housing, the housing authority largely covers utilities, but in HOPE VI
sites, the tenants are responsible for paying their utility bills. Housing authorities in several locales
implemented two interventions: using energy-efficient appliances and building materials and insti-
tuting weatherization programs that lower heating and cooling bills. For example, in High Point,
Seattle, Washington, the HOPE VI sites use geothermal technology to provide low-cost heat and
air conditioning and, in Nashville, Tennessee, they use solar panels to provide energy for elderly
residents in public housing highrise buildings.
Regarding employment, job training also needs to be refocused. In particular, successful programs
to move public housing residents to better paying jobs have often included vocational training that
goes far beyond simply helping connect residents to potential training programs or even officially
sponsoring such programs. One intervention would be to replicate some features of the Chicago
Family Case Management Demonstration, including a mechanism to make work pay a decent
wage. The demonstration included efforts to effectively pay employers to hire residents through
temporarily subsidized salaries.
The Transitional Jobs program, a more intensive version of the model used citywide by Chicago
Housing Authority’s Opportunity Chicago workforce initiative, was aimed at helping residents
with little or no work experience connect to the labor market. The program relied on intensive
employment and interview training, rapid attachment to the workforce, 3 months of subsidized
employment, and continued counseling and advocacy support for residents throughout the first
year of employment (Popkin et al., 2010).
Similarly, in Seattle, a related effort kept contact with both employees and employers after a resident
had been placed in a job, identifying skill areas in which the resident was deficient and providing
additional training. It is not sufficient to help a public housing resident learn some computer skills
or how to be a nurse’s assistant, update their résumé, and do some practice interviews; employers
may need additional guarantees or incentives to take a risk on relatively inexperienced, unproven
employees.
Finally, regarding neighborhood life, the literature makes clear that simply ensuring that residents
of different class backgrounds live in proximity to one another is not sufficient to ensure either
community cohesion or the kinds of effective social network benefits for lower income residents
for which mixed-income policies had hoped. Some basic tools for enhancing communication and
access among residents (many of which are being experimented with in sites across the country)
may help in this regard. These tools might include something as simple as a neighborhood directory
listing residents’ contact information and some information about them (employment, interests),
periodic newsletters with profiles of residents focusing on their professional training and achieve-
ments, or providing free developmentwide wireless Internet access to encourage people to access
information that is available on the web. They might also include occasional social events focusing
on creating opportunities for networking. These kinds of interventions are sometimes difficult to
pull off, however, given the ways in which residents tend to sort into or out of particular groups

94
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
and activities based on their interests and perceptions of who such efforts are geared toward, and
in light of cross-class tensions that have been generated in many of these contexts (Chaskin and
Joseph, 2012, 2010).
Beyond these efforts, greater intentionality and investment might focus around amenities, organiza-
tional infrastructure, and neighborhood spaces. One example is the community garden, numerous
examples of which have sprouted up across the country. In the John Henry Hale HOPE VI devel-
opment in Nashville, the Farm in the City not only attracts people from different income groups
to interact but provides participants with fresh fruits and vegetables that would otherwise cost a
great deal of money at the grocery store. Broader economic development could also be promoted
(partially contingent on the specific economic context) by building mixed-use spaces with, for ex -
ample, retail on the bottom levels of buildings and apartments above. This type of development is
typically lacking in HOPE VI sites, missing an opportunity to create spaces of sociability, employ-
ment opportunities, and service provision typically needed in any community. It might be possible
to incentivize these kinds of spaces, in part, by providing small business grants for local entrepre-
neurs and leasing them space at below market rates if they meet certain social obligations, such as
supplying the community with fresh fruits and vegetables or hiring a certain number of residents.
Cultivating these kinds of places and projects—gardens, stores, coffee shops, and recreational
facilities—could potentially help move mixed-income developments from being largely residential
complexes to vibrant neighborhoods that provide activity space for instrumental exchange and
casual interaction. The creation of these kinds of collective amenities may still fall short of promot-
ing an inclusive and vibrant neighborhood life, however, if the fundamental tensions we noted
previously—around perceptions of crime, safety and disorder, and the ways in which different
groups choose to occupy and appropriate space for different activities—continue to exist between
public housing residents and homeowners (Chaskin and Joseph, 2012). Here, addressing the
issues of governance and participation is important. Some interventions to promote solidarity and
community between and within income groups might include shaping inclusive neighborhood
associations that promote the broad participation of residents across incomes and housing tenure
and that operate beyond the purview of individual homeowners’ associations. Clear expectations
for participation, funding for community members to run and operate a variety of outreach and
engagement activities, and effective technical assistance to residents to train officers and engage in
community organizing and community building activities would strengthen this agenda and help
shape more effective associations. These ambitions are, however, hard to implement in practice,
particularly in the context of significant inequality (Briggs, 1998; Chaskin, 2005). Simply creat-
ing mechanisms for inclusive participation does not ensure their success, and it is important to
explicitly take into account social difference and unequal access by guaranteeing representation of
marginalized social groups (Young, 2000).
Conclusion
High-quality, mixed-income housing has some potential to improve living conditions and a range
of outcomes for low-income populations who have heretofore been functionally restricted to
class-segregated neighborhoods of limited opportunity. The literature is clear, however, that the
improvements associated with mixed-income living have been limited. We have proposed some

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
95Cityscape
changes to mixed-income development practice, highlighting the intersection between mixed-income
neighborhoods and opportunities around homeownership, social-service provision, and employment
and neighborhood life. We are hopeful that effective implementation of such changes can improve
outcomes so that low-income populations are better served by mixed-income housing programs.
Beyond these technical adjustments to mixed-income housing policies and practices, we raise the
possibility of a more wholesale revisioning of housing and work that might be achieved through
a combination of three significant changes: a living wage, a guaranteed income, and adequate
provision of affordable housing. Many people in HOPE VI public housing have decent jobs, many
after completing training programs to which they gained access through HOPE VI-affiliated services.
Even with their successes, they do not make enough money to leave public housing, let alone pur -
chase their own house (see Bazuin, Oakley, and Fraser, 2012; and Popkin et al., 2010 for additional
details). HOPE VI essentially trains people to be members of the working poor. This problem is a
symptom of a longstanding problem whereby increases in the cost of housing nationwide have far
outstripped increases in wages. This problem has been particularly acute for people at the lower
end of the income spectrum. The concept of the living wage—that people who work full time
should earn enough to pay for their basic needs—is instructive here. It is possible that the govern-
ment could transform the minimum wage into a living wage, but it will likely face considerable
opposition. Rather, an effective living wage would require a social change about the value of work.
An alternative could be some sort of guaranteed income, perhaps implemented through an expan-
sion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Regardless, for increases in wages to reduce the need for public housing effectively, a commitment
to expand the pool of affordable housing options is also needed. A considerable shortage of afford-
able housing exists, in part, because lower priced housing has much less profit potential for devel-
opers, mortgage brokers, and banks. Government could make significant strides toward filling that
shortage through inclusionary zoning and other policy options that incentivize the construction of
affordable housing.
Although briefly stated, the broader vision we have begun to outline here underscores the extent to
which mixed-income housing approaches to poverty alleviation and neighborhood redevelopment
are conservative approaches that do little to address the broader structural conditions under which
many working people still do not earn enough money to make autonomous choices about important
aspects of their lives or to meet basic needs. Poverty is related to housing, and the concentration
of poor people in marginalized neighborhoods is deeply problematic. To solve this problem, we
need to shape policies that can support workers to earn a living wage and that emphasize a broader
policy focus on the kinds of structural barriers that public housing residents and other low-income
populations face, including the need for significant institutional investment in education, access to
technology, and issues of discrimination. These kinds of concerns obviously move well beyond the
purview of housing authority responsibility and capacity, and they suggest an emphasis on policies
operating at different levels and across different spheres of action. Mixed-income neighborhoods
are not a panacea. At worst, they may exacerbate inequality and operate as a veiled mechanism for
gentrification that disproportionately benefits the middle-income households and relocates—and
resegregates—the poor. At best, they are a potentially useful but limited option in the face of com -
plicated problems that American society has yet to find the political will to tackle more comprehensively.

96
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Edward Goetz and Deirdre Oakley for coming to Vanderbilt University and pro-
viding conceptual insights. They also acknowledge Emily Lample for her assistance and Elizabeth
Reeves Covington for her thoughtful editorial comments.
Authors
James C. Fraser is an associate professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Develop-
ment at Vanderbilt University.
Robert J. Chaskin is an associate professor and the Deputy Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the
School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.
Joshua Theodore Bazuin is a postdoctoral fellow at the Vanderbilt Institute of Energy and the
Environment at Vanderbilt University.
References
Abravanel, Martin D., Diane K. Levy, and Margaret McFarland. 2009. The Uncharted, Uncertain
Future of HOPE VI Redevelopments. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Bair, Edward, and John M. Fitzgerald. 2005. “Hedonic Estimation and Policy Significance of the
Impact of HOPE VI on Neighborhood Property Values,” Review of Policy Research 22 (6): 771–786.
Bazuin, Joshua, Deidre Oakley, and James Fraser. 2012. The Imagined Self-Sufficient Communities
of HOPE VI: Why the Community and Social Support Component Largely Failed. Unpublished
manuscript.
Bridge, Gary, Tim Butler, and Loretta Lees. 2012. Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth?
London, United Kingdom: Policy Press.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza. 1998. “Doing Democracy Up-Close: Culture, Power, and Communication
In Community Building,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 18 (1): 1–13.
Brophy, Paul C., and Rhonda N. Smith. 1997. “Mixed-Income Housing: Factors for Success,”
Cityscape 3 (2): 3–31.
Buron, Larry, Susan Popkin, Diane Levy, Laura Harris, and Jill Khadduri. 2002. The HOPE VI
Resident Tracking Study. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Chaskin, Robert. 2005. “Democracy and Bureaucracy in a Community Planning Process,” Journal of
Planning Education and Research 24 (4): 408–419.
Chaskin, Robert, and Mark Joseph. 2012. “‘Positive’ Gentrification, Social Control and the ‘Right to
the City’ in Mixed-Income Communities: Uses and Expectations of Space and Place,” International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37 (2): 480–502.

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
97Cityscape
———. 2011. “Social Interaction in Mixed-Income Developments: Relational Expectations and
Emergent Reality,” Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (2): 209–237.
———. 2010. “Building ‘Community’ in Mixed-Income Developments: Assumptions, Approaches,
and Early Experiences,” Urban Affairs Review 45 (3): 299–335.
Chaskin, Robert, Amy Khare, and Mark Joseph. 2012. “Participation, Deliberation, and Decision
Making: The Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Mixed-Income Developments,” Urban Affairs
Review. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2012.01158.x.
Chaskin, Robert J., Mark L. Joseph, Sara Voelker, and Amy Dworsky. 2012. “Public Housing
Transformation and Resident Relocation: Comparing Destinations and Household Characteristics
in Chicago,” Cityscape 14 (1): 183–214.
Cisneros, Henry, and Lora Engdahl. 2009. From Despair to Hope: HOPE VI and the New Promise of
Public Housing in America’s Cities. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
DeFilippis, James, and James Fraser. 2010. “Why Do We Want Mixed-Income Housing and
Neighborhoods?” In Critical Urban Studies: New Directions, edited by Jonathan S. Davies and David
Imbroscio. Albany, NY: SUNY Press: 135–147.
Fraser, James, Ashley Brown-Burns, Joshua Bazuin, and Deirdre Oakley. 2012. “HOPE VI, Coloni-
zation, and the Production of Difference,” Urban Affairs Review. doi: 10.1177/1078087412465582.
Fraser, James, James DeFilippis, and Joshua Bazuin. 2012. “HOPE VI: Calling for Modesty in Its
Claims.” In Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth? edited by Gary Bridge, Tim Butler, and
Loretta Lees. London, United Kingdom: Policy Press: 209–229.
Fraser, James, Jonathan Lepofsky, Edward Kick, and Patrick Williams. 2003. “The Construction
of the Local and the Limits of Contemporary Community-Building in the United States,” Urban
Affairs Review 38 (3): 417–445.
Fraser, James, and Michael Nelson. 2008. “Can Mixed-Income Housing Ameliorate Concentrated
Poverty? The Significance of a Geographically Informed Sense of Community,” Geography Compass
2 (6): 2127–2144.
Fraser, James, Deirdre Oakley, and Joshua Bazuin. 2012. “Public Ownership and Private Profit in
Housing,” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 5 (3): 397–412.
Freudenburg, William R. 1986. “The Density of Acquaintanceship: An Overlooked Variable in
Community Research?” American Journal of Sociology 92 (1): 27–63.
Friedman, Lawrence M. 1966. “Public Housing and the Poor: An Overview,” California Law Review
54: 642–669.
Goetz, Edward. 2012a. “The Audacity of HOPE VI: Discourse and the Dismantling of Public Hous-
ing,” Cities http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.07.008.
———. 2012b. “Obsolescence and the Transformation of Public Housing Communities in the US,”
International Journal of Housing Policy 12 (3): 331–345.

98
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Gotham, Kevin Fox. 2002. Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development: The Kansas City Experience,
1900–2000. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Graves, Erin. 2011. “Mixed Outcome Developments,” Journal of the American Planning Association
77 (2): 143–153.
———. 2010. “The Structuring of Urban Life in a Mixed-Income Housing ‘Community’,” City and
Community 9 (1): 109–131.
Hackworth, Jason. 2005. “Progressive Activism in a Neoliberal Context: The Case of Efforts To
Retain Public Housing in the United States,” Studies in Political Economy 75: 29–51.
Heathcott, Joseph. 2012. “The Strange Career of Public Housing,” Journal of the American Planning
Association 78 (4): 360–375.
Henderson, A. Scott. 1995. “‘Tarred With the Exceptional Image’: Public Housing and Popular
Discourse, 1950–1990,” American Studies 36 (1): 31–52.
Hunt, D. Bradford. 2009. Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Joseph, Mark, and Robert Chaskin. 2010. “Living in a Mixed-Income Development: Resident
Perceptions of the Benefits and Disadvantages of Two Developments in Chicago,” Urban Studies
47 (11): 2347–2366.
Joseph, Mark, Robert Chaskin, and Henry Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Addressing
Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Kasarda, John D. 1990. “City Jobs and Residents on a Collision Course: The Urban Underclass
Dilemma,” Economic Development Quarterly 4 (4): 313–319.
Keating, Larry. 2000. “Redeveloping Public Housing: Relearning Urban Renewal’s Immutable
Lessons,” Journal of the American Planning Association 66 (4): 384–397.
Kipfer, Stefan, and Jason Petrunia. 2009. “‘Recolonization’ and Public Housing: A Toronto Case
Study,” Studies in Political Economy 83: 111–139.
Kleit, Rachel. 2011. “Integrated or Isolated? The Impact of Public Housing Redevelopment on
Social Network Homophily,” Social Networks 33 (2): 152–165.
———. 2005. “HOPE VI New Communities: Neighborhood Relationships in Mixed-Income
Housing,” Environment and Planning A 37: 1413–1441.
Kleit, Rachel, and Lynne Manzo. 2006. “To Move or Not To Move: Relationships to Place and
Relocation Choices in HOPE VI,” Housing Policy Debate 17 (2): 271–308.
Kleit, Rachel, and Stephen Page. 2012. “The Changing Role of Public Housing Authorities in the
Affordable Housing Delivery System.” Paper presented at the conference, After the Crisis: Housing
Policy and Finance in the US and UK, New York, September 7–8.

Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
99Cityscape
Lees, Loretta. 2008. “Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?”
Urban Studies 45 (12): 2449–2470.
Levy, Diane, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen. 2011. Effects From Living in Mixed-Income Com-
munities for Low-Income Families. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Lucio, Joanna, and Wendy Wolfersteig. 2012. “Political and Social Incorporation of Public Housing
Residents: Challenges in HOPE VI Community Development,” Community Development 43 (4):
476–491.
McCormick, Naomi, Mark Joseph, and Robert Chaskin. 2012. “The New Stigma of Relocated
Public Housing Residents: Challenges to Social Identity in Mixed-Income Developments,” City and
Community 11 (3): 285–308.
Nguyen, Mai, William Rohe, and Spencer Cowan. 2012. “Entrenched Hybridity in Public Housing
Agencies in the USA,” Housing Studies 27 (4): 457–475.
O’Connor, Alice. 2002. Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy, and the Poor in Twentieth-
Century US History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Parson, Don. 2007. “The Decline of Public Housing and the Politics of the Red Scare: The Signifi-
cance of the Los Angeles Public Housing War,” Journal of Urban History 33 (3): 400–417.
Pattillo, Mary. 2008. Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
Popkin, Susan, Diane Levy, and Larry Buron. 2009. “Has HOPE VI Transformed Residents’ Lives?
New Evidence From the HOPE VI Panel Study,” Housing Studies 24 (4): 477–502.
Popkin, Susan, Brett Theodos, Liza Getsinger, and Joe Parilla. 2010. A New Model for Integrating
Housing and Services. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
Sampson, Robert J., and W. Byron Groves. 1989. “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social-
Disorganization Theory,” American Journal of Sociology 94 (4): 774–802.
Sedlak, Wendy C. 2008. ‘Getting To Know Your Neighbor’: The Efficacy of Social Networks in Mixed-
Income Housing. Dissertation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
Tach, Laura M. 2009. “More Than Bricks and Mortar: Neighborhood Frames, Social Processes,
and the Mixed-Income Redevelopment of a Public Housing Project,” City and Community 8 (3):
269–299.
Thaden, Emily. 2010. Outperforming the Market: Delinquency and Foreclosure Rates in Community
Land Trusts. Lincoln, NE: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Theodos, Brett, Susan Popkin, Joe Parilla, and Liza Getsinger. 2012. “The Challenge of Targeting
Services: A Typology of Public-Housing Residents,” Social Service Review 86 (3): 517–544.
Vale, Lawrence. 2000. From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors. Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

100
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Vale, Lawrence, and Yonah Freemark. 2012. “From Public Housing to Public-Private Housing:
75 Years of American Social Experimentation,” Journal of the American Planning Association 78 (4):
379–402.
Varady, David P., Jeffrey A. Raffel, Stephanie Sweeney, and Latina Denson. 2005. “Attracting
Middle-Income Families in the HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization Program,” Journal of Urban
Affairs 27 (2): 149–164.
Voith, Richard, and Sean Zielenbach. 2010. “Hope VI and Neighborhood Economic Development:
The Importance of Local Market Dynamics,” Cityscape 12 (1): 99–132.
Von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. “A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing
Act of 1949,” Housing Policy Debate 11 (2): 299–326.
Williams, Paulette J. 2003. “Continuing Crisis in Affordable Housing: Systemic Issues Requiring
Systemic Solutions,” The Fordham Urban Law Journal 31: 413–480.
Wilson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public
Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Yancey, William L. 1974. “Architecture, Interaction, and Social Control: The Case of a Large-Scale
Housing Project,” Crowding and Behavior 68: 126–136.
Young, Iris. 2000. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Zielenbach, Sean. 2003. “Assessing Economic Change in HOPE VI Neighborhoods,” Housing Policy
Debate 14 (4): 621–655.

101Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Lessons Learned From the
Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in
the United Kingdom
Reinout Kleinhans
Maarten van Ham
Delft University of Technology
Abstract
In the past few decades, urban regeneration policies have taken firm root in many
Western European countries. Underlying these regeneration policies is a strong belief in
the negative neighborhood effects of living in areas of concentrated poverty, often neigh-
borhoods with a large share of social housing. In Europe, great importance is attached to
creating a more diverse housing stock (in terms of tenure and dwelling types) as a means
to establishing a more socially mixed neighborhood population. Mixed-housing strategies
are embraced explicitly by governments in Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands,
Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The idea is that mixing homeowners with social renters
will create a more diverse socioeconomic mix in neighborhoods, removing the potential
of negative neighborhood effects. By far the largest tenure-mixing operation in Europe
is the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme in the United Kingdom. Since the 1970s, more than
2.7 million socially rented houses have sold at large discounts, mainly to sitting tenants.
In this article, we synthesize the outcomes of RTB with regard to neighborhood effects:
residualization, neighborhood stability, tenure and social mix, social interactions, and
dwelling maintenance. Although we acknowledge substantial socioeconomic benefits of
RTB for many individual residents, we find that the neighborhood outcomes of RTB are
by no means solely beneficial.

102
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Introduction
Urban regeneration policies have become well established in many Western European countries in
recent decades. The aim of these policies is often twofold. On the one hand, they aim to improve
the livability and reputation of deprived urban neighborhoods, often neighborhoods dominated
by social housing
1
constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. On the other hand, these policies aim to
improve the lives of residents living in those neighborhoods (Manley et al., 2013). The content
and implementation of urban regeneration policies differ greatly among countries, depending on
the welfare system, the political forces, and the physical, social, and economic structures of urban
areas (Andersson and Musterd, 2005). Similarities also exist, however, among national urban
regeneration policies.
Most policies are strongly oriented toward altering the quality and composition of the housing
stock of existing urban residential areas dominated by social housing (Kleinhans, 2004). In Europe,
great importance is attached to creating a more diverse housing stock as a means to establishing a
more socially mixed neighborhood population (Manley et al., 2013). This diversification is estab-
lished through the demolition, upgrading, or sale of socially rented housing and the construction
of new, more costly owner-occupied or privately rented housing. The result is more differentiation
in housing sizes, forms, quality, and prices and above all a mix of tenures and therefore a more
mixed (higher income) neighborhood population. Creating neighborhoods with a more balanced
socioeconomic mix of residents is a common strategy for tackling assumed negative neighborhood
effects; that is, the idea that living in deprived neighborhoods has a negative effect on residents’ life
chances over and above the effect of their individual characteristics (van Ham and Manley, 2010).
A deliberate mix of homeowners and social renters will create a more diverse socioeconomic mix
in neighborhoods, removing the potential of negative neighborhood effects (Musterd and Anders-
son, 2005). Policymakers have assumed that mixed neighborhoods will provide more positive role
models, fewer negative peer group effects, and a better neighborhood reputation (Manley et al.,
2013). Although the evidence that neighborhood effects are important and that area-based policies
are effective is ambivalent (van Ham and Manley, 2010; van Ham et al., 2012), many Western
European governments, including those in Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden,
and the United Kingdom, explicitly embrace mixed-housing strategies (Atkinson and Kintrea,
2002; Kearns, 2002; Musterd, 2002; Veldboer, Kleinhans, and Duyvendak, 2002).
The Right to Buy (RTB) scheme in the United Kingdom is by far the largest tenure-mixing opera-
tion in the world. More than 2.7 million socially rented houses have sold, primarily to sitting
tenants at large discounts, since the 1970s (Jones and Murie, 2006). The sale and resale of former
socially rented dwellings has created mixed-tenure neighborhoods by introducing homeownership
in neighborhoods previously dominated by social housing (Tunstall, 2011). According to Munro
(2007), RTB represents one of the most significant housing policy measures in Britain of the past
25 years. “It has achieved almost iconic status, representative of high Thatcherism; a key effort in
1
Social housing is housing that is let for less than market rents to people in housing need. In the United Kingdom, social
housing generally is provided by councils (local governments) and not-for-profit landlords, such as housing associations.
In the U.S. context, social housing is often referred to as “public housing” or “state-subsidized housing.”

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
103Cityscape
the general drive for privatization, aimed both at rolling back the frontiers of the state and also in
the creation of a ‘property owning democracy.’ It has been instrumental in changing the aggregate
tenure structure in Britain” (Munro, 2007: 247; see also King, 2010).
Although creating mixed neighborhoods was not an explicit aim of the RTB policy, we want to
emphasize that it was a side effect of the policy that was much welcomed by the government.
In line with the privatization discourse, much research has been devoted to the socioeconomic
effects of RTB for tenant buyers. RTB can be qualified as hugely successful in increasing access to
homeownership (with sales prices of much less than market values), in transferring wealth from
the state to private households (substantial profits could be made through resale by capitalizing on
the discount value and general house price increases), and in decreasing the stock of social housing
(for example, Jones and Murie, 2006; King, 2010). These outcomes are undeniably good reasons
for conservative politicians to celebrate RTB, although critics have also identified many negative
(side) effects of RTB (see Jones and Murie, 2006).
Less attention has focused on how neighborhoods were affected by the RTB policy, however (Munro,
2007). We seek to fill this gap with a meta-analysis of existing research findings on various neigh-
borhood outcomes. The main objective of this article is to reveal both the positive and negative
lessons learned about neighborhood effects from more than 30 years of RTB policy. We will focus
our attention on five types of outcomes on the neighborhood level: residualization, neighborhood
stability, tenure and social mix, social interactions, and dwelling maintenance. The article ends
with conclusions about the double-edged effect on social mixing, the greatly varying effects on the
stability of neighborhoods, and the complexities regarding social interaction and dwelling main-
tenance. We conclude that the neighborhood outcomes of RTB are by no means solely beneficial,
which is an important message for countries considering introducing RTB. In the next section, we
further explain RTB policy and give a brief account of its history and policy development.
Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
The RTB legislation was introduced in the 1980 Housing Act by Thatcher’s Conservative govern-
ment, elected in 1979. As mentioned in the Introduction, RTB significantly transformed the British
housing market. The key to the large sales numbers was the discount given on the market prices.
In the original RTB legislation, the discounts started at 33 percent and increased 1 percent for each
additional year of tenancy, up to a maximum of 50 percent (Jones and Murie, 2006). The primary
reason for these sales was to stimulate homeownership and to respond to the desire of some ten-
ants to own their properties (van Ham et al., 2012). The large volume of houses sold under RTB
since 1980 has contributed significantly to the radical changes in the distribution of dwellings by
tenure (see exhibit 1).
Exhibit 1
Housing Tenure 1981 2001 2011
Tenure Distribution in England and Wales, 1981–2011 (percent)
Owner occupied 58 69 64
Socially rented 31 19 18
Privately rented 11 12 18
Source: Office for National Statistics (2012)

104
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
These data also show that the current economic crisis has caused the percentage of homeowner-
ship to drop and the percentage of private renting to increase. The most notable change was that
since the early 1980s, the share of social housing has dropped from 31 to 18 percent in 2011.
Most of this change is because of RTB (Jones and Murie, 2006).
Initially, RTB gave only those living in council housing—that is, social housing owned by local
councils—the right to buy their dwelling. This right was later extended to tenants of other social
landlords, such as housing associations. Over the years, changes and regional variations in the
policies (including the rules and discounts) have incrementally introduced a high level of complex-
ity into the RTB legislation (see Jones and Murie, 2006, for an excellent overview). The number of
sales has differed regionally and fluctuated greatly, with peaks in 1982 and 1989. Because of all the
changes in the policy over time and the regional differences in the RTB policy, it is not possible to
speak of a “single” RTB policy. Different rules apply in the four countries that make up the United
Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. For example, in Scotland, it has been
possible for some time for the government to identify RTB exclusion zones in housing markets that
are under pressure. Also, the Scottish government’s 2010 Housing Act ended RTB for new tenants
because of concerns about a shortage of affordable rental homes (Scottish Government, 2012). A
recent consultation in Scotland showed that most Scottish councils want RTB for council and social
housing to be scrapped completely (BBC, 2012). In England, new tenants can still execute their RTB.
The main objective of RTB was to sell public housing and stimulate private ownership. RTB was
seen as an end in itself, and not as a means to achieve any other housing or urban policy (Jones
and Murie, 2006). Also, before the 1980 Housing Act, local authorities were already selling dwell-
ings. The main change the RTB legislation brought was that social housing tenants now had the
right to buy their dwelling. Creating mixed-tenure neighborhoods was never an explicit objective
of the RTB legislation, but it was later seen as a welcome side effect of the policy (Tunstall, 2011).
RTB has contributed greatly to the establishment of mixed (tenure) communities in the United
Kingdom, but Tunstall (2011) pointed out that even before RTB came into existence, very few
neighborhoods were 100 percent monotenure (depending on the scale used; the larger the neigh-
borhood, the more mixed).
Over the years, RTB became a standard policy instrument in urban regeneration programs to
create mixed communities (Jones and Brown, 2002). Urban regeneration programs often consist of
selective demolition of social housing, estate redesign, improvements of the existing housing stock,
new construction, and upgrading local facilities (Jones and Murie, 2006). The idea was that this
upgrading of neighborhoods would encourage existing residents to execute their RTB and purchase
their rented houses, eventually leading to more mixed communities. RTB had differential effects on
tenure and social mix in various estates, which is one of the neighborhood outcomes that we will
deal with extensively in the next section. We will also explain which (other) types of neighborhood
outcomes have been under our scrutiny and why.
Analyzing Neighborhood Outcomes of the Right to Buy
By comparison with the attention given to the effects of RTB on the socioeconomic outcomes of
tenant buyers, far less attention has been given to the effects of RTB on neighborhoods. The general

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
105Cityscape
discourse on RTB has tended to identify singularly positive (stability) or negative (residualization)
effects on neighborhoods, often without acknowledging the inherent complexity and sometimes
contradictory nature of concepts such as stability and tenure mix, or underestimating the fact that
comparable sale levels in roughly comparable neighborhoods have led to hugely varying effects,
depending on the local and regional housing market context. Therefore, in our analyses of the
literature, we have chosen to start from neighborhood-related concepts in the RTB goals (for ex-
ample, stability and sustainable communities) and concepts that were never part of, or an explicit
objective of, the RTB legislation but were applauded by policymakers as welcome side effects, such
as tenure mix (see Tunstall, 2011). Very early in our meta-analysis, it appeared that “sustainable
communities” often referred to buying into homeownership without moving (that is, stability),
to social interactions (and social cohesion), and to maintenance levels. These concepts are much
better indicators of neighborhood effects than sustainable communities. Thus, we will synthesize
RTB outcomes for five types of neighborhood outcomes: residualization, neighborhood stability,
tenure and social mix, social interactions, and dwelling maintenance. We deliberately exclude the
voluminous literature about the socioeconomic effects for individual households that are tenant-
buyers or buying a former RTB dwelling on the private market (resales). In the following section,
we start with the most notorious outcome of RTB: residualization.
Residualization
In the critical scientific discourse, RTB has become most (in)famous for its residualization effect on
the social housing sector in the United Kingdom (Cole and Furbey, 1994). The term residualization
broadly refers to two processes (see Burrows, 1999). First, it refers to growing concentrations
of the lowest income and most disadvantaged households in the socially rented sector. Second,
residualization refers to a shrinking social housing stock that increasingly consists of the lowest
quality dwellings in the most deprived neighborhoods. In the following paragraphs, we analyze
how residualization arose through various processes in relation to RTB.
The first and foremost question is: Which households used their right to buy? Not surprisingly,
these households were generally the better off, economically active tenants with at least one
income from paid employment and often two earners in the household (Forrest and Murie, 1984a,
1984b; Jones and Murie, 2006; Kerr, 1988; Lynn, 1991; Munro, 2007; van Ham et al., 2012).
Tenant buyers also tended to be from higher social classes with white-collar, skilled, or semiskilled
occupations (Williams and Sewel, 1987; cited in van Ham et al., 2012). In terms of household
features, most tenant buyers were middle-aged or older married couples with nondependent
children, especially during the early years of RTB (Forrest and Murie, 1988).
The second question is: What were the characteristics of the council dwellings sold under RTB?
The more attractive properties in the most attractive neighborhoods generally sold to sitting ten-
ants. These properties were often larger single-family dwellings rather than flats (Dunn, Forrest,
and Murie, 1987; Forrest, Gordon, and Murie, 1996; Forrest and Murie, 1990; Foulis, 1985; Jones
and Murie, 1999: Scottish Executive, 2006). The more desirable properties were also often in more
desirable and attractive areas, in terms of residential environment and housing market position.
Dunn, Forrest, and Murie (1987) showed that RTB sales have been highest in areas where owner
occupation was already at high levels and where the initial stock of council housing was relatively

106
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
small (see also Foulis, 1985; Jones and Murie, 1999; Scottish Executive, 2006). This pattern of
sales has resulted in a council housing stock increasingly characterized by flats, unconventional
buildings, and poorer quality neighborhoods (Munro, 2007).
More fundamentally, the selective uptake of RTB by economically active households has resulted in
a council sector with growing concentrations of economically inactive and low-income residents,
among them tenants with structural health problems or disabilities, single parents, and elderly
people (Forrest and Murie, 1988). These residualization forces, through changes in the council
housing stock and its population, work in conjunction with the desirability of neighborhoods.
In urban areas the coincidence of Right to Buy sales and a period of widening social
inequality has exacerbated the funneling of poorer sections of the community or margin-
alized groups into the least desirable estates. Obtaining a house in these neighbourhoods,
whatever condition and quality, demonstrates some elements of social disadvantage by
tenants. At the same time the changes in the characteristics of the council tenant popula-
tion, encouraged by the Right to Buy siphoning off those with financial resources, has
meant that the council housing stock is subject to higher turnover. The Right to Buy has
therefore destabilised the remaining council housing stock and the least desirable estates
in particular. This has inevitably increased social exclusion and economic marginalisation
and reduced the sustainability of communities in these areas through the instability of
local populations. (Jones and Murie, 2006: 153)
The residualization trends described by Jones and Murie have another negative side effect. From
the turn of the century, needs-based letting of social housing has received increasing focus in the
United Kingdom (Fitzpatrick and Pawson, 2007). According to Munro (2007), this focus means
that a greater proportion of new lettings have gone to those households with the greatest needs,
such as homeless people (Fitzpatrick and Pawson, 2007). Households now moving into the sector
are less affluent than the out-movers, resulting in social housing with residents who are more nar-
rowly based socially and economically (Burrows, 1999; see also Forrest and Murie, 1990; Power
and Tunstall, 1995). The combination of residualization and needs-based letting contributed to
stigmatization of social housing, confirming “its position as ‘welfare’ housing of last resort, only for
those with no other options” (Munro, 2007: 249).
It would be incorrect to put the sole blame for residualization on RTB, however. For example,
Burrows (1999) argued that the process of residualization has not been only because of changes
in tenure, but also because of the intensification of processes of residential movement by people,
which can be traced back to at least the mid-1970s (Lee et al., 1995). Munro (2007) acknowledged
that RTB promoted homeownership, but this outcome was already on an upward trajectory because
of other factors. She referred not only to the dominant ideological discourse favoring homeowner-
ship, but also to other programs, such as stock transfers to housing associations. Dunn, Forrest,
and Murie (1987: 58) argued that “higher discounts, rising rents, changing interest rates, and other
external factors related to the uneven effect of the recession [during the 1980s] may have generated
additional sales in areas where many tenants had already bought.” It has also been suggested that
more substantial investments in new and good-quality, socially rented housing through the period

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
107Cityscape
of RTB would have lowered residualization levels to some extent (Munro, 2007). The quote from
Jones and Murie (2006: 153) on residualization also reveals that RTB has implications for the
stability of neighborhoods, an issue to which we turn in the next section.
Neighborhood Stability
It is argued that neighborhood stability—that is, low residential turnover levels—benefits social
interactions, social capital (DiPasquale and Glaeser, 1999; Rohe, McCarthy, and Van Zandt, 2000),
and trust in the neighborhood (McCabe, 2012). The general premise is that raising homeownership
levels lowers residential turnover, and thus increases stability in neighborhoods, which is good
from the perspective of sustainable communities. Jones and Murie (2006) referred to the wider
received wisdom that sees RTB and the development of owner occupation as key to increasing
stability on estates and reducing the problems of economic and social inequality. Jones and Murie
acknowledged that RTB can meet the increasing aspirations of households to buy a home in their
local communities, either immediately or subsequently through resales. They also revealed counter
concerns, however, that RTB sales may have destabilizing effects on neighborhoods in various ways.
It appears that the relationship between neighborhood stability and increasing homeownership
levels through RTB is far from straightforward. We will discuss five issues related to neighborhood
stability. The first issue concerns time: stability in the short term (that is, directly after a wave of
RTB sales to sitting tenants), and in the longer term (depending on resales of RTB dwellings by
former tenant buyers).
At first the Right to Buy probably had little influence on these areas as the initial group
of purchasers did not generally buy with a speculative intent but intended to stay in their
home for the rest of their lives. However, … this changed in the 1990s as resales began.
In the subsequent decade resales became established as properties offering good value for
money and in particular took on a role in the wider local housing market as starter homes
or homes for households at the beginning of the family cycle. (Jones and Murie, 2006: 141)
According to van Ham et al. (2012), the initial stability of RTB neighborhoods is easy to explain,
because nearly one-half of the buyers had rented for 20 or more years, and previous moves in the
council sector had enabled them to secure relatively desirable dwellings. Few of these early RTB
purchasers stated that they wished to move again (van Ham et al., 2012; see also Forrest and Murie
1984a, 1984b; Foulis 1985). Hence, in the initial stages of RTB, stability was mostly associated
with sitting tenant buyers who do not affect turnover positively or negatively.
A second and related issue concerns market forces, especially the wider housing market context.
In the previous subsection, on residualization, we established the selective sales patterns of tenants
taking up the RTB. The more desirable properties were often in more desirable areas with a strong
housing market position. Consequently, RTB sales have been highest in attractive areas where owner
occupation was already at relatively high levels and where the initial stock of council housing was
smaller. Thus, market forces already played a role in the initial take up rates of RTB by tenants.
Subsequently, the influence of market forces increased when RTB owners offered their dwell -
ings for sale on the housing market. How former RTB dwellings became a part of the market for

108
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
owner-occupied housing varied greatly
2
(Forrest, Gordon, and Murie, 1996). Munro (2007) men-
tioned that the extent to which former council houses are integrated into the broader market for
owner-occupied housing depends critically on the dwelling location. In pressured housing markets,
such as the southeast of England, former council houses integrate quickly into the mainstream
housing market. In less pressured markets, this integration usually takes much longer (see also
Forrest, Gordon, and Murie, 1996; Pawson and Watkins, 1998). These mechanisms can work out
negatively for neighborhood stability in both desirable and undesirable areas. The less desirable
areas have lower RTB sales rates and may therefore become even more exposed to high turnover
of lettings and the process of residualization (Jones and Murie, 2006). In desirable neighborhoods,
initially stable estates could become very transitional because of their role within the wider local
housing market. This outcome may happen if these areas become a locus for low-income owner
occupiers, risking increases in mortgage foreclosure, sales turnover, and private tenancy (Jones and
Murie, 2006). We will return to the issue of private tenancy.
Overall, the size of the social housing sector has decreased significantly, but demand for social
housing did not necessarily decrease commensurately. Consequently, waiting lists grew longer,
which made it even more difficult to enter social housing (for example, Burrows, 1999; Forrest and
Murie, 1988; Pawson and Bramley, 2000; Scottish Government, 2012). Research by Holt Brook,
Kinver, and Strachan (2006) showed that tenants particularly have reported reduced access for
other tenants to perceived “good” or “stable” neighborhoods. Importantly, the issue of reduced
access does not apply only to social housing. Jones and Murie (2006) showed that resales offer
good value for money within local housing markets, which attracted buyers from beyond the com-
munity who outbid local residents. This outbidding occurred for instance in tourist areas, where
resales became second homes or retirement homes (Williams and Twine, 1994).
The third issue concerning the links between neighborhood stability and RTB is selection.
Neighborhood stability may not be primarily the consequence of homeownership but might also
be its cause, which runs counter to the common wisdom of stabilization by homeownership. This
reversed mechanism seems to operate in various ways in the context of RTB. In particular, Jones
and Murie (1999) provided an analysis of RTB effects on neighborhood stability by looking more
indepth at the situation in Glasgow, Scotland, and Birmingham, England. Their analyses indeed
revealed that residential turnover was less on council housing estates with higher RTB sales levels.
Their data did not show, however, that high sales levels subsequently resulted in lower turnover
rates. Jones and Murie concluded that the council estates with high sales levels were likely to be
the more stable estates with lower turnover levels before RTB. In a followup analysis 7 years later,
they concluded that “the previous social standings of neighbourhoods remain broadly stationary.
The most desirable areas continue to have the lowest level of turnover in their rented sectors and
attract the highest level of sales and resales” (Jones and Murie, 2006: 154). In a similar vein, van
Ham et al. (2012) suggested that selective sorting into the RTB program (that is, tenants intending
to stay as long as possible) might cause those who bought their dwelling to be the least mobile.
From this perspective, the fact that the purchase is the result of a strong preference for staying put,
not the purchase itself, caused neighborhood stability (see also King, 2010).
2
On the matter of regional variation, see the enlightening maps of England in Dunn, Forrest, and Murie (1987: 51) and
Forrest, Gordon, and Murie (1996: 130). For Scotland, Scottish Executive (2006: 10–11) includes many clear diagrams on
regional variations of tenure as affected by RTB.

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
109Cityscape
A fourth issue is that RTB owners may want to move on again after a while, to trade up in the
market for owner-occupied housing. In their recent investigation of the moving behavior of RTB
owners in the United Kingdom, van Ham et al. (2012) showed that trading up appears not to be
a strong factor. They found that the probability of an RTB owner making a long-distance move
falls between those of social renters and traditional owner occupiers. The difference between RTB
owners and homeowners or social renters was not significant in their analysis. Furthermore, RTB
owners are less satisfied with their dwelling than traditional owners but more satisfied than those
in social housing. RTB owners are also the most likely to state that their neighborhood is the
reason they want to move, closely followed by social renters (van Ham et al., 2009).
Ownership acquired through RTB may negatively affect neighborhood stability in a fifth way; that
is, when for various reasons RTB translates into higher private tenancy levels. A key reason is that
RTB purchasers move but keep their properties and let them out, which not only frustrates the
objective of increasing local homeownership rates but also facilitates lettings to undesirable tenants
(Munro, 2007). The second and connected reason is that private tenants are generally very mobile
and create relatively frequent turnover. This issue also brings us to the third type of outcomes that
are relevant for understanding the neighborhood effects of RTB: tenure and social mix.
Tenure and Social Mix
We previously asserted that creating mixed neighborhoods (through changes in housing tenure
and socioeconomic composition of the population) was not an explicit aim of the RTB policy,
although it was welcomed as a side effect by the government (Tunstall, 2011). At first sight, selling
homes to tenant purchasers seems a straightforward instrument to create mixed neighborhoods.
Three issues, however, refute a simple causal pathway between RTB and social mix. Firstly, RTB
initially did not alter the social mix in council housing areas, because sitting tenants purchased
their dwellings. Hence, initial RTB takeup by tenants changed only the tenure balance, with the
more affluent council tenants selecting into owner occupation. Only when RTB properties were
resold on the open market did subsequent purchasers change the socioeconomic and demographic
profiles of the local community (Jones and Murie, 2006). The nature of that socioeconomic change
was dependent on various factors, of which the market potential of RTB dwellings and their neigh-
borhoods (see the previous subsection) is an important one. Offering former RTB dwellings on the
open housing market tapped a wide potential range of buyers.
Survey evidence shows that the resale market is not predominantly a first-time-buyer
market. Half of those who have purchased former public sector dwellings were already
owner-occupiers at the time. For most of those concerned, buying an ex-RTB property
presented an opportunity to trade up in the market in terms of size and type. Neverthe-
less, for a considerable proportion of first-time buyers, the availability of a former public
sector property may have been crucial in facilitating access to home-ownership. Signifi-
cantly, one-third of this group had previously contemplated social renting. (Pawson and
Watkins, 1998: 1291)
Other studies of resale purchasers have shown that most moves were over short distances (for
example, Pawson et al., 1997). The foregoing suggests various pull factors connected to stages in
housing careers. Buyers of former RTB dwellings who had previously contemplated social renting
are unlikely to have significantly higher incomes than many council tenants.

110
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Secondly, RTB sometimes translated into more private tenancy instead of more owner occupation
(see the previous subsection). From this point of view, tenure mix has indeed increased, but not
in coherence with policy hopes and expectations. According to Scottish Executive (2006), some
research has indicated that tenure mix cannot guarantee particular types of mix in the longer term.
The growth of private renting in particular lowers the ability to control the profile of areas.
Whilst communities being newly built would expect to contain a balanced mix of tenure,
the Right to Buy mixes tenures in a more random manner. The Right to Buy is a rather
blunt tool for mixing communities in this respect. ... It is also worth bearing in mind that
it is not possible to control the movement of former Right to Buy properties into the private
rented sector, and that—without applying rights of pre-emption or housing burdens—
this is true for all developments, whether old or new. (Scottish Executive, 2006: 58)
Finally, we come to the ambivalent nature of the policy assumptions. Munro (2007) emphasized the
dichotomous attitude when considering the role of owner occupiers in estates that were previously
predominantly rented. Munro points out the clear policy focus on tenure mix as a positive measure
toward creating mixed and sustainable communities, which may simultaneously result in counter-
productive social effects, such as increased turnover (by private renters) and instability, and tenant
buyers’ low incomes or reluctance hindering participation in or progress of physical renovation by
landlords (Munro, 2007). In the next section, we will further explain how the (increasing) tenure
mix may affect the nature and quality of social interactions in areas with substantial sale numbers.
Social Interactions
As mentioned previously, RTB initially did not alter the social mix in council housing areas, be-
cause sitting tenants purchased their dwellings. When resales started to occur, however, relatively
young people, often in white-collar occupations, moved into neighborhoods previously dominated
by social housing tenants. At this point, the existing social mix became more dynamic. The con-
trast between the newcomers buying former RTB dwellings and the original council tenants, who
were often on social benefits, has regularly resulted in social tensions (Jones and Murie, 2006).
Research by Holt Brook, Kinver, and Strachan (2006) indicated that sitting tenants and RTB buyers
had widely varying perceptions of the effect of RTB on neighborhoods. The most common view
was that new owners generally took greater care of their properties than tenants. Although some
respondents reported that owners also were “better and more involved neighbors,” however, others
claimed that owners were more selfish and less concerned about the neighborhood.
This topic relates to a wider field of study; that is, the benefit of mixed communities in terms of
social interaction between residents from different tenures (for an extensive overview of associated
issues and mechanisms, see Kleinhans, 2004: 377–380). A systematic review of this subject has
shown that the evidence is either limited or negative (Bond, Sautkina, and Kearns, 2011). Increased
exposure between residents with different values and lifestyles (for example, social renters and
owner occupiers) is a common cause of tensions. In the context of RTB, for example, much evidence
points at either “peaceful indifference” or tensions between residents of different tenures (Beekman,
Lyons, and Scott, 2001; Kleinhans, 2004). Compared with new residential areas or demolition com -
bined with replacement by new units, RTB provided a tenure-mix strategy that did not by definition
introduce new faces in neighborhoods. “Far greater levels of cross-tenure networks are to be found

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
111Cityscape
where owner-occupation has arisen in a more organic way as a result of tenants exercising their
Right to Buy” (Beekman, Lyons, and Scott, 2001: 59). Related is the finding that residents in an
area where mixed tenure arose through RTB had more difficulty in distinguishing the tenure of
their neighbors than residents in other study areas (Scottish Executive, 2006). The fact that RTB
often did not result in striking visual differences among tenures decreased the opportunity to inter-
pret tenure as a visible marker of the social status of residents.
Several social implications of mixed tenure relate to intertenure attitudes. Apart from mixed tenures,
residents’ expected length of stay is an important factor determining their attachment to and in -
volvement in the neighborhood. Jones and Murie (2006) observed that the buy-to-let practices
of former RTB dwellings, especially resales bought up by landlords and subsequently let to very
mobile private tenants, can lead to instability and tensions. The greater mobility of private renters
is associated with less attachment to the areas, because private renters know they will move on
sooner than later. Whereas both owners and social renters may feel a certain ownership of and
responsibility for their neighborhood, private landlords and private renters usually have different
interests and are less bothered by the social climate in the neighborhood. This issue strongly affects
dwelling maintenance, to which we will turn in the following section.
Homeowner and Landlord Maintenance
The literature on the benefits of homeownership emphasizes that owners have a financial stake
in the condition and maintenance of their dwelling and are, mutatis mutandis, more willing than
renters to ensure that maintenance is up to standards (for example, DiPasquale and Glaeser, 1999;
Rohe, McCarthy, and Van Zandt, 2000). Whereas this line of thinking has received much criticism,
also in the context of RTB, it makes sense in the perception of both tenants and tenant buyers in
RTB areas. Research by Holt Brook, Kinver, and Strachan (2006) showed a common view that
owners generally took greater care of their properties than tenants and that this maintenance also
encouraged other residents to take more pride in their dwellings.
Reality is harsher with respect to dwelling upkeep by tenant buyers or consecutive buyers, how-
ever. In single-family dwellings, tenant buyers with low incomes often struggled with greater-than-
expected maintenance costs. In multiowner settings, the specific context of RTB causes a potential
problem that transcends the investment capacity of individual tenant buyers. In apartment blocks,
RTB uptake could differ from door to door. Hence, mixed tenure implied mixed ownership at the
block level, with profound legal and financial consequences for the maintenance of collective parts,
such as roofs and stairways. Local authorities and other landlords had to deal with individual own-
ers in arranging part of the maintenance, tackling owners’ financial inability or reluctance (or both)
to let them contribute their share of the maintenance or improvement costs.
In this respect, Leather and Anderson (1999) found a whole range of practices among local authorities
and other landlords. Various arrangements were also enforced (by local authorities on individual
owners) to different extents, so that no clear picture emerges of the effectiveness of multiowner
maintenance arrangements. Obviously, negotiations between landlords and individual owners
regularly resulted in disagreements about the required repair and maintenance standards. Part of
the disagreements is associated with a perceived lack of information. “Research found mixed prac -
tice amongst local authorities in respect of the amount of information supplied to tenants concerning

112
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
their common repair responsibilities, with many respondents indicating that the only information
provided was in the title deeds” (Russell and Welsh, 1998; cited in Scottish Executive, 2006: 56).
Problems that appeared after the initial uptake of RTB by tenant purchasers became worse with
resales. According to Scott et al. (2001), new owners of resold RTB properties were often not aware
of the impending costs, burdens, and legal obligations associated with the previous council housing
and did not take them adequately into consideration when buying the property.
From the turn of the century onwards, the above problems have also affected efforts to
regenerate council housing areas by large-scale renovation. Thus, various actors involved
in such planned renovation efforts increasingly have to face the difficulties of ensuring
that owner occupied houses are brought up to similar repair and environmental standards
as the social rented houses, and of ensuring that the owners do not delay or prevent the
realization of the improvements. (Craigforth, 2002: 9)
A time-lagged effect is also connected to maintenance. In general, many tenant purchasers in the
early years of RTB made several improvements to their dwellings, on top of maintenance. Leather
(2000) pointed out that refurbishments made by new RTB owners in the early years of the policy
may now require further investment by their ageing owners. In light of the continuing economic
crisis, these owners may face especially severe financial constraints that hinder them from making
the necessary investments to maintain and update these improvements (see also Munro, 2007).
We have so far analyzed knowledge about effects on maintenance after council housing has been
sold. The qualitative research of James, Jordan, and Kay (1999) showed a particularly interesting
reversal of the sequence of these events. A substantial portion of their interview respondents were
relatively low-income council tenants who used their unemployed status as an opportunity for in -
creased dwelling improvement activity. For some of them, an improvement in employment status
(and disposable income) triggered the decision to buy to protect their work investment and to se-
cure their stake in the local (valued) community. James, Jordan, and Kay (1999) observed that the
purchase sparked a desire for further home improvements and recognition of the need to increase
their household earnings from employment. The authors also concluded that these tenants decided
to buy as a way of securing their future in the area and controlling their personal environment, instead
of seeing it as an escape from a residual ghetto of welfare housing (James, Jordan, and Kay, 1999).
Conclusions
In this article, we set out to synthesize the neighborhood outcomes of the Right to Buy policy
in the United Kingdom, which is the largest (originally unintended) tenure-mixing program in
the world. RTB never had mixing as an explicit policy aim, but over time RTB became part of
mainstream urban regeneration policies aiming to establish more socially mixed neighborhoods.
Consensus suggests that RTB was a success in terms of facilitating access to homeownership for
working-class households. Large transfers of wealth from the state to private households occurred
through the discounts on market values and the sometimes huge profits made by resales of RTB
properties by tenant buyers.

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
113Cityscape
RTB had a double-edged effect on social mixing, however. On the one hand, RTB caused social
housing in the United Kingdom to become residualized. The most desirable dwellings in the
best neighborhoods sold first, leading to higher concentrated poverty levels in the least desirable
neighborhoods. On the other hand, the most desirable neighborhoods with already relatively
high homeownership levels and more affluent households witnessed a further increase in home-
ownership. Between these poles, some neighborhoods saw an increase in ownership that was not
matched by owner occupation because dwellings were resold on the buy-to-let market and ended
up in the privately rented sector.
Contrary to common wisdom of the positive effects from homeownership, RTB has had various
effects on the stability of neighborhoods. “The evidence broadly suggests that the impact of Right
to Buy on individual neighbourhoods is linked to issues of stability and demand that existed prior
to Right to Buy, with Right to Buy reinforcing existing neighbourhood trends. Initially stable, high-
demand neighbourhoods have seen high levels of Right to Buy sales. Low demand areas on the
other hand have seen reduced levels of sales” (Scottish Executive, 2006: 60). To a large extent, the
effects for individual neighborhoods were contingent on the wider housing market context, which
strongly determined both the initial takeup rates and the extent to which former RTB dwellings
integrated through resale into the broader market of owner-occupied housing.
Resales especially have affected social mix in neighborhoods by enabling socioeconomically differ-
ent households to enter the areas formerly dominated by council tenants, of whom many had low
incomes or were living on social benefits. The lifestyle differences introduced by these residential
moves created either peaceful indifference or tensions and conflicts between renters and owners,
although RTB is clearly a more organic way of mixing (Beekman, Lyons, and Scott, 2001) than
tenure mix in new developments or neighborhoods subject to demolition and new construction.
Finally, RTB created various complexities regarding dwelling maintenance. Although evidence
suggests that owners take greater care of their properties than tenants, new owners with relatively
low incomes often struggled with maintenance costs. RTB also introduced mixed ownership on
the block level, requiring local councils, landlords, and individual owners to negotiate about the
nature, quality, and costs of maintenance. This mix has also affected large-scale regeneration efforts
in social housing areas with individual RTB owners.
It can be concluded that RTB had major effects, which were not always positive, on neighborhoods
and local communities. The Scottish Executive (2006: 58) called RTB a “blunt tool for mixing
communities, with no control over the outcomes and with more or less random effects on neigh-
borhoods.” Other countries, such as the Netherlands, are now considering introducing RTB in the
social-housing sector. When RTB is introduced, we call for policies to be developed with the U.K.
experiences in mind. Targeting RTB at only specific types of properties, in specific locations, possi-
bly by using RTB exclusion zones, can help to avoid the development of residualized communities.
Acknowledgments
Part of the project on which this article is based was funded by Knowledge Workplace Livable
Neighborhoods Rotterdam (Kenniswerkplaats Leefbare Wijken Rotterdam). The authors thank the
anonymous referee for his or her comments on the draft version of this article.

114
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Authors
Reinout Kleinhans is an assistant professor in the department OTB–Research for the Built Environ-
ment, in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology,
Delft, the Netherlands.
Maarten van Ham is a professor in the department OTB–Research for the Built Environment, in the
Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology, Delft, the
Netherlands.
References
Andersson, Roger, and Sako Musterd. 2005. “Area-Based Policies: A Critical Appraisal,” Tijdschrift
voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 96 (4): 377–389.
Atkinson, Rowland, and Keith Kintrea. 2002. “Area Effects: What Do They Mean for British Housing
and Regeneration Policy?” European Journal of Housing Policy 2: 147–166.
Beekman, Tony, Frank Lyons, and John Scott. 2001. Improving the Understanding of the Influence of
Owner-Occupiers in Mixed Tenure Neighbourhoods. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Homes.
Bond, Lyndal, Elena Sautkina, and Ade Kearns. 2011. “Mixed Messages About Mixed Tenure: Do
Reviews Tell the Real Story?” Housing Studies 26 (1): 69–94.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 2012. “Councils Back End of Right to Buy Housing Policy,”
November 16. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20363094
(accessed March 6, 2013).
Burrows, Roger. 1999. “Residential Mobility and Residualisation in Social Housing in England,”
Journal of Social Policy 28 (1): 27–52.
Cole, Ian, and Robert Furbey. 1994. The Eclipse of Council Housing. London, United Kingdom:
Routledge.
Craigforth. 2002. Engaging Owners in Mixed Tenure Neighbourhoods. Edinburgh, United Kingdom:
Chartered Institute of Housing.
DiPasquale, Denise, and Edward Glaeser. 1999. “Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners
Better Citizens?” Journal of Urban Economics 45 (2): 354–384.
Dunn, Richard, Ray Forrest, and Alan Murie. 1987. “The Geography of Council House Sales in
England 1979–1985,” Urban Studies 24: 47–59.
Fitzpatrick, Susan, and Hal Pawson. 2007. “Welfare Safety Net or Tenure of Choice? The Dilemma
Facing Social Housing Policy in England,” Housing Studies 22 (2): 163–182.
Forrest, Ray, David Gordon, and Alan Murie. 1996. “The Position of Former Council Homes in the
Housing Market,” Urban Studies 33 (1): 125–136.
Forrest, Ray, and Alan Murie. 1990. Residualisation and Council Housing: A Statistical Update. Bristol,
United Kingdom: University of Bristol, School for Advanced Urban Studies.

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
115Cityscape
———. 1988. Selling the Welfare State: The Privatisation of Public Housing. London, United Kingdom:
Routledge.
———. 1984a. Right to Buy? Issues of Need, Equity and Polarisation in the Sale of Council Houses.
Working paper No. 39. Bristol, United Kingdom: University of Bristol, School for Advanced Urban
Studies.
———. 1984b. Monitoring the Right to Buy. Bristol, United Kingdom: University of Bristol, School
for Advanced Urban Studies.
Foulis, Michael. 1985. Council House Sales in Scotland. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Office.
Ham, Maarten van, Joe Doherty, Peteke Feijten, and Paul Boyle. 2009. Right to Buy... Time To Move?
Nontechnical summary (research summary), ESRC End of Award Report, RES-000-22-2460.
Swindon, United Kingdom: Economic and Social Research Council.
Ham, Maarten van, and David Manley. 2010. “The Effect of Neighbourhood Housing Tenure Mix
on Labour Market Outcomes: A Longitudinal Investigation of Neighbourhood Effects,” Journal of
Economic Geography 10: 257–282.
Ham, Maarten van, Lee Williamson, Peteke Feijten, and Paul Boyle. 2012. “Right to Buy… Time
To Move? Investigating the Moving Behaviour of Right to Buy Owners in the UK,” Journal of Housing
and the Built Environment. doi 10.1007/s10901-012-9296-3.
Holt Brook, Jenny, Andrea Kinver, and Valerie Strachan. 2006. Views and Experiences of the Right to
Buy Amongst Tenants and Purchasers. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Executive.
James, Simon, Bill Jordan, and Helen Kay. 2001. “Poor People, Council Housing and the Right to
Buy,” Journal of Social Policy 20 (1): 27–40.
Jones, Colin, and Jim Brown. 2002. “The Establishment of Markets for Owner Occupation Within
Public Sector Communities,” European Journal of Housing Policy 2 (3): 265–292.
Jones, Colin, and Alan Murie. 2006. The Right to Buy: Analysis & Evaluation of a Housing Policy.
Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell.
———. 1999. Reviewing the Right to Buy. Birmingham, United Kingdom: University of Birmingham,
Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.
Kearns, Ade. 2002. “Response: From Residential Disadvantage to Opportunity? Reflections on
British and European Policy Research,” Housing Studies 17: 145–150.
Kerr, Marion. 1988. The Right to Buy: A National Survey of Tenants and Buyers of Former Council
Houses. London, United Kingdom: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
King, Peter. 2010. Housing Policy Transformed: The Right to Buy and the Desire To Own. Bristol,
United Kingdom: The Policy Press.
Kleinhans, Reinout. 2004. “Social Implications of Housing Diversification in Urban Renewal:
A Review of Recent Literature,” Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 19 (4): 367–390.

116
Kleinhans and van Ham
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Leather, Philip. 2000. Crumbling Castles? Helping Owners To Repair and Maintain Their Homes. York,
United Kingdom: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Leather, Philip, and Keith Anderson. 1999. The Condition of Former Right to Buy Properties and
Innovative Approaches to the Management and Financing of Repair Work. Report to Scottish Homes
(Report 74). Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Homes.
Lee, Peter, Alan Murie, Alex Marsh, and Mike Riseborough. 1995. The Price of Social Exclusion.
London, United Kingdom: National Federation of Housing Associations.
Lynn, Peter. 1991. The Right to Buy: A National Follow-Up Survey of Tenants of Council Homes in
England. London, United Kingdom: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Manley, David, Maarten van Ham, Nick Bailey, Ludi Simpson, and Duncan Maclennan, eds. 2013.
Neighbourhood Effects or Neighbourhood Based Problems? A Policy Context. Dordrecht, the Netherlands:
Springer.
McCabe, Brian. 2012. “Homeownership and Social Trust in Neighbors,” City & Community 11 (4):
389–408.
Munro, Moira. 2007. “Evaluating Policy Towards Increasing Owner Occupation,” Housing Studies
22 (2): 243–260.
Musterd, Sako. 2002. “Response: Mixed Housing Policy: A European (Dutch) Perspective,” Housing
Studies 17: 139–143.
Musterd, Sako, and Roger Andersson. 2005. “Housing Mix, Social Mix and Social Opportunities,”
Urban Affairs Review 40: 761–790.
Office for National Statistics. 2012. “Office for National Statistics Census Outcomes.” Available at
http://www.ons.gov.uk (accessed March 6, 2013).
Pawson, Hal, and Glen Bramley. 2000. “Understanding Recent Trends in Residential Mobility in
Council Housing in England,” Urban Studies 37 (8): 1231–1259.
Pawson, Hal, and Craig Watkins. 1998. “The Position and Role of Former Public Sector Homes
in the Owner-Occupied Sector: New Evidence From the Scottish Housing Market,” Urban Studies
35 (8): 1291–1309.
Pawson, Hal, Craig Watkins, and James Morgan. 1997. Right to Buy Resales in Scotland. Edinburgh,
United Kingdom: Scottish Office.
Power, Anne, and Rebecca Tunstall. 1995. Swimming Against the Tide: Polarisation or Progress on
20 Unpopular Council Estates, 1980–1995. York, United Kingdom: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Rohe, William, George McCarthy, and Shannon Van Zandt. 2000. The Social Benefits and Costs of
Homeownership. Washington, DC: Research Institute for Housing America.
Russell, Fraser, and Jackie Welsh. 1998. Factors in Common: How Local Authorities Manage Common
Repairs to Property in Mixed Ownership in Scotland. Glasgow, United Kingdom: Scottish Consumer
Council.

Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation
in the World: Right to Buy in the United Kingdom
117Cityscape
Scott, Suzie, Hector Currie, Joe Dean, and Keith Kintrea. 2001. Good Practice in Housing Management:
Case Studies, Conclusions and Recommendations. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Executive.
Scottish Executive. 2006. The Right to Buy in Scotland: Pulling Together the Evidence: A Report to Par-
liament on the Effect of the Right to Buy in Practice. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Scottish Executive.
Scottish Government. 2012. “The Scottish Government 2012 Right to Buy Guide.” Available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/16342/rtb (accessed January 17,
2013).
Tunstall, Rebecca. 2011. “How Much Tenure Mix Is There in England, How Has This Changed
1981–2001 and What Are the Policy Implications?” Paper presented at the 23rd European
Network of Housing Researchers conference, “‘Mixité’: An Urban and Housing Issue?,” Toulouse,
France, July 5–8. Available at http://www.enhr2011.com/sites/default/files/Tunstall-WS03.pdf
(accessed January 17, 2013).
Veldboer, Lex, Reinout Kleinhans, and Jan Willem Duyvendak. 2002. “The Diversified Neigh-
bourhood: An International Perspective: How Do Countries Deal With the Spatial Distribution of
Economic and Cultural Differences?” Journal of International Migration and Integration 3 (1): 41–64.
Williams, Nicholas, and James Sewell. 1987. “Council House Sales in the Rural Environment.” In
Rural Housing in Scotland: Recent Research and Policy, edited by Bryan McGregor, Douglas Robertson,
and Mark Shucksmith. Aberdeen, United Kingdom: Aberdeen University Press.
Williams, Nicholas, and Fred Twine. 1994. “Locals, Incomers and Second Homes: The Role of
Resold Public Sector Dwellings in Rural Scotland,” Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research
11: 193–209.

118 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

119Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Housing Policy Possibilities
in the Prison of Property
Relations: A Commentary
Katherine Hankins
Georgia State University
At the current conjuncture of neoliberal capitalism in the United States and in the United Kingdom,
housing policy continues to undergo transformations that increasingly make poor households
vulnerable while emphasizing (and enhancing) the value (and values) of the private property
market. As the conveners of this symposium explore, a variety of housing policies have been rolled
out in the past several decades to deconcentrate urban poor populations from public housing
(in the United States) or social housing (in the United Kingdom) projects. Such policies include
dispersing them into mixed-income Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI)
developments or distributing housing vouchers for market-rate rental units (in the United States),
or providing opportunities for residents of social housing to purchase their units with the Right to
Buy (RTB) program (in the United Kingdom). These transformations have raised important ques-
tions about the ability of a marketized social safety net to deliver housing as a social good and the
effects of these policies on poor urban households, on neighborhoods, and on cities more broadly.
As the articles in this section of the symposium reveal, the assumption that mixed-income housing
is a desirable policy with beneficial outcomes requires interrogation. Before turning to the careful
arguments that James C. Fraser, Robert J. Chaskin, and Joshua Theodore Bazuin and that Reinout
Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham offer, I first situate my discussion of housing policy in terms of
the “prison” of property relations.
In his article on space, politics, and the political, in which he explores conceptualizations of space
and politics based on the writings of Jacques Ranciere, Dikec (2005) retold a compelling story to
make a clear point about the possibilities for emancipatory politics and real social change. The story,
in my view, is instructive in thinking about how policies such as those involving housing often
ignore the more fundamental societal dynamics that undergird the very need for state intervention
in housing in the first place. The story he recounts, based on Eric Rochant’s 1997 French film Vive
la Republique!, is set in a French city in which a homeless man gives a lesson on politics to a political
activist. The homeless man asks the activist to imagine a prison in which the prisoners have done
nothing wrong but were simply born into the prison. It is, as Dikec (2005: 173, emphasis original)
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Fraser, Chaskin,
and Bazuin and by Kleinhans and van Ham.

120
Hankins
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
highlighted, the “natural order of things” that some people are born in the prison and some people
are born outside of it. At some point in the prison experience, a shortage of food occurs. The prison-
ers organize to elect democratically a representative from the prison population to address the food
shortage. The first elected representative, who is from the Left, sees the food issue as a great injustice,
but very little changes in the prison, and the prisoners still do not have enough food to eat. So they
elect a representative from the Right, who also has limited power to address the food situation.
The prisoners, in fact, do not care much about the Left or Right as long as they have enough
to eat. And the problem of food in the prison becomes the major issue in the agenda; people
talk about nothing but the food problem in the prison. And this, the homeless person
argues, is the fraud. Even if one day the problem of food in the prison is resolved, either
by the Left or the Right, the situation will remain unchanged: they will have enough to
eat, but they will still be in the prison. Politics, he concludes, is not about the food in the
prison, but about the very prison. (Dikec, 2005: 173)
The prison that needs to be addressed by politics—and, ultimately, policy—is, in my view, the
capitalist property relations and the ownership model of private property.
As Blomley (2004: xvii) suggested, property “is understood in largely political and legal terms,
characterized by a particular and potent mix of rights, jural relations, ideologies and exclusions. To
invoke property is to summon up both formally prescribed rights as well as nonjusticiable, yet still
powerful, understandings of ownership and entitlement. It is to recognize that property is deeply
social and political…” In the “ownership model” of property relations, property is imagined as
private, “with the solitary owner exercising exclusionary rights over a bounded space. While prop-
erty may be public (that is, held by the state), it is rarely imagined as collective” (Blomley, 2004:
xiv). The ownership society is clearly productive of and produced by capitalist social relations,
in which private property is a key component of the circulation of capital (Harvey, 1989; Smith,
2010). Emphasis on private ownership in housing policy, as the articles in this symposium section
explore, does not fundamentally address the ownership model; or, to invoke the prison-food
story, mixed-income housing that relies on property ownership in a neoliberal capitalist political
economy remains in the domain of a food question. Recognizing the prison structure is, I would
argue, an important way forward. In the absence of revolution or proper politics (Ranciere, 2001),
however, the very issue of providing housing to those who are marginalized by capitalist property
relations is not a task to be ignored. In this vein, then, I think it is important to look to the articles
in this section to explore how the ownership model of (private) property relations has become
increasingly dominant on both sides of the Atlantic.
The authors of both articles make it clear that the private ownership of housing has become an
aspirational model for housing policy, as seen in the ways in which the state has relinquished
control of state-owned property to market relations, such as project-based housing to HOPE VI
in the United States and RTB in the United Kingdom. In fact, with a simple table, Kleinhans and
van Ham note the significant shift in tenure distribution in housing in England and Wales between
1981 and 2011, whereby 69 percent of the population were private property owners or renters in
1981 versus 82 percent in 2011. This shift has been the product of constantly embattled public
housing, as noted in Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin, and very powerful discourses around the effi -
ciencies of the private property market, which ultimately serve private interests.

Housing Policy Possibilities in the Prison of Property Relations: A Commentary
121Cityscape
The authors of these articles make clear that the results of this shift to the privatized delivery of
housing have been mixed at best. Kleinhans and van Ham rightfully analyze findings associated
with the effects of RTB on neighborhoods, a much-needed scale of analysis. As Kleinhans and van
Ham explore, RTB is intended to stimulate homeownership. As they demonstrate through careful
combing of a large body of literature, the effects of the policy in recent decades have been to
advantage better off, economically active tenants who generally live in more attractive properties
in more desirable areas. The result is, as they argue, to further marginalize already marginalized
regions of cities or to contribute to residualization, or the growing concentration of poor or econom -
ically inactive households in certain areas. They note that RTB has created a wider gulf in terms of
“desirable” neighborhoods and those that were made increasingly undesirable.
Kleinhans and van Ham include an important dimension in their analysis of RTB: that of the time
horizon of impactful change. That is, in their attempt to evaluate neighborhood stability (a desired
goal in the RTB housing policy), they separate out the short-term wave (directly after a wave of RTB
sales to sitting tenants) and stability in the longer term. In the short term, neighborhoods experi-
ence some stability, but as the RTB owners decide to trade up through the sale of their properties
(thus engaging in the private property market) or to lease their properties, neighborhood stability
becomes compromised. The ownership model of property relations, then, does little to achieve the
goals of housing policy as set out by U.K. and U.S. governments.
So what are the possibilities? What are the landscapes, discourses, and actions indicating that
there are ways to exist beyond capitalist property relations and their logics? In addressing these
questions, Gibson-Graham (2006: xxi) argued for a retheorization of capitalism and encouraged
a rethinking of the “tendency to constitute ‘the’ economy as a singular capitalist system or space
rather than as a zone of cohabitation and contestation among multiple economic forms.” Gibson-
Graham suggested that alternative imaginaries, languages, subjects, and collective action are
possible to remake the dominance of the hegemonic forms of capitalist economies and the spaces
they produce (Gibson-Graham, 2006, 1996). Although the authors of the articles in this Cityscape
symposium are not tasked specifically with this challenge, they point to openings and possibilities
for progressive policies around housing society’s poor households.
As Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin make clear, housing policy alone cannot address the myriad prob-
lems associated with poverty in the United States. Their very important piece first and foremost
refocuses the discussion on housing policy to ameliorating the experience of poverty (instead of
discussing housing policy as an economic development tool). They rightly point out that many of
those engaged in mixed-income policies and programs lack a coherent theory of change and a focus
on structural factors “from the shifting nature of economic opportunity (and constraint) under
global capitalism to the enduring effects of racism and racial inequality and the uneven distribution
of quality public goods like education—[that] fundamentally shape individuals’ experiences of pov -
erty and their access to avenues out of it.” Their suggestion is to focus on the holistic community
through a system of supports for low-income residents and collectivizing strategies rather than to
have an isolated focus on the private ownership of building structures.
Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin insist that housing policy discussions should include mention of
social services and supports, employment, and neighborhood life—and even a reimagination of the
ownership model. They suggest policy that would enable HOPE VI-subsidized renters to purchase

122
Hankins
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
their properties—but not through the standard private property market. Instead, a la Gibson-
Graham (2006, 1996), Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin advocate shared-equity housing and the use of
community land trusts to remove the profit motive from the ownership model. This idea is creative
and collective, and it challenges the exchange-value dimension of capitalist property relations.
Furthermore, by suggesting childcare cooperatives, community gardens, inclusive neighborhood
associations, and other subsidized services and collectivized efforts, they encourage a reimagining
of the (neoliberal) ownership model, which they (and scores of others) have indicated contributes
to the continued marginalization of the poor population.
In sum, now is an exciting time to engage in questions of neoliberal housing policy that document
the deleterious effects of existing policies and the problematic conditions for individuals, neighbor-
hoods, and cities that they produce. Ultimately, though, creatively addressing and replacing the
private ownership model of property relations is, I suggest, the way out of the prison.
Author
Katherine Hankins is an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State
University.
References
Blomley, Nicholas. 2004. Unsettling the City: Urban Land and the Politics of Property. New York;
London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Dikec, Mustafa. 2005. “Space, Politics, and the Political,” Environment and Planning D: Society and
Space 23: 171–188.
Gibson-Graham, J.K. 2006. Postcapitalist Politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
———. 1996. The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota
Press.
Harvey, David. 1989. The Urban Experience. Baltimore, MD; London, United Kingdom: The Johns
Hopkins University Press.
Ranciere, Jacques. 2001. “Ten Theses on Politics,” Theory and Event 5 (3). Available at http://muse.
jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/theory_and_event/v005/5.3ranciere.html
(accessed on June 3, 2013).
Smith, Neil. 2010. Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space. Athens, GA:
University of Georgia Press.

123Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Introduction
For at least the past 20 years, the urban development field has put forth a substantial effort on
investigating the merits (and shortfalls) of mixed-income housing. A key assumption that the field
makes is that low-income people somehow benefit when high-, middle-, and low-income people
live within the same neighborhood, census tract, or building (Joseph, 2006; Wilson, 1996). Scholars
struggle with demonstrating whether this assumption and components of it are correct, however
(Bacqué et al., 2011; DeFilippis and Fraser, 2010; Fraser and Kick, 2007; Graves, 2011; Joseph
and Chaskin, 2010; Kleinhans, 2004; Tach, 2009). This timely symposium and, specifically, the
two preceding articles, attempt to unpack, both domestically and abroad, some of the mechanisms
by which mixed-income housing potentially produces favorable outcomes for neighborhoods and,
in particular, low-income residents.
My brief remarks present a mixed-income housing background and glean what we have learned
from the current mixed-income research. I discuss some of the potential mechanisms that might
facilitate mixed-income housing benefits for low-income people. I conclude with a discussion of
the likely locations of future mixed-income developments. My hope is to contribute to and broaden
the mixed-income housing policy conversation so future policies have a greater potential to facilitate
the emergence of more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable living environments (Been et al., 2010).
Background
The late-20th century focus on U.S. mixed-income communities grew, in part, out of the desire to
ameliorate concentrated inner-city poverty (Jargowsky, 1997; Massey and Denton, 1993; Turner,
Popkin, and Rawlings, 2009; Wilson, 1996). Scholars and policymakers were troubled that the
number of high-poverty neighborhoods in metropolitan America doubled from 1970 to 1990
Mixed-Income Housing:
Where Have We Been and
Where Do We Go From Here?
Derek Hyra
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Fraser, Chaskin,
and Bazuin and by Kleinhans and van Ham.

124
Hyra
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
(Jargowsky, 1997). They were also reacting to neighborhood-effects studies suggesting that con-
centrated poverty limited, beyond personal and family characteristics, the individual life chances
of people who lived in these dire circumstances (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, and Aber, 1997; Galster,
2010; Jencks and Mayer, 1990). Parallel circumstances, with the rise of socially excluded and
impoverished areas, were also occurring in Western Europe (Castañeda, 2012; Hargreaves, 2007;
Musterd, Muire, and Kesteloot, 2006).
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development deployed the main domestic policy
attempts to address concentrated poverty in the 1990s and 2000s. These policies included the
Empowerment Zone initiative (Hyra, 2008), the Moving to Opportunity demonstration project
(Briggs, Popkin, and Goering, 2010), and the Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere
(HOPE VI) program (Cisneros and Engdahl, 2009; Goetz, 2011a, 2003; Hyra, 2012a; Vale, 2002).
In addition, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)
program was also associated, to a lesser extent, with the production of mixed-income housing
(Erickson, 2009; Schwartz, 2010). Collectively, but by different policy mechanisms, these U.S.
programs have been associated throughout the country with the production of mixed-income
neighborhoods where poverty once concentrated (Goetz, 2011b; Hyra, 2012a).
As Reinout Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham point out in this symposium, the mixed-income hous-
ing phenomenon has also been experienced and promoted by national policies in many parts of
Western Europe. Homeownership strategies, such as the United Kingdom’s Right to Buy program,
and other public housing and neighborhood redevelopment policies, including France’s Zones
Franches Urbaines (Free Zones), Solidarité et Renouvellement Urban (Solidarity and Urban Renewal),
and the Borloo laws, have been associated with mixed-income neighborhood formation (Blanc,
2010; Bridge, Butler, and Lees, 2012; Davidson, 2010; Dikeç, 2007; Gilbert, 2011).
What Have We Learned About Mixed-Income Housing?
As noted throughout this symposium, the current outcomes related to mixed-income housing
have been controversial and heavily scrutinized (for example, Imbroscio, 2008; Smith, 2006). The
outcomes have been mainly in two categories thus far: neighborhood-level and people-focused
outcomes (Hyra, 2012a). At the neighborhood level, investments associated with the creation of
mixed-income communities have been correlated with neighborhood revitalization in some areas
(Turbov and Piper, 2005; Zielenbach, 2003; Zienlenbach and Voith, 2010). Some have viewed
this pattern of redevelopment as a positive force (for example, Ehrenhalt, 2012; Freeman, 2006;
Vigdor, 2002), whereas others have seen it as related to gentrification and displacement (for ex-
ample, Bennett, Smith, and Wright, 2006; Goetz, 2011b). At the individual level, perceptions of
neighborhood safety seemed to increase for people living in areas that economically transformed
from low- to mixed-income neighborhoods (Joseph and Chaskin, 2010) and when individuals
move from high-poverty communities to more mixed-income environments (Popkin, Leventhal,
and Weismann, 2010). Living next to more affluent people, on average, does not seem to be
related to increased employment levels among low-income individuals, however, and meaningful
social interactions across race and class are minimal (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011; Chaskin, Khare,
and Joseph, 2012; Tach, 2009).

Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here?
125Cityscape
How Can We Make Mixed-Income Living Situations Better?
Although mixed-income communities have not produced many of the anticipated outcomes in the
short run, several potential enhancements can be made to the standard mixed-income community
policies that we have witnessed in the past 20 years in North America and Western Europe. By
standard, I refer primarily to policies that attempt to deconcentrate poverty from particular places
by razing subsidized housing and building replacement mixed-income housing developments
serving people with a range of incomes. Although this approach has some merits, it is often imple-
mented in a way that is not very beneficial to low-income tenants and often reproduces, if not
exacerbates, existing social and economic inequalities. The following suggestions, some of which
parallel and underscore points made by James C. Fraser, Robert J. Chaskin, and Joshua Theodore
Bazuin in their article in this symposium, are intended to stimulate community revitalization that
maximizes benefits to low-income individuals. These recommendations are based on the scholarly
research and my practical experience as a chair of a public housing authority engaged in producing
mixed-income developments.
Minimizing Residential Displacement
New mixed-income developments rarely replace the number of subsidized units available before
redevelopment (Joseph and Chaskin, 2012; Marquis and Ghosh, 2008), and many low-income
tenants are displaced when mixed-income development policies are implemented (Fullilove and
Wallace, 2011; Goetz, 2011b). Mixed-income development policies should be altered to ensure that,
when financially feasible, every affordable unit that is razed to produce mixed-income develop-
ments is replaced within or near the new development sites. Replacing razed subsidized units will
minimize residential displacement associated with mixed-income development, giving low-income
residents the potential to benefit from the regenerating of the community within which they live.
Minimizing Political Displacement
Although preventing residential displacement is extremely important within the context of gentri-
fying mixed-income communities, it is not sufficient for cultivating a social environment in which
low-income people can ultimately benefit from urban regeneration and mixed-income housing
(Hyra, 2012b). When upper-income people move into low-income areas, the newcomers often,
sometimes unintentionally, wrest political power from long-term residents by joining existing
or starting new civic associations (Hyra, 2008). The loss of political power among longstanding
residents can lead to increased mistrust and civic withdrawal by low-income people, further ex-
acerbating preexisting social inequalities and isolation (Chaskin, Khare, and Joseph, 2012; Knotts
and Haspel, 2006; Martin, 2007).
Policies aimed at minimizing political displacement are critical when more affluent people move to
a low-rent district to create a mixed-income living environment. Mechanisms include setting aside
certain political positions for longstanding residents or creating organizations that have a shared
leadership structure between new and existing residents. If low-income people are able to maintain
some political power, they will be able to guide the development in a way that recognizes the
neighborhood’s multiple tastes, preferences, and perspectives.

126
Hyra
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
One clear policy to help ensure greater political equity in mixed-income living environments is to
establish inclusive resident associations that incorporate the views of low-, middle-, and high-income
residents. Many mixed-income developments supported with HOPE VI funds have separate resident
associations for subsidized renters and market-rate homeowners, even within the same building or
development. Market-rate homeowners typically control common areas and spend the homeowners’
association assessments on priorities that match their preferences, whereas the subsidized residents
are often unable to vote in the distribution of resources that affect their immediate living environ-
ment. This political segregation and inequality within mixed-income developments can exacerbate
preexisting inequalities and stimulate conflict rather than cooperation among residents of various
income levels. Creating equitable resident power structures that promote mutual interest and in -
clusivity may be vital to having stable and just mixed-income environments. Such a structure might
stimulate more meaningful social interactions across race and class.
Minimizing Cultural Displacement
If political equity is not maintained, the built and social environments in a transitioning mixed-
income community might develop in a way that favors and reflects the preferences of the more af -
fluent group (Hyra, 2012b). If the emerging built and social environments represent the preferences
of only newcomers, longstanding residents may lose their attachment to place and be more inclined
to move out of the community. The exodus of low-income people might result in a homogenous
community that is not economically or culturally diverse. In transitioning mixed-income commu-
nities, steps are necessary to preserve community symbols important to low-income residents.
Furthermore, representatives of lower income groups should, for the most part, spearhead the
cultural preservation effort (Lin, 2011). If external community interests head the preservation
effort, some community residents might not embrace it, particularly if the preservation initiative
is perceived as stimulating displacement (Inwood, 2010).
Facilitating Meaningful Social Interactions
Many studies indicate that low- and high-income residents who live in close proximity will not
interact much without facilitation (Chaskin and Joseph, 2011; Chaskin, Khare, and Joseph, 2012;
Tach, 2009). In mixed-income communities, it is important to have events that bring people
together around a common purpose so they begin to learn about one another and build trusting
relationships. These events can be community gardening, as noted by Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin,
or beautification initiatives, cultural festivals, or other events important to both new and longtime
residents. Organizing these events might be facilitated by the creation of an inclusive resident
association of the kind I described previously, in which all tenants have an equal say in setting the
social agenda of the mixed-income living environment.
Public and private community common spaces are often branded and associated with certain in -
come or other demographic differences, and it is important that “third spaces” are developed within
mixed-income communities (Oldenburg, 1999). In transitioning mixed-income communities, it
is important to develop new, neutral third spaces where all people feel safe and take ownership of
the space, such as new libraries, community centers, or coffee shops. These places can be breeding
grounds for the development of what Elijah Anderson has identified as the “cosmopolitan canopy,”
wherein tolerance for racial, income, or other differences seems to proliferate (Anderson, 2011).

Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here?
127Cityscape
Ensuring Income Diversity
Sometimes, the built environment dictates the income mix within a community. In mixed-income
communities, it is important to have housing that serves an array of income types. Occasionally,
the income mix is too polarized, with extremely affluent people living next to very impoverished
folks. For instance, in a HOPE VI site in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Virginia,
households that make more than $150,000 a year live next to those that earn less than $15,000
a year. In these situations, the social class difference might be too great to foster common under-
standing and interests on a range of topics. A housing stock that serves middle-income folks and
bridges the two extreme income levels might be important (Chaskin, Khare, and Joseph, 2012;
Pattillo, 2007). Mixed-income policies should ensure that high-, middle-, and low-income people
are served by the existing and newly built housing stock in mixed-income communities.
Tackling and Addressing Ethnic, Racial, Religious, and Other Differences
Mixed-income policies often do not directly address ethnic and racial differences, although income
diversity often signals racial diversity because of preexisting inequalities (Oliver and Shapiro, 1995).
Beyond class differences, mixed-income community policies must tackle challenges stemming from
racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual-orientation differences (Brown-Saracino, 2009; Maly, 2005;
Modan, 2007). Mixed-income policies should consider ways to address disputes that arise from
distinctions associated with income but that are not solved through promoting income equality.
One approach is to create or bolster existing civic organizations in and around mixed-income
developments that help to educate and promote tolerance for difference and celebrate diversity.
Where Is the Future of Mixed-Income Development in the
United States and Abroad?
During the past 20 years, the mixed-income neighborhood focus has been mainly in the inner-city
areas where poverty once concentrated. In the past decade, many of these inner-city areas have
been redeveloped and gentrified through a process I labeled the “new urban renewal” (Hyra, 2012a,
2008) and others have called the “great inversion” (Ehrenhalt, 2012). While development of the
inner city has occurred, poverty has become more heavily concentrated in certain inner suburbs
(Allard, 2009; Allard and Roth, 2010; Kneebone and Garr, 2010; Orfield, 2002). In Western Eu-
rope, some inner suburbs have dense concentrations of public housing (Gilbert, 2011; Wacquant,
2008). In the coming decades, the new pioneering, emerging housing market areas will be in low-
and moderate-income inner suburbs (Charles, 2011; Dunham-Jones and Williamson, 2011).
The future of mixed-income development will be in inner suburbs, where the housing stock is out -
dated and there are concentrations of poverty and people of color. For instance, one of the largest
U.S. suburban mixed-income projects is occurring in Alexandria, Virginia. In one city section known
as the Beauregard area, more than 2,500 units of low- and moderate-income, private-market rental
housing will be razed to make room for higher income market-rate housing. In the Beauregard
area, people of color comprise approximately 70 percent of the population. Of the 2,500 housing
units to be razed, 800 will be preserved and incorporated as mixed-income housing. Most of the

128
Hyra
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
affordable housing will be financed through city and developer contributions, but some will likely
entail LIHTC financing. Because HOPE VI is, for the most part, no longer operating, mixed-income
developments will most likely be accomplished with LIHTCs and New Markets Tax Credits.
In the United Kingdom and France, much of the public housing is in the urban periphery and inner
suburbs. Through a combination of razing some subsidized buildings and upgrading others, certain
fringe urban areas are beginning to gentrify and achieve greater income mixes (Bacqué et al., 2011).
Examples of this pattern of periphery redevelopment can be witnessed in Hackney on the outskirts
of London, England (Wessendorf, 2011), and in Vénissieux on the outer edge of Lyon, France
(Gilbert, 2009). It seems likely that mixed-income housing in both North America and Western
Europe will increasingly occur in the outer urban periphery and inner suburban areas as opposed
to the urban core.
Summing Up
Mixed-income housing policies have been associated with residential displacement. Although
preventing residential displacement is an important step, it is insufficient for ensuring that low-
income people benefit from income mixing. The promise of mixed-income communities assumes
that people of various backgrounds will cooperatively interact to provide greater opportunities for
economic and social advancement. Policymakers, scholars, practitioners, activists, and residents
should consider several mixed-income policy alternatives to better ensure that people interact in
meaningful and constructive ways. Preventing residential, political, and cultural displacement
and developing neutral spaces of civic engagement are good places to start to ensure that people
of diverse incomes, backgrounds, and experiences prosper in inclusive and equitable urban and
suburban living environments.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Jim Fraser, Deirdre Oakley, and Diane Levy for organizing this important
symposium and acknowledges the Cityscape staff for their helpful editorial assistance.
Author
Derek Hyra is an associate professor of urban affairs and planning at the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University.
References
Allard, Scott W. 2009. Out of Reach: Place, Poverty and the New American Welfare State. New Haven,
CT: Yale University Press.
Allard, Scott W., and Benjamin Roth. 2010. Strained Suburbs: The Social Service Challenges of Rising
Suburban Poverty. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here?
129Cityscape
Anderson, Elijah. 2011. The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company.
Bacqué, Marie-Hélène, Yankel Fijalkow, Lydie Launay, and Stéphanie Vermeersch. 2011. “Social
Mix Policies in Paris: Discourses, Policies and Social Effects,” International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research 35 (2): 256–273.
Been, Vicki, Mary Cunningham, Ingrid G. Ellen, Adam Gordon, Joe Parilla, Margery A. Turner,
Sheryl V. Whitney, Aaron Yowell, and Ken Zimmerman. 2010. Building Environmentally Sustainable
Communities: A Framework for Inclusivity. New York; Washington, DC: The Furman Center; Urban
Institute.
Bennett, Larry, Janet L. Smith, and Patricia A. Wright, eds. 2006. Where Are Poor People To Live?
Transforming Public Housing Communities. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Blanc, Maurice. 2010. “The Impact of Social Mix Policies in France,” Housing Studies 25 (2): 257–272.
Bridge, Gary, Tim Butler, and Loretta Lees. 2012. Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth?
Bristol, United Kingdom: Policy Press.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza, Susan J. Popkin, and John Goering. 2010. Moving to Opportunity: The Story
of an American Experiment To Fight Ghetto Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Greg J. Duncan, and Lawrence Aber. 1997. Neighborhood Poverty: Context
and Consequences for Children. Vol. 1. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Brown-Saracino, Japonica. 2009. A Neighborhood That Never Changes: Gentrification, Social Preserva-
tion, and the Search for Authenticity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Castañeda, Ernesto. 2012. “Place of Stigma: Ghettos, Barrios, and Banlieues.” In The Ghetto: Con-
temporary Global Issues and Controversies, edited by Ray Hutchison and Bruce D. Haynes. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press: 159–190.
Charles, Suzanne L. 2011. “There Goes the (Suburban) Neighborhood: Gentrification in the Inner-
Ring Suburbs of Chicago, 2000–2010.” Paper presented at The Suburbs and the 2010 Census
Conference, Arlington, VA.
Chaskin, Robert J., and Mark L. Joseph. 2011. “Relational Expectations and Emerging Reality:
The Nature of Social Interaction in Mixed-Income Developments,” Journal of Urban Affairs 32 (2):
209–237.
Chaskin, Robert J., Amy Khare, and Mark L. Joseph. 2012. “Participation, Deliberation, and
Decision-Making: The Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Mixed-Income Developments,”
Urban Affairs Review 48 (6): 863–906.
Cisneros, Henry G., and Lora Engdahl. 2009. From Despair to Hope: Hope VI and the Promise of
Public Housing in America’s Cities. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Davidson, Mark. 2010. “Love Thy Neighbour? Social Mixing in London’s Gentrification Frontiers,”
Environment and Planning A 42: 524–544.

130
Hyra
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
DeFilippis, James, and Jim Fraser. 2010. “Why Do We Want Mixed-Income Housing and Neigh-
borhoods?” In Critical Urban Studies: New Directions, edited by Jonathan S. Davies and David L.
Imbroscio. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press: 135–147.
Dikeç, Mustafa. 2007. Badlands of the Republic: Space, Politics and Urban Policy. Oxford, United
Kingdom: Blackwell.
Dunham-Jones, Ellen, and June Williamson. 2011. Retrofitting Suburbia. Updated edition, Urban
Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Ehrenhalt, Alan. 2012. The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City. New York: Knopf.
Erickson, David J. 2009. The Housing Policy Revolution: Networks and Neighborhoods. Washington,
DC: Urban Institute Press.
Fraser, James C., and Edward L. Kick. 2007. “The Role of Public, Private, Non-Profit and Com-
munity Sectors in Shaping Mixed-Income Housing Outcomes in the U.S.,” Urban Studies 44 (12):
2357–2377.
Freeman, Lance. 2006. There Goes the Hood. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Fullilove, Mindy T., and Rodrick Wallace. 2011. “Serial Forced Displacement in American Cities,
1916–2010,” Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 88 (3): 381–389.
Galster, George C. 2010. “The Mechanism(s) of Neighborhood Effects Theory, Evidence, and
Policy Implications.” Paper presented at the ESRC Seminar: “Neighbourhood Effects: Theory &
Evidence,” St. Andrews, United Kingdom.
Gilbert, Pierre. 2011. “‘Ghetto,’ ‘Banishment,’ ‘Neighborhood Effects.’ A Critique of the ‘Ghetto’
Image of French Housing Projects,” Metropolitics 23: 1–7.
———. 2009. “Social Stakes of Urban Renewal: Recent French Housing Policy,” Building Research
& Information 37 (5–6): 638–648.
Goetz, Edward G. 2011a. “Where Have All the Towers Gone? The Dismantling of Public Housing
in U.S. Cities,” Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (3): 267–287.
———. 2011b. “Gentrification in Black and White: The Racial Impact of Public Housing Demolition
in American Cities,” Urban Studies 48 (8): 1581–1604.
———. 2003. Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America. Washington, DC:
Urban Institute Press.
Graves, Erin M. 2011. “Mixed Outcome Developments: Comparing Policy Goals to Resident Out-
comes in Mixed-Income Housing,” Journal of the American Planning Association 77 (2): 143–153.
Hargreaves, Alec G. 2007. Multi-Ethnic France: Immigration, Politics, Culture and Society. New York:
Routledge.
Hyra, Derek S. 2012a. “Conceptualizing the New Urban Renewal: Comparing the Past to the Present,”
Urban Affairs Review 48 (4): 498–527.

Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here?
131Cityscape
———. 2012b. “The Back-to-the-City Movement and Processes of Political and Cultural Dis-
placement.” Paper presented the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Meeting,
Cincinnati, OH.
———. 2008. The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Imbroscio, David. 2008. “‘[U]nited and Actuated by Some Common Impulse of Passion’: Challeng-
ing the Dispersal Consensus in American Housing Policy Research,” Journal of Urban Affairs 30 (2):
111–130.
Inwood, Joshua F. 2010. “Sweet Auburn: Constructing Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue as a Heritage
Tourist Destination,” Urban Geography 31 (5): 573–594.
Jargowsky, Paul. 1997. Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City. New York: Russell
Sage Foundation Press.
Jencks, Christopher, and Susan Mayer. 1990. “The Social Consequences of Growing Up in a Poor
Neighborhood.” In Inner-City Poverty in the United States, edited by Laurence Lynn and Michael
McGeary. Washington, DC: National Academies Press: 111–186.
Joseph, Mark L. 2006. “Is Mixed-Income Development an Antidote to Urban Poverty?” Housing
Policy Debate 17 (2): 209–234.
Joseph, Mark L., and Robert Chaskin. 2012. “Mixed-Income Developments and Low Rates of
Return: Insights From Relocated Public Housing Residents in Chicago,” Housing Policy Debate 22
(3): 377–405.
———. 2010. “Living in a Mixed-Income Development: Resident Perceptions of the Benefits and
Disadvantages of Two Developments in Chicago,” Urban Studies 47 (11): 2347–2366.
Kleinhans, Reinout. 2004. “Social Implications of Housing Diversification in Urban Renewal:
A Review of Recent Literature,” Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 19 (4): 367–390.
Kneebone, Elizabeth, and Emily Garr. 2010. The State of Metropolitan America: Income and Poverty.
Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Knotts, H. Gibbs, and Moshe Haspel. 2006. “The Impact of Gentrification on Voter Turnout,”
Social Science Quarterly 87 (1): 110–121.
Lin, Jan. 2011. The Power of Urban Ethnic Places: Cultural Heritage and Community Life. New York:
Routledge.
Maly, Michael T. 2005. Beyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic Neighborhoods in the United
States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Marquis, Gerald P., and Soumen Ghosh. 2008. “Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere
(HOPE VI): Who Gets Back In?” The Social Science Journal 45 (3): 401–418.
Martin, Leslie. 2007. “Fighting for Control: Political Displacement in Atlanta’s Gentrifying Neigh-
borhoods,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (5): 603–628.

132
Hyra
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Massey, Douglas S., and Nancy A. Denton. 1993. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Modan, Gabriella G. 2007. Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing.
Musterd, Sako, Alan Muire, and Christian Kesteloot, eds. 2006. Neighbourhoods of Poverty: Urban
Social Exclusion and Integration in Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Oldenburg, Ray. 1999. The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and
Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. Washington, DC: Marlowe & Company.
Oliver, Melvin L., and Thomas M. Shapiro. 1995. Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on
Racial Inequality. New York: Routledge.
Orfield, Myron. 2002. American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality. Washington, DC: Brookings
Institution Press.
Pattillo, Mary. 2007. Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
Popkin, Susan, Tama Leventhal, and Gretchen Weismann. 2010. “Girls in the ’Hood: How Safety
Affects the Life Chances of Low-Income Girls,” Urban Affairs Review 45 (6): 715–744.
Schwartz, Alex F. 2010. Housing Policy in the United States. New York: Routledge.
Smith, Janet L. 2006. “Mixed-Income Communities: Designing Out Poverty or Pushing Out the
Poor?” In Where Are Poor People To Live? Transforming Public Housing Communities, edited by Larry
Bennett, Janet L. Smith, and Patricia A. Wright. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe: 259–281.
Tach, Laura M. 2009. “More Than Bricks and Mortar: Neighborhood Frames, Social Processes, and
the Mixed-Income Redevelopment of a Public Housing Project,” City & Community 8 (3): 269–299.
Turbov, Mindy, and Valerie Piper. 2005. “HOPE VI and Mixed-Finance Redevelopments: A Catalyst
for Neighborhood Renewal.” Discussion paper prepared for The Brookings Institution, Metropolitan
Policy Program. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Turner, Margery A., Susan J. Popkin, and Lynette Rawlings. 2009. Public Housing and the Legacy of
Segregation. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
Vale, Lawrence J. 2002. Reclaiming Public Housing: A Half Century of Struggle in Three Public Neigh-
borhoods. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vigdor, Jacob L. 2002. “Does Gentrification Harm the Poor?” Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban
Affairs: 134–173.
Wacquant, Loïc. 2008. Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality. Cambridge,
United Kingdom: Polity.

Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here?
133Cityscape
Wessendorf, Susanne. 2011. Commonplace Diversity and the “Ethos of Mixing”: Perceptions of
Difference in a London Neighbourhood. Working paper number 91. Oxford, United Kingdom:
University of Oxford, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society.
Wilson, William J. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Knopf.
Zielenbach, Sean. 2003. “Assessing Economic Change in HOPE VI Neighborhoods,” Housing Policy
Debate 14 (4): 621–655.
Zielenbach, Sean, and Richard Voith. 2010. “HOPE VI and Neighborhood Economic Development:
The Importance of Local Market Dynamics,” Cityscape 12 (1): 99–132.

134 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

135Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Examining Mobility Outcomes
in the Housing Choice Voucher
Program: Neighborhood
Poverty, Employment, and
Public School Quality
Victoria Basolo
University of California, Irvine
Abstract
Low-income housing policies seeking to deconcentrate poverty and increase opportuni-
ties through mobility have produced mixed results. The Moving to Opportunity (MTO)
program, for example, resulted in some beneficial outcomes for low-income households
moving from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods, but it did not produce the widespread
positive effects anticipated by many policymakers and researchers. The Housing Choice
Voucher Program (HCVP) does not require moves to low-poverty neighborhoods, as MTO
did, but rather it relies on a weaker policy of choice to achieve more income-diverse
neighborhoods. As compared with what researchers have learned about the MTO partic-
ipants, less is known concerning the mobility behavior and outcomes of HCVP recipients.
Using survey data from voucher holders under the jurisdiction of two local housing au-
thorities in California combined with secondary data from multiple sources, this article
examines a range of outcomes, including neighborhood poverty rates, employment, and
school quality, associated with mobility in the HCVP. The results of the analyses show
that movers did not have better outcomes than nonmovers but, compared with conditions
in their previous residence, movers lived in neighborhoods with lower poverty rates and
better school quality after they moved. By contrast, employment for movers dropped
significantly from before to after their moves.

136
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Introduction
Compelling arguments about the harmful effects of poverty concentration contributed to a shift in
federal policy during the past two decades. Support for the development of large public housing
projects, common before 1970, faded, and approaches to promoting mixed-income environments
were at the center of the policy discourse. The rehabilitation of public housing through Housing
Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) and policies aimed at discouraging poverty con -
centration in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) emerged as strategies to thwart the
replication of social problems in impoverished communities. Strong empirical evidence of the
effects of these policies was notably limited at the time of their initial implementation.
Debates about policies promoting poverty deconcentration and mixed-income living environments
are informed increasingly by empirical research in the United States and abroad; however, the re -
search evidence as a whole remains mixed, with some purported benefits unsupported by the
research (see Bolt and Van Kempen, 2011; Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber, 2007; Sanbonmatsu et al.,
2011; and Sautkina, Bond, and Kearns, 2012). Much of our recent knowledge about poverty de-
concentration comes from research on the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program, a long-term,
five-site experiment designed to discern the effects on low-income households of moving with
housing assistance from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods. Researchers considered a wide range
of potential MTO effects, including on individuals’ mental and physical health, employment and
economic conditions, educational attainment, criminal and risky behavior, social networks, and
living environments (Sanbonmatsu et al., 2011).
MTO provided a wealth of information about the effects of mobility from high- to low-poverty
neighborhoods within the context of a carefully designed experiment. The purpose of the experi-
ment was to identify cause-and-effect relationships more clearly. In the social world, however, it is
difficult to design such a policy experiment without limitations and to account for all, even most,
possible influences on the variable of interest. Researchers have documented these shortcomings for
MTO, which among others include the use of neighborhood poverty rate alone to capture troubled
living environments, a lack of initial attention to proximate neighborhoods that might affect a target
neighborhood, the number of participants, and the differences in site contexts and study designs
that muddle the generalizability of the findings (see Briggs, Popkin, and Goering, 2010; and
Goering, Feins, and Richardson, 2003). Despite these limitations, MTO offers valuable results that
indicate that neighborhood poverty levels matter for some social outcomes, and it raises questions
and motivates discussion about future housing policies and research evaluation designs.
MTO, by virtue of its design, operated differently than does the regular HCVP. The HCVP policies
support residential mobility with the hope that voucher holders will improve their circumstances
by moving, but it does not require any subset of clients to locate in lower poverty neighborhoods.
Federal performance assessment of local housing authorities (LHAs), the agencies charged with
local administration of the voucher program, explicitly values poverty deconcentration as part of
the program. As a result, LHAs may set payment standards to try to encourage voucher holders
to locate in low-poverty areas; nevertheless, voucher holders may choose neighborhoods for per -
sonal reasons rather than poverty levels (Basolo and Nguyen, 2009, 2005; Williamson, Smith,
and Strambi-Kramer, 2009). These policies appear too weak to greatly influence voucher holders’

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
137Cityscape
residential location decisions and noticeably affect poverty concentration among voucher holders
at the regional scale. That is, they are very unlikely to produce mixed-income neighborhoods on a
widespread basis.
Housing policy researchers support the conclusion that the HCVP does not induce significant pov -
erty deconcentration (McClure, 2008; Varady, 2010). The HCVP has been studied far less intensely
than the MTO program, however, with little attention to the range of possible outcomes associated
with voucher-holder mobility. This article examines a set of outcomes using unique microlevel
data for voucher holders under the administration of two LHAs in the same California county. In
addition to considering the poverty rate in voucher neighborhoods, this research also investigates
employment outcomes for voucher holders and school quality, a potentially key factor in the pros-
pects for children of voucher holders. Specifically, the research explores the following questions.
1. What factors are associated with neighborhood poverty levels, employment status, and school
quality? Particularly, are these outcomes different for movers versus nonmovers in the voucher
program?
2. Are neighborhood poverty levels, employment status, and school quality different before and
after residential relocation for the movers in the voucher program?
In the next section, I provide a brief overview of the rationale for mobility in housing programs and
a summary of key research findings from programs aimed at deconcentrating poverty and fostering
mixed-income environments. I then provide a discussion of the methods and data. I follow with a
brief overview of the county and the LHAs associated with the voucher holders in this study, the
descriptive statistics, and other analyses (including multivariate models) aimed at answering the re -
search questions. The final section presents the research and policy implications of this study’s findings.
Persistent Poverty and Policy: Mobility, Mixing Incomes,
and Poverty Deconcentration
For decades, scholars and policy researchers have argued that residential space and location affect
individual outcomes and that social structure is replicated through space (see Bolt and Van Kempen,
2011; Jargowsky, 1997; and Lefebvre, 1991). Of particular interest to urban and housing research-
ers is the longstanding concern with the effects of geography on social outcomes, principally the
relationship among spatial location, the persistence of poverty, and individuals’ health and welfare.
Scholarly contributions from Lewis (1966, 1959) concerning poverty in Mexican and Puerto Rican
families sparked an early debate on intergenerational poverty. Lewis asserted that the responses of
low-income people to their circumstances resulted in a subculture of poverty, which created seem-
ingly insuperable barriers to exiting the impoverished lower class. Lewis influenced the poverty
policy discussion in the 1960s, as evidenced by findings from a 1965 U.S. Department of Labor
(DOL) report. The report, commonly known by the eponymous title, the Moynihan Report, was
an analysis of poverty that focused on African-American families. The author of the report, Daniel
Patrick Moynihan, asserted that cultural pathologies in low-income, African-American communities
perpetuated a cycle of poverty (Gans, 2011; O’Connor, 2001).

138
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
The Moynihan Report was a DOL internal report and was not intended initially for widespread
distribution. Aspects of the report became known publicly, however, and drew heavy criticism
from social activists and others. This controversy essentially overwhelmed the totality of the report
and rendered it ineffective as support for public policy change (Massey and Sampson, 2009;
Wilson, 2009).
The scholarly debate about poverty, especially intergenerational poverty, in the 1960s coincided
with social turmoil, social action, and new social policies. For housing policy, a landmark event
during this period was a class action lawsuit, Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, filed in 1966.
The plaintiffs charged racial discrimination by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on the concentration of public
housing projects in primarily African-American neighborhoods and the segregation of public hous-
ing tenants by race into neighborhoods of the same race. As one of the attorneys in the case wrote
about this period, “The CHA is now a black system. Its tenants and applicants were mostly black,
and its developments were practically all in black neighborhoods” (Polikoff, 2006: 48). Race was
clearly the central issue in the Gautreaux case, but it was inseparable from poverty in this instance
given the population of public housing residents. The Gautreaux case faced many legal challenges
and was not resolved quickly, but ultimately the plaintiffs prevailed and the U.S. Supreme Court
instructed the CHA to deconcentrate the African Americans served by its public housing. To accom -
plish this charge, the CHA was to build scattered-site public housing that would not concentrate
these developments in African-American neighborhoods and would provide opportunities for
African Americans in scattered-site public housing to live in majority-White neighborhoods. Ulti-
mately, slow implementation by the CHA and the Court’s ruling concerning HUD’s responsibilities
in the case resulted in an approach that used rental certificates and relocation counseling to move
low-income, central-city, African-American households to predominantly White Chicago suburbs
(Gill, 2012; Polikoff, 2006).
The Gautreaux program
1
has been studied intensely by researchers. Findings from this research show
that moves, on average, resulted in lower neighborhood poverty rates and that movers reported
better residential conditions after moving (DeLuca et al., 2010; Popkin and Cunningham, 2002).
Rosenbaum (1995) found that movers to more affluent, majority-White neighborhoods were
more likely to have jobs than the comparison group who moved to low-income, majority-African-
American neighborhoods within Chicago. In a more recent analysis of employment outcomes using
supplementary data from official sources, however, Mendenhall, DeLuca, and Duncan (2006) found
that certain characteristics of the neighborhood, not their urban or suburban location, affected
these outcomes. Of particular interest to researchers were outcomes for children. Based on her
qualitative study, Keels (2008: 242) wrote that Gautreaux participants “... spoke of the desire to
improve all aspects of their children’s developing environments (neighborhood, housing, school,
and peers).” Improved school quality was expected to be an institutional change that would pro-
duce better educational outcomes for Gautreaux children. Research reveals that Gautreaux parents
noted the high standards of their children’s suburban schools and had a positive view of these
1
The discussion in this article focuses on the original Gautreaux program, referred to as “Gautreaux One,” which was
active into the late 1990s. “Gautreaux Two” was initiated in 2002, with race and income as explicit considerations for
neighborhoods receiving participants (see Duncan and Zuberi, 2006).

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
139Cityscape
schools’ academic quality (Keels, 2008; Rosenbaum, 1995). Initially, Gautreaux children had some
adjustment issues at suburban schools, but over time, research shows that children of suburban
movers had a lower high school dropout rate and a higher college-attendance rate than children
of city movers (Rosenbaum, 1995).
The Gautreaux program and related research continued, as social observers resurrected the culture-
of-poverty thesis in the 1980s. Arguments elucidating the structural barriers that low-income people
faced countered aggressive arguments touting a middle-class model and calling for an end to social
programs, including housing subsidies (O’Connor, 2001). William Julius Wilson, a distinguished
sociologist, did not dismiss individual or structural arguments. In his book, The Truly Disadvantaged,
Wilson (1987) argued that poverty, especially in the African-American ghettos in the United States,
is the result of a complex set of historical, structural, economic, and situational factors. A few years
later, he wrote that these factors “... cannot be reduced to the easy explanations of a ‘culture of
poverty’ that have been advanced by those on the right, or of racism, posited by those on the left”
(Wilson, 1992: 641).
These arguments concerning the causes of poverty were not merely academic, because the persist-
ence of poverty was a social problem without an effective policy. This argument, however, seemed
to get quieter as positive results emerged from the Gautreaux program. These results gave policy
observers and policymakers a reason to be optimistic that poverty deconcentration could provide
real opportunities to low-income people and break the cycle of poverty. Concerns persisted, however,
that the Gautreaux program was not designed to make strong causal statements and, thus, results
should be interpreted cautiously.
2
In this context, MTO was conceived and began implementation
in 1994.
MTO aimed to evaluate the effects of mobility from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods for low-
income households with housing assistance. Designed as an experiment, MTO consisted of three
groups: an experimental treatment group, (high- to low-poverty neighborhood movers), a Section 8
(HCVP) treatment group, and a control group. Implemented in five cities around the country, it
was designed as a long-term experiment with the goal of making causal claims. Although researchers
have discussed MTO’s research limitations—including the varying contexts across sites, number of
subjects, and proximate-neighborhoods issue—the experiment and its results remain some of the
most valuable research contributions to low-income housing policy (Briggs, Popkin, and Goering,
2010; Sanbonmatsu et al., 2011).
Analyses of the MTO program produced a range of results about physical and mental health, social
interaction, employment, wages, housing quality, neighborhood conditions, feelings of safety,
school quality, and educational and other outcomes for children. The following is a select set of
results from the final evaluation.
3
First, the final results show that residential quality, as measured
by the poverty rate, improved for the treatment groups as compared with the control group, but
the magnitude of this effect lessened over time (Ludwig, 2012). Second, in the long term, MTO
2
See DeLuca et al. (2010) for a discussion of the shortcomings of the research design used to assess the Gautreaux program.
3
A more detailed discussion of the MTO program and its results appears in a recent issue of Cityscape (volume 14, number 2)
and in the HUD final report (Sanbonmatsu et al., 2011).

140
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
had no effect on employment. During the course of the program, employment rates varied for
the groups and slightly over time. In fact, the experimental group had lower employment rates
initially, possibly because the move caused an employment disruption, but other explanations
are also likely. By the end of the experiment, however, no real differences in employment rates
emerged among the groups (Sanbonmatsu et al., 2012). Third, analyses found that MTO resulted
in minimal and mixed effects on school quality (Sanbonmatsu et al., 2011).
The Gautreaux and MTO programs focused on deconcentration, or neighborhood racial and income
mixing. Federal policy also promotes mixed-income communities through the HOPE VI program,
an initiative aimed at the redevelopment of public housing sites.
4
HOPE VI is different than the
neighborhood mobility programs in scale, intervention, and other characteristics. For this reason,
HOPE VI research results are not directly comparable with results from the other programs. The
HCVP operates at the neighborhood scale, similar in this respect to the Gautreaux and MTO pro-
grams, but it is different in that it relies on voucher holders to deconcentrate poverty through their
choices without strong support from the program.
5
Therefore, although results from other mobility
programs inform HCVP research and practice, it is important to study the HCVP as implemented
routinely by LHAs to gain an understanding of voucher holders’ decisions and outcomes concern-
ing residential location.
Research on the HCVP is relatively limited given the size and importance of the program.
6
Nonethe -
less, existing studies have provided some important results.
7
For example, immigrants and minori-
ties in the voucher program tend to live in more distressed neighborhoods than do nonimmigrants
and nonminorities (Basolo and Nguyen, 2009; Pendall, 2000), but HCVP movers experience better
neighborhood conditions, less minority-concentrated neighborhoods, and neighborhoods with
lower poverty rates (Basolo and Nguyen, 2005; Climaco et al., 2008). Although these results are
valuable, researchers have not examined the range of outcomes considered in the Gautreaux and
MTO programs for voucher holders in the regular HCVP.
Methods and Data
This research was designed to answer questions about housing voucher households and their deci-
sions concerning residential choice. The study, therefore, required household- or individual-level
data that included voucher holders’ addresses, residential preferences, socioeconomic characteris-
tics, and other microlevel data. Whereas researchers can access summary LHA administrative data
on voucher holders via the HUD website, microlevel address data are not publicly available on this
4
See Kleit (2005) and Kleit and Manzo (2006) for research on public housing households’ decisions and outcomes related
to HOPE VI.
5
Researchers have written about the HCVP’s and other mobility programs’ limitations to achieve policy goals, with sugges-
tions for improving opportunities for the recipients of housing assistance (see Briggs and Turner, 2006; McClure, 2010).
6
HUD’s 2009 “A Picture of Subsidized Households” reported 2,233,628 units in the program nationwide. See http://www.
huduser.org/portal/datasets/assthsg.html.
7
See Varady (2010) for a review of the recent literature on mobility programs, including research on the HCVP.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
141Cityscape
site.
8
Schultheis, Russ, and Lucey (2012) observed that the lack of easily accessible location data
for voucher households has been problematic for researchers concerned with voucher holders’
spatial outcomes. These researchers noted that LHA’s administrative data include location informa-
tion that may be available to researchers who partner with an LHA and provide certain assurances
concerning confidentiality. For this study, I took a collaborative approach, partnering with two
LHAs in Orange County, California, to select a representative sample of voucher holders from each
LHA’s population and to acquire specific administrative data, including addresses of the voucher
holders in the samples.
These administrative data were necessary for the research, but they were inadequate to analyze the
full range of questions associated with the study. For this reason, the research was designed to col-
lect additional, detailed microlevel data via a mail sample survey of voucher holders. The two LHA
partners were the Santa Ana Housing Authority (SAHA) and the Orange County Housing Author-
ity (OCHA). For the SAHA, the survey sample (n = 830) consisted of approximately 32 percent of
the population (with oversampling for movers) and, for the OCHA, the survey sample (n = 2,010)
was about 25 percent of the population of voucher holders (with oversampling for families).
The initial draft of the survey questionnaire was based on the study’s goals and informed by previous
studies in the literature. LHA staff reviewed the questionnaire and provided suggestions to improve
its clarity and content; a revised draft questionnaire was prepared for the formal pretest. The LHAs
assisted in recruiting current voucher holders to participate in focus groups and to pretest the
questionnaire. After the focus groups, slight revisions were made to the questionnaire, which was
then finalized for implementation in the field. At this point, guided by the available demographic
information for the voucher-holder population in Orange County, survey materials were translated
into Spanish and Vietnamese and, to ensure accuracy, bilingual LHA staff reviewed the translations.
The survey design followed methods recommended by Dillman (2000) to optimize the response
rate. For example, an introduction letter, describing the study and signed by the researcher and an
LHA representative, was mailed to the respondents with the survey. The letter provided the same
information in three languages—English, Spanish, and Vietnamese—and offered to provide the
questionnaire in the voucher holder’s preferred language.
9
The initial mailing was followed by a
reminder postcard and, for nonrespondents, letters with a copy of the survey were mailed again,
twice if necessary, at 2- to 3-week intervals.
The survey field period lasted for 5 months and concluded in August 2002. Response rates for the
two areas were a concern from the planning stage of the project, because the literature suggests
that certain characteristics associated with the voucher population, such as race, low incomes,
and lower educational achievement, may affect survey response rates, although these results have
varied across studies (DeMaio, 1980; Hennigan et al., 2002; Krysan et al., 1994). The response
rates, however, were good for both LHAs, with 63 percent (n = 1,268) from the OCHA group and
56.3 percent (n = 467) in the SAHA sample.
8
These data are contained in the “Resident Characteristics Report,” which can be viewed and downloaded at http://portal.
hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/systems/pic/50058/rcr.
9
Survey questionnaires were completed in Spanish, Vietnamese, and, in one instance, Farsi (special request by a respondent).
Across the two LHAs, however, less than 2 percent of the questionnaires were completed in a language other than English.

142
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
The current addresses of all voucher holders and the previous addresses for voucher holders who
moved in the past 3 years were geocoded using Geographic Information Systems. Census-tract
information from the 2000 census, summary files 1 and 3, was attached for all current and previ-
ous addresses to capture neighborhood characteristics, such as the poverty rate. School quality was
measured by the Academic Performance Index (API), which is produced by the California Depart-
ment of Education.
10
The public schools were linked to each address using district boundary maps
and school-locator search engines available through individual school districts; the schools and
their API scores were then added for every address in the database. Finally, select LHA administra-
tive data (for example, contact rent) were merged with the final dataset.
The full dataset contains 1,706 cases and is used when comparing movers with nonmovers. An
exception is the analysis of public school quality, which has 1,522 cases for analysis. The sample
contains 570 movers, but the lack of reliable previous address and school information resulted in
fewer cases for analysis, and the number varies by the focus of the analysis. In these instances, the
number of cases in an analysis is shown in the corresponding exhibit.
A caveat concerning the generalization of the results from these data is necessary for several
reasons. First, the analyses use unweighted data.
11
Second, some cases could not be confidently
geocoded because of incomplete address information and had to be dropped from the analyses.
12

Third, school-quality data used in several of the analyses were unavailable for approximately 12
percent of the addresses in the sample.
Analysis
Background on LHAs
The LHAs are in Orange County, in Southern California. Orange County was historically a suburban
county, with residents often referring to the Orange Curtain, a sociodemographic line separating
Orange County from the urban conditions of Los Angeles County, its neighbor to the north. More -
over, Orange County has and had a majority White population, with a higher median income and
lower poverty rate than the state of California as a whole.
13
Orange County has been changing, how -
ever, as its communities age and is experiencing increasing racial, ethnic, and economic diversity.
10
The California Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 created the API score, a measure used to assess and track school
performance over time. The score, which ranges from 200 to 1,000, is based on student performance on statewide testing.
The California Department of Education publishes these scores annually for public elementary, middle, and high schools
throughout the state. For this research, I calculated the average API for the schools serving each address; however, in some
cases, it was not clear whether a school served a specific address, so that school was not included in the calculation. For
most cases, I had API scores for all three schools (elementary, middle, and high), but in some cases I had to average scores
for only two schools, and in even fewer cases (less than 1 percent), I had only one school’s API score.
11
Weighting to address oversampling in each area was not done, because the samples were combined and response analyses
showed some sociodemographic differences for responders in both samples (see Basolo and Nguyen, 2009, for a more
detailed discussion of the response bias analyses for these data).
12
For these analyses, I filled missing values with the mean or mode of the variable, including missing values for the
neighborhood poverty rate, which were a result of incomplete address information (1.2 percent of the cases).
13
See Basolo and Nguyen (2009) for Orange County demographic information in 2000.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
143Cityscape
The LHAs are also operating in one of the most expensive housing markets in the state and in the
country. Despite the significant price downturn in housing markets throughout Southern Califor-
nia, Orange County has remained a relatively high-cost housing market and now appears to be
rebounding in sales volume and median price for single-family homes (Lazo, 2012). The median
contract rent in Orange County consistently exceeds the state and national figures.
Orange County has four LHAs that administer the HCVP. In general, the OCHA administers ap -
proximately 50 percent more vouchers than the next largest LHA (in Anaheim) and more than
four times as many vouchers as the smallest LHA in the county (in Garden Grove). Its relative size
among the LHAs in the county was the reason it was selected for the study. The SAHA has the
third largest voucher program in the county, but was chosen for its location in the central city of
Orange County, based on size, age, demographics, and, to a lesser extent, its role as the govern-
ment center for the county.
Exhibit 1 shows voucher program characteristics for the OCHA and SAHA. The characteristics for
2000 and 2004 are presented primarily because the 2002 data (the year of the survey) were unavail -
able from the “A Picture of Subsidized Households” dataset on the HUD website. Also, however,
these data allow for temporal comparisons for each LHA and comparisons between LHAs. In doing
so, I recognize that the occupancy and reporting rates vary across the years and for the LHAs.
14
The indicators provide a snapshot of the occupants using voucher assistance in 2000 and how
voucher holders changed during the 4-year period. Both LHAs show an increase over time in
seniors (defined as residents age 62 or older) with vouchers, although the OCHA provides about
5 percent more of its vouchers to seniors than does the SAHA. In 2000, SAHA vouchers served
significantly more minorities proportionately (88 percent) than did OCHA vouchers (56 percent),
with only a 1-percent decrease in minority voucher holders for the SAHA and a 1-percent increase
for the OCHA from 2000 to 2004. Both LHAs showed a reduction in the average number of people
14
The variation in reporting rates is one criticism of using the administrative data from this source, because incomplete
reporting can introduce bias into analytic results.
Exhibit 1
Voucher Program Characteristics
Orange County Santa Ana
2000 2004
Change
2000–04
2000 2004
Change
2000–04
Voucher Program Characteristics by LHA, 2000 and 2004
Age 62 or older (%) 30.0 39.0 9.0 27.0 34.0 7.0
Minority (%) 56.0 57.0 1.0 88.0 87.0 – 1.0
Average number of people in unit 2.8 2.4 – 0.4 3.4 2.9 – 0.5
Average annual household income ($) 14,800 15,700 900 15,600 17,200 1,600
Average tenant portion of monthly rent ($) 382 383 1 370 423 53
Total units 8,169 9,619 1,450 2,033 2,558 525
Occupied units (%) 79.0 98.0 19.0 93.0 99.0 6.0
Reporting (%) 100.0 91.0 – 9.0 97.0 86.0 – 11.0
LHA = local housing authority.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “A Picture of Subsidized Households.” Available at http://www.
huduser.org/portal/datasets/assthsg.html.

144
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
in the units subsidized by vouchers during the 4-year period, with the SAHA exhibiting a slightly
greater decrease. Interestingly, although voucher holders’ average annual household income in -
creased for both LHAs during the period, the SAHA showed a much greater increase than the OCHA
($900 versus $1,600).
15
Given the average income data, it is not surprising that the tenant portion
of the rent, on average, increased more for the SAHA ($53) than for the OCHA ($1) over time.
Descriptive Statistics and Analyses
The variables used in the analyses and their measurement are presented in exhibit 2. Most of the
variables come from the household survey. The exceptions are the neighborhood poverty rate,
which was downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau website; the annual household income and
monthly rent, which came from the LHA’s client file database; and the public school quality meas-
ure (average API score). Note that the average neighborhood poverty rate for the sample is 14.8
percent, which is relatively low compared with the conventional rate of 40 percent used to identify
concentrated poverty. The average API score for the sample is 665, however, much less than the
California Department of Education goal of 800 for all schools.
Moves in the HCVP, in nearly every case, are the choices of voucher holders.
16
Although this
research is primarily interested in the outcomes associated with those moves, it is helpful to briefly
consider whether moving choices are associated with any basic voucher-holder characteristics.
Exhibit 2
Variables Measurement Mean Std. Dev.
Descriptive Statistics for Variables Used in Analyses
Dependent variables
Neighborhood poverty rate Percentage of people in poverty 0.148 0.073
Employment status 1 = employed; 0 = not 0.489 0.500
Public school quality Average of school API scores 665.909 71.258
Independent variables
Mover 1 = moved in last 3 years; 0 = did not 0.334 0.472
Age In years 52.590 14.482
Gender 1 = male; 0 = female 0.458 0.498
Minority 1 = minority; 0 = White, not Hispanic 0.753 0.432
Foreign born 1 = foreign born; 0 = not 0.685 0.465
Marital status 1 = married; 0 = not 0.532 0.499
Child present 1 = child in household; 0 = none 0.650 0.477
Education 1 = high school gradute; 0 = not 0.667 0.472
Annual household income In dollars 16,184.740 8,208.897
Monthly rent In dollars 988.928 244.979
Lives in central city 1 = lives in Santa Ana; 0 = does not 0.178 0.383
API = Academic Performance Index. Std. Dev. = standard deviation.
N = 1,706.
15
This difference may be attributable to the larger population of seniors in the OCHA, because they are less likely to be
working and more likely to be on a fixed income.
16
An involuntary move can occur through eviction or if the housing unit falls below the quality or affordability standards of
the LHA.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
145Cityscape
Exhibit 3 presents a range of sociodemographic characteristics and one locational item (lives in
central city) for movers and nonmovers in the sample. For the most part, movers and nonmovers
appear to be very similar sociodemographically and in relation to location within the central city.
They differ on only age and rent. On average, movers tended to be younger and to pay more in
monthly rent.
The main analyses focus on a move within the past 3 years. Voucher holders may have moved
multiple times during this period, however, or they could have been anticipating a move in the
coming year. Because intentions to move and the frequency of moving are relevant to understand-
ing mobility and also because these characteristics are rarely discussed in studies of the HCVP, in
exhibit 4, I present this information for the voucher holders in the study. Voucher holders who
had not moved and voucher households that had moved three or more times in the past 3 years
were less likely to be planning a move in the upcoming year; however, a chi-square analysis found
no statistically significant association between frequency of moves and intention to move among
these voucher holders.
Exhibit 3
Voucher-Holder
Characteristics
Mover Nonmover Total
N % N % N %
Voucher Characteristics, by Mover Status
(a) Chi-Square (X
2
) Analysis
Male 261 33.4 521 65.5 782 45.8
Female 309 33.4 615 66.6 924 54.2
Minority 438 34.1 846 65.9 1284 75.3
Nonminority 132 31.3 290 68.7 422 24.7
Foreign born 375 32.1 794 67.9 1169 68.5
Not foreign born 195 36.3 342 63.7 537 31.5
Married 289 31.9 618 68.1 907 53.2
Not married 281 35.2 518 64.8 799 46.8
Child present 363 63.7 207 36.3 570 33.4
No child present 745 65.6 391 34.4 1136 66.6
High school graduate 375 33.0 762 67.0 1137 66.6
Not a high school graduate 195 34.3 374 65.7 569 33.4
Lives in central city 99 32.6 205 67.4 304 17.8
Does not live in central city 471 33.6 931 66.4 1402 82.2
Voucher-Holder
Charactistics
Mover
Mean
Nonmover
Mean
Mean
Difference
t
(b) Difference of Means (t-test)
Age 51.185 53.295 – 2.100 – 2.845**
Annual household income 16005.003 16274.925 – 269.922 – 0.640
Rent 1036.144 965.237 70.970 5.691***
**p ≤ .01. ***p ≤ .001.
Notes: Based on Chi-square analyses (p = .05). No statistically significant associations exist between moving and these
voucher-holder characteristics.

146
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
The next set of analyses explores the factors associated with neighborhood poverty levels, employ -
ment status, and school quality, with a particular interest in the effect of moving on these outcomes.
The degree of poverty in a neighborhood is thought to affect individual outcomes in numerous
ways. Mobility out of poverty is one approach to addressing negative outcomes, but although the
HCVP is designed to enable mobility, it does not require voucher holders to move in general or to
move to lower poverty neighborhoods. Thus, it is unclear whether a policy of residential choice
can achieve lower neighborhood poverty rates for voucher holders. To investigate this question, a
linear regression model was specified with neighborhood poverty level
17
as the dependent variable
and a set of voucher-holder sociodemographics—rent, central city location, and, the primary vari-
able of interest, whether the voucher holder had moved in the past 3 years—as the independent
variables. The results of the analysis are shown in exhibit 5.
The coefficient for “mover” has a negative sign but is not statistically significant. Thus, the analysis
indicates that movers, as compared with nonmovers, did not live in neighborhoods with lower
poverty levels. Six variables in the analysis are associated with the neighborhood poverty rate, how -
ever. As the age of voucher holders increases, neighborhood poverty levels tend to decrease on
Exhibit 4
Moving Behavior
Plan To Move No Plan To Move Total
N % N % N %
Moving Intentions and Frequency of Moves
No moves 219 19.3 917 80.7 1,136 66.6
One move 105 24.0 333 76.0 438 25.7
Two moves 24 24.5 74 75.5 98 5.7
Three or more moves 7 20.6 27 79.4 34 2.0
Chi-square = 5.082, with 3 degrees of freedom (not statistically significant).
17
To address a skewed distribution, the original neighborhood poverty rate data were transformed using the natural log
function.
Exhibit 5
Variable Estimate Standard Error
Linear Regression: Neighborhood Poverty Rate
Mover – 0.006 0.028
Age – 0.003* 0.001
Gender 0.101*** 0.029
Minority 0.236*** 0.035
Foreign born 0.033 0.035
Marital status 0.044 0.031
Child present 0.177*** 0.039
High school graduate – 0.054 0.028
Annual household income (ln) – 0.023 0.024
Rent – 0.001*** 0.000
Lives in central city 0.330*** 0.035
ln = natural log.
R
2
= 0.151.
* p ≤ .05. *** p ≤ .001.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
147Cityscape
average. This result may be because of more knowledge, based on additional years of life experi-
ence, or it may be that older people experience a greater degree of landlord acceptance in more
affluent neighborhoods. Males tended to locate in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates, which
may reflect a tendency to conflate poverty with personal safety and the different perceptions of
safety by men and women. Minorities generally lived in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates.
This finding is consistent with the existing literature and may be because of several factors, including
discrimination, lack of information, or availability and location of support networks. Voucher house -
holds with children also lived in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates. Again, discrimination
and the availability and location of support networks might help explain this result. Not surpris-
ingly, as voucher holders’ rents increase, on average, neighborhood poverty levels decrease. We
would expect rent to reflect not only housing unit attributes, but also neighborhood characteristics.
Finally, as found in previous analyses and generally accepted in the literature, living in a (low-
income) central city is associated with higher neighborhood poverty rates.
Reducing barriers to employment is one reason the HCVP policies shifted to enable easier mobility
for voucher holders. In other words, higher employment levels are more likely if the voucher holder
can move closer to job opportunities without losing housing assistance. Given this reasoning, it is
possible that movers would be employed more often than nonmovers. To investigate this possibility,
a logistic regression model was specified with employed or not as the dependent variable and the
same set of independent variables used in the previous analysis. The results from this regression
are shown in exhibit 6.
The analysis indicates that movers are no more likely to be employed than nonmovers. As suggested
in the MTO analysis, it may be that movers are relatively recently moved and experiencing an adjust -
ment period before finding employment. It may also be that the move was related to considerations
other than employment. Six variables in the model have statistically significant coefficients. As a
voucher holder’s age increases, he or she is less likely to be employed. Being foreign born, being
married, having a child present, and graduating from high school are all positively associated with
being employed. As expected, having a higher income is associated with having a job. Living in the
Variable Estimate Standard Error
Mover 0.077 0.113
Age – 0.024*** 0.005
Gender – 0.028 0.121
Minority 0.023 0.144
Foreign born 0.305* 0.146
Marital status 0.413*** 0.128
Child present 0.665*** 0.155
High school graduate 0.356** 0.155
Annual household income (ln) 0.438*** 0.109
Rent 0.000 0.000
Lives in central city – 0.300* 0.145
ln = natural log.
R
2
= 0.175.
* p ≤ .05. ** p ≤ .01. *** p ≤ .001.
Exhibit 6
Logistic Regression: Employment Status

148
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
central city again is associated with a negative outcome. Voucher holders living in Santa Ana are
about 26 percent less likely to be employed than voucher holders living outside this central city.
18
The outcomes for children of voucher holders have been a central concern of policymakers. The
assumption is that children will receive a better education by moving to neighborhoods with
higher quality schools. To assess if voucher holders’ moves in this study’s sample are associated
with higher school quality, I conducted a linear regression analysis with public school quality as
the dependent variable and with the same set of independent variables used in the two previous
models. Exhibit 7 displays the results from the regression analysis.
The model shows that moving is not associated with school quality. Again, it may be that movers
relocated for reasons other than to gain access to better schools. Age, having a high school educa-
tion, and paying more in rent are positively associated with better school quality. The models
reveal that minorities are served by lower performing schools; specifically, being a minority is
associated with a 16-point lower average API score compared with the nonminority average API
score. The greatest decrease in school quality, however, is associated with living in the central
city; these voucher holders, on average, experience an API score of 17 points less than voucher
households living outside the central city. Lastly, the presence of a child in the household is not
related to higher school quality.
19
This result is somewhat perplexing but could be related to a lack
of knowledge about school quality, or it may be that parents have other equally pressing consider-
ations when making a relocation decision.
The results of the preceding analyses show no differences between movers and nonmovers for
the three outcomes under study. Nonetheless, movers may have improved their circumstances
from before to after a move. To explore this possibility, paired sample t-tests were conducted to
18
The value is 1 minus the exponentiation of the coefficient for “lives in central city” [1 - exp (- 0.300)].
19
I conducted an alternative regression to assess if movers with children experienced better school quality than nonmovers
with and without children. The results were not statistically significant.
Exhibit 7
Variable Estimate Standard Error
Linear Regression: Public School Quality
Mover – 0.540 3.470
Age 0.331* 0.147
Gender – 8.721* 3.699
Minority – 15.853*** 4.525
Foreign born 2.736 4.559
Marital status – 5.520 3.932
Child present – 0.048 4.837
High school graduate 7.510* 3.529
Annual household income (ln) 2.137 3.409
Rent 0.034*** 0.008
Lives in central city – 78.369*** 4.248
ln = natural log.
N = 1,552.
R
2
= 0.223.
* p ≤ .05. *** p ≤ .001.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
149Cityscape
compare the poverty rate and school quality before and after moves. Also, to determine if employ-
ment status before and after a move were associated, I conducted a chi-square analysis. Exhibit 8
contains the results of these analyses.
Movers did experience improvements in their neighborhood poverty rate and in school quality.
Although the t-statistic is significant, however, the magnitude of the improvement is rather small
(a less than 1-percent reduction in the neighborhood poverty rate and about a 7-point increase on
the API index). The results for employment before and after moves are very discouraging. Before
moving, 73.0 percent of the voucher holders worked; after moving, that number dropped to 52.2
percent. Also, only 15 voucher holders who moved went from unemployed before moving to em-
ployed after moving. The results from this sample clearly provide no evidence that voucher holders
move for employment opportunities.
Exhibit 8
Outcomes
Before
Move
After
Move
Mean
Difference
t
Before Move
After Move
Total
Employed Unemployed
Differences Before and After Moving
(a) Paired Sample t-test
(b) Chi-Square Analysis
Neighborhood poverty rate (N = 525) 0.155 0.146 – 0.009 – 2.330*
Public school quality (N = 480) 658.042 665.004 6.961 2.164*
Employed 263 126 389
(73.0%)
Unemployed 15 129 144
(27.0%)
Total 278 255 533
(52.2%) (47.8%) (100.0%)
* p ≤ .05.
Chi-square = 137.763, with 1 degree of freedom (p = .000).
Research and Policy Implications
Taken as a whole, the literature provides a mixed narrative on mobility, and the results from this
study do not change the story. The lack of differences for neighborhood poverty level, employment,
and school quality outcomes between HCVP movers and nonmovers may mean that mobility is not
based on these outcomes and that our assumptions about the reasons for mobility are inaccurate
or incomplete. Understanding the reasons for voucher holders’ moves in the regular HCVP is an
important step in assessing voucher holders’ needs and improving program goals. Researchers need
to better understand voucher holders’ decisions about residential location and the tradeoffs they
make during their housing search. With this knowledge, researchers can better design studies, not
only to evaluate a range of standard outcomes, as done for MTO, but also to assess the degree to
which voucher holders achieve their desired outcomes in the HCVP.

150
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
One result from the multivariate models that is consistent across outcomes was location in the
central city. It is clear that voucher holders living in the central city, at least in Orange County,
experienced a cluster of negative outcomes compared with the outcomes of voucher holders living
outside the central city. This result suggests that future research on the HCVP should include
analyses of the effect of moving within and out of central cities, including relatively smaller central
cities and central cities in suburban environments such as Orange County.
Voucher holders’ locational choices in Orange County and elsewhere may be constrained to a few
relatively similar neighborhoods. In other words, moving would not change outcomes dramatically.
Such an interpretation about the lack of differences between HCVP movers and nonmovers is con -
sistent with the results comparing mover-only outcomes before and after their residential relocation.
Although neighborhood poverty rate and school quality improved, the improvements were quite
minimal. As such, it is reasonable to suggest that these marginal changes likely have no discernible 

positive effects on the lives of voucher holders or their children. The burden for HCVP administra-
tors is to work on opening up new neighborhoods that offer more opportunities to voucher holders,
although doing so is a tall order for LHAs that have struggled in the past convincing landlords to
accept voucher recipients.
Mobility may be a mechanism for low-income people to achieve better neighborhoods and access
new opportunities. Programmatic and structural changes are necessary, however, for mobility to
have a good chance at achieving certain outcomes in the HCVP. Moreover, we cannot expect rapid
change from mobility out of low-income neighborhoods. Generations of disadvantage created
intergenerational poverty, and it will take generations of advantage to change the status quo.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the staff and voucher holders of the Santa Ana Housing Authority and the
Orange County Housing Authority for their contributions to this study. The research was made
possible through funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The
author is solely responsible for the accuracy of her statements and interpretations, which do not
necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. government.
Author
Victoria Basolo is an associate professor in the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design at the
University of California, Irvine.
References
Basolo, Victoria, and Mai Thi Nguyen. 2009. “Immigrants’ Housing Search and Neighborhood
Conditions: A Comparative Analysis of Housing Choice Voucher Holders,” Cityscape 11 (3): 99–126.
———. 2005. “Does Mobility Matter? The Neighborhood Conditions of Housing Voucher Holders
by Race and Ethnicity,” Housing Policy Debate 16 (3/4): 297–324.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
151Cityscape
Bolt, Gideon, and Ronald Van Kempen. 2011. “Successful Mixing? Effects of Urban Restructuring
Policies in Dutch Neighbourhoods,” Tijdschrift Voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 102 (3): 361–368.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza, Susan J. Popkin, and John Goering. 2010. Moving to Opportunity: The Story
of an American Experiment To Fight Ghetto Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
Briggs, Xavier de Souza, and Margery Austin Turner. 2006. “Assisted Housing Mobility and the
Success of Low-Income Minority Families: Lessons for Policy, Practice, and Future Research,”
Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy 1 (1): 25–61.
Climaco, Carissa G., Christopher N. Rodger, Judith D. Feins, and Ken Lam. 2008. “Portability
Moves in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, 1998–2005,” Cityscape 10 (1): 5–40.
DeLuca, Stefanie, Greg J. Duncan, Micere Keels, and Ruby M. Mendenhall. 2010. “Gautreaux
Mothers and Their Children: An Update,” Housing Policy Debate 20 (1): 7–25.
DeMaio, Theresa J. 1980. “Refusals: Who, Where and Why,” Public Opinion Quarterly 44 (2): 223–233.
Dillman, Don A. 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, 2nd ed. New York:
J. Wiley & Sons.
Duncan, Greg J., and Anita Zuberi. 2006. “Mobility Lessons From Gautreaux and Moving to
Opportunity,” Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy 1 (1): 110–126.
Gans, Herbert J. 2011. “The Moynihan Report and Its Aftermaths: A Critical Analysis,” Du Bois
Review-Social Science Research on Race 8 (2): 315–327.
Gill, Andrea M.K. 2012. “Moving to Integration? The Origins of Chicago’s Gautreaux Program and
the Limits of Voucher-Based Housing Mobility,” Journal of Urban History 38 (4): 662–686.
Goering, John, Judith D. Feins, and Todd M. Richardson. 2003. “What Have We Learned About
Housing Mobility and Poverty Deconcentration?” In Choosing a Better Life? Evaluating the Moving
to Opportunity Social Experiment, edited by John Goering and Judith D. Feins. Washington, DC:
Urban Institute: 3–36.
Hennigan, Karen M., Cheryl L. Maxson, David Sloane, and Molly Ranney. 2002. “Community Views
on Crime and Policing: Survey Mode Effects on Bias in Community Surveys,” Justice Quarterly
19 (3): 565–587.
Jargowsky, Paul A. 1997. Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios and the American City. New York: Russell
Sage Foundation.
Joseph, Mark L., Robert J. Chaskin, and Henry S. Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Ad-
dressing Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Keels, Micere. 2008. “Neighborhood Effects Examined Through the Lens of Residential Mobility
Programs,” American Journal of Community Psychology 42: 235–250.
Kleit, Rachel Garshick. 2005. “HOPE VI New Communities: Neighborhood Relationships in
Mixed-Income Housing,” Environment and Planning A 37 (8): 1413–1441.

152
Basolo
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Kleit, Rachel Garshick, and Lynne C. Manzo. 2006. “To Move or Not To Move: Relationships to
Place and Relocation Choices in HOPE VI,” Housing Policy Debate 17 (2): 271–308.
Krysan, Maria, Howard Schuman, Lesli Jo Scott, and Paul Beatty. 1994. “Response Rates and
Response Content in Mail Versus Face-To-Face Surveys,” Public Opinion Quarterly 58 (3): 381–399.
Lazo, Alejandro. 2012. “Median Home Price in Southland Climbs,” Los Angeles Times, October 13, B1.
Lefebvre, Henri. 1991. The Production of Space. English translation. Oxford, United Kingdom:
Wiley-Blackwell.
Lewis, Oscar. 1966. La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty. New York: Random
House.
———. 1959. Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the Culture of Poverty. New York: Basic Books.
Ludwig, Jens. 2012. “Guest Editor’s Introduction,” symposium on Moving to Opportunity,
Cityscape 14 (2): 1–28.
Massey, Douglas S., and Robert J. Sampson. 2009. “Moynihan Redux: Legacies and Lessons,”
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 621: 6–27.
McClure, Kirk. 2010. “The Prospects for Guiding Housing Choice Voucher Households to High-
Opportunity Neighborhoods,” Cityscape 12 (3): 101–122.
———. 2008. “Deconcentrating Poverty With Housing Programs,” Journal of the American Planning
Association 74 (1): 90–99.
Mendenhall, Ruby, Stefanie DeLuca, and Greg Duncan. 2006. “Neighborhood Resources and
Economic Mobility: Results From the Gautreaux Program,” Social Science Research 35: 892–923.
O’Connor, Alice. 2001. Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy, and the Poor in Twentieth-
Century U.S. History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Pendall, Rolf. 2000. “Why Voucher and Certificate Users Live in Distressed Neighborhoods,”
Housing Policy Debate 11 (4): 881–910.
Polikoff, Alexander. 2006. Waiting for Gautreaux. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Popkin, Susan J., and Mary K. Cunningham. 2002. CHA Relocation Counseling Assessment. Final
report. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Rosenbaum, James E. 1995. “Changing the Geography of Opportunity by Expanding Residential
Choice: Lessons From the Gautreaux Program,” Housing Policy Debate 6 (1): 231–269.
Sanbonmatsu, Lisa, Jens Ludwig, Larry F. Katz, Lisa A. Gennetian, Greg J. Duncan, Ronald C.
Kessler, Emma Adam, Thomas W. McDade, and Stacy Tessler Lindau. 2011. Moving to Opportunity
for Fair Housing Demonstration Program: Final Impacts Evaluation. Report prepared by the National
Bureau of Economic Research for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office
of Policy Development and Research. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.

Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Neighborhood Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality
153Cityscape
Sanbonmatsu, Lisa, Jordan Marvakov, Nicholas A. Potter, Fanghua Yang, Emma Adam, William
J. Congdon, Greg J. Duncan, Lisa A. Gennetian, Lawrence F. Katz, Jeffrey R. Kling, Ronald C.
Kessler, Stacy Tessler Lindau, Jens Ludwig, and Thomas W. McDade. 2012. “The Long-Term
Effects of Moving to Opportunity on Adult Health and Economic Self-Sufficiency,” Cityscape
14 (2): 109–136.
Sautkina, Elena, Lyndal Bond, and Ade Kearns. 2012. “Mixed Evidence on Mixed Tenure Effects:
Findings From a Systematic Review of UK Studies, 1995–2009,” Housing Studies 27 (6): 748–782.
Schultheis, Eric, Gregory Russ, and Carolina Lucey. 2012. “Using Administrative Data for Spatial
and Longitudinal Analysis of the Housing Choice Voucher Program,” Cityscape 14 (3): 195–205.
Varady, David. 2010. “What Should Housing Vouchers Do? A Review of the Recent Literature,”
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 25: 391–407.
Williamson, Anne R., Marc T. Smith, and Marta Strambi-Kramer. 2009. “Housing Choice Vouchers,
the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and the Federal Poverty Deconcentration Goal,” Urban Affairs
Review 45 (1): 119–132.
Wilson, William Julius. 2009. “The Moynihan Report and Research on the Black Community,”
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 621: 34–46.
———. 1992. “Another Look at the Truly Disadvantaged,” Political Science Quarterly 106 (4):
639–656.
———. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.

154 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

155Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Mobility Decisions of Very
Low-Income Households
Kimberly Skobba
University of Georgia
Edward G. Goetz
University of Minnesota
Introduction
Much public policy attention during the past 20 years has been directed toward the neighborhood
environment of very low-income families. In particular, housing-policy strategies have been driven
by the ways in which the community environments of very low-income families can limit life
chances and increase the likelihood of a range of negative outcomes. Concerns ranging from expo-
sure to environmental toxins to crime victimization have influenced housing policies. The limited
Abstract
Policies that support mixed-income housing and neighborhoods are based on the assump -
tion that most lower income families would both choose and benefit from moving to op-
portunity neighborhoods. Opponents of housing dispersal policies have challenged this
assumption as unrealistic, oversimplistic, or incorrect. Both sides of this debate, however,
share a fundamental assumption about the mobility of very low-income households that
may be problematic. Each perspective assumes a degree of agency on the part of very
low-income households in which housing outcomes are the result of considered choices
among a set of alternatives. In this article, we examine the role of neighborhood environ -
ment in the mobility decisions of a group of very low-income families. We find that the
assumption of choice among alternatives does not hold widely for the very low-income
families in our study. Relationships, rather than neighborhoods, appear to be the driving
factor in residential mobility and decisionmaking. As a result, neighborhood environ-
ment often plays a marginal role in the families’ assessment of their own housing and in
their mobility decisions. We discuss the implications of housing policies that, although
seeking to improve the conditions for very low-income families, disrupt vital social sup-
port systems that help families meet basic needs.

156
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
economic opportunities and low-quality public services (such as education) of highly distressed
neighborhoods are also seen reinforcing patterns of poverty (see, for example, Ellen and Turner,
1997; Jencks and Mayer, 1990). Informed by a range of studies demonstrating the importance of
neighborhood environment for individual outcomes, policymakers have stressed either the geographic
dispersal of assisted households out of high-poverty neighborhoods and into neighborhoods of op -
portunity or the redevelopment of assisted housing into mixed-income developments (see Briggs,
Popkin, and Goering, 2010; Cisneros and Engdahl, 2009). Strategies for dealing with the housing
needs of very low-income households have thus increasingly addressed the question of neighborhood
and the access of such households to neighborhoods with greater opportunities and fewer constraints.
The shifting of housing assistance to mixed-income developments or the dispersal of subsidized
units assumes that all or by far most lower income families would benefit from and be willing to
make the move if given the chance. Some, however, have challenged the assumption that very
low-income families will invariably choose to move to opportunity neighborhoods as unrealistic,
oversimplistic, or simply incorrect. Citing the importance of social support networks, place iden-
tification, and the advantages of centrally located neighborhoods, many have argued that mobility
preferences among low-income residents are not so monolithic with respect to neighborhood (see
Goetz, 2013a; Manzo, Kleit, and Couch, 2008).
Both sides of this debate, however, share a fundamental assumption about the mobility of very low-
income households that may be problematic. Each perspective assumes a degree of agency on the
part of very low-income households, in the sense that housing outcomes are seen as the result
of considered choices among a set of alternatives that are understood, at least implicitly, by the
households in question. In this article, we examine the role of neighborhood environment in the
mobility decisions of a group of very low-income families. We find that the assumption of choice
alternatives does not hold widely for very low-income families. As a result, neighborhood environ-
ment often plays a marginal role in such families’ assessment of their own housing and in their
mobility decisions.
The Nature of Mobility for Very Low-Income Households
For very low-income people, reliance on informal (nonmarket) strategies is vital for meeting basic
needs. Social scientists have understood this fact for decades. In 1945 Drake and Cayton (1945:
581) wrote of African-American families in disadvantaged neighborhoods as “mutual aid societies,
originated and maintained by economic necessity.” More recent studies of low-income single parents
have continued to document the extensive degree to which they supplement income from paid work
or welfare with income earned in informal markets or with cash or noncash benefits from a “private
safety net” (Dominguez and Watkins, 2003; Kalil and Ryan, 2010; Sigle-Rushton and McLanahan,
2002; Edin and Lein, 1997; Stack, 1974). When affordable housing is unavailable and a household
lacks the financial resources to secure housing in the private market, family, friends, and partners
are a frequent source of support (Clampet-Lundquist, 2003; Cook et al., 2002; Skobba, 2008).
Lacking the financial resources to secure a place to live, low-income families often resort to hous-
ing that is both precarious and unsatisfactory. Clampet-Lundquist (2003) argued that low-income
single mothers must be creative in seeking housing security. Securing informal housing assistance

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
157Cityscape
by doubling up with family, friends, and unrelated roommates is one of the few options available to
low-income families who face problems of housing affordability and availability (Cook et al., 2002;
Fitchen, 1992). Leopold (2012), for example, found that 40 percent of surveyed very low-income
households on waiting lists for housing assistance were living doubled up with family or friends.
More than one-half of the households that were living with friends reported that they had gone
without their own place to stay at some point during the previous 12-month period. Without a
place to live, many reported turning to shelters and living on the streets. Although it often results
in crowded and undesirable housing conditions, doubling up with mothers, boyfriends, or others
is a common method of securing housing, particularly for low-income single mothers (Clampet-
Lundquist, 2003). All the women in Clampet-Lundquist’s (2003) study of public housing residents
had lived with their mothers at one point or another after the birth of their children. Dominguez
and Watkins (2003) found the same for a sample of very low-income mothers younger than age 30.
Other research has shown that relatively few low-income single mothers fit the profile of living sin-
gly and raising their families. London’s (2000) analysis of the 1990 Survey of Income and Program
Participation database revealed that more than one-third of such women lived with parents or
family, with a partner, or in a group household. Sigle-Rushton and McLanahan (2002) found that
roughly one-half of the households in the “Fragile Families” database lived in composite-household
arrangements. Although one-third of those households lived in nuclear family arrangements and
17 percent were in single-adult households, another one-third lived in group situations and 15
percent lived in what the researchers called the “partner-plus” arrangement—with a partner and
other adults as well. Joint living arrangements among single mothers are most prevalent, as might
be expected, in more expensive or tighter housing markets (Sigle-Rushton and McLanahan, 2002).
Informal exchanges are dependent on interpersonal relationships. The primacy of relationships in
informal modes of exchange is especially true in housing, where informality means shared living
space. The maintenance of connections thus becomes important, and housing accommodations
can become dependent on the condition and quality of key interpersonal relationships. Anderson
and Imle (2001) found, for example, that connections to an extended family member are frequently
all that distinguishes homeless from housed women of limited means. Venkatesh’s (2006) study of
informal work in the Chicago ghetto points to the many ways in which informality strains relation-
ships and the ways in which relationships can suffer. Often, conflicts are based on small disagree-
ments, but such disagreements can be enlarged through repeated and prolonged exposure and
because of the stress associated with living on the margin. Liebow (1967) and Rainwater (1970)
noted decades ago that social relationships in conditions of extreme poverty can be characterized
by ambivalence and mistrust. Nearly all studies of informal support have noted that private safety
nets are unpredictable and inconsistent (Curley, 2009; Kalil and Ryan, 2010; Radey and Padilla,
2009; Sigle-Rushton and McLanahan, 2002). As noted previously, home sharing amplifies issues of
conflict that are always just below the surface in relationships of social support. Overcrowding and
lack of privacy can erode mutually supportive relationships more quickly than private safety-net
relationships that do not involve cohabitation. Thus, the informal agreements that represent the
foundation of housing for many very low-income families are inherently unstable, especially when
doubling up “occurs in stressful, overcrowded conditions where people struggle to make ends
meet” (Rollins, Saris, and Johnston-Robledo, 2001: 283). The difficult conditions of home sharing
can strain relationships, leading to further disruptions in household composition and to further
residential instability as households split and some members move away.

158
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
As a result of the foregoing reasons, not only do very low-income households frequently lack choice
in their move into housing—needing to cobble together shared accommodations with others who
are willing—but they often lack choice in their move out of housing. In a study of the residential
mobility patterns of 256 low-income families living in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, Clark
(2010) found that most moves were because of push factors, with forced moves, union dissolution,
household conflict, and overcrowding the most prevalent forces triggering moves. Lack of housing
affordability and quality are also common precursors to involuntary moves for low-income families.
In a study of the housing careers of low-income families, participants described a high proportion
of moves as being forced moves (Skobba, 2008). These moves typically came about through eviction,
the sale of the unit, damage to the property, or being forced out by the friends or family with whom
they were living. Instances of forced mobility continued to represent a relatively large portion of
moves even after participants received a voucher, suggesting that low-income households are vulner -
able even when affordability is not a factor. Mental health problems, domestic violence, cohabitation,
and chemical dependency are also risk factors for involuntary moves (Phinney et al., 2007).
Mobility decisions made (or forced) under such circumstances are likely to be the result of quick
improvisation rather than a careful search strategy. Clampet-Lundquist (2003) found, for example,
that only one-third of the low-income public housing residents she studied conducted a formal
housing search when they moved. Furthermore, searches under these conditions, to the extent
that they occur, are likely to emphasize and use personal safety nets rather than considerations of
neighborhood quality and geographies of opportunity.
Dominguez and Watkins (2003) noted the tendency of some households to move closer to family
to have better access to the supports provided by family members. Thus, reliance on private safety
nets and informality has implications for neighborhood choice and vice versa, although the relation -
ship is complex. Furstenburg (1993) found that kin networks were more prone to disruption in
“highly distressed” neighborhoods, which is similar to findings that, within low-income groups,
the strength of social supports and income exhibit a negative relationship (Harknett, 2006; Miller-
Cribbs and Farber, 2008). Equally, however, research has consistently found that physical proximity
is important to maintaining social support networks and for accessing those supports (see Brown
and Gary, 1987; Roschelle, 1997; Rossi and Rossi, 1990; Wellman and Gulia, 1999).
Residential instability can actually disrupt social networks and damage a household’s ability to main -
tain the cash and in-kind benefits gained from private safety nets (Harknett, 2006). Research on
recent programs that focused on dispersing subsidized households has shown that the very low-
income families displaced from their communities suffer disruption in their social networks (see,
for example, Clampet-Lundquist, 2004; Curley, 2009; Greenbaum et al., 2008; Keene and Geroni-
mus, 2011), suggesting that whatever benefits may be produced by moving to other—presumably
better—neighborhoods must be weighed against the potential disruption of private safety nets
(Dawkins, 2006).
Indeed, evidence suggests that the presence of relatives nearby is associated with lower mobility
rates among low-income people (for example, Myers, 2000). Dawkins (2006: 878) found that
mobility among low-income residents “is impacted most by whether the household has received
in-kind assistance from someone in the most recent month.” Being closer to relatives is, according
to Long, Tucker, and Urton (1988), among the most frequently mentioned reasons for mobility
decisions (see also Connerly, 1986).

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
159Cityscape
Similarly, those dependent on income from informal work need to position themselves in neighbor -
hoods where that type of work exists and where the informal market flourishes. Not all neighbor-
hoods are equally receptive to or suitable for small-scale informal businesses such as beauty salons
or food preparation. Venkatesh (2006) noted the nearly constant concern related to finding space
where one engaged in the informal sector can set up shop and build and maintain a clientele.
Based on previous research on the mobility experiences of very low-income families, we expect
patterns of mobility among low-income families that emphasize the role of personal safety nets in
searching for and securing housing, instability (that is, frequent moves), and a prevalence of informal
housing solutions. These factors produce mobility dynamics that are mostly independent of neighbor -
hood concerns.
Methods
We explore the long-term housing experiences of a group of very low-income families living in
Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The sequence of housing an individual occupies during a
long period is known as a housing career (Clark, Deurloo, and Dieleman, 2003; Kendig, 1990). Our
long-view study of family residential mobility patterns reveals how very low-income families secure
housing over time, reveals how that varies during the life cycle, and provides a better understand-
ing of where people live, why they live there, and what they accomplish by moving. Overall, 48
participants took part in interviews in 2009. The data for one participant were removed because of
that participant’s inability to provide complete and accurate information. This study uses original
data collected from 47 participants, including 35 women and 12 men. These 47 participants com-
prised two study groups, 33 participants who were living in subsidized housing and 14 who were on
the waiting list. A smaller subset of 15 participants, 10 from the subsidized group and 5 from the
waitlisted group, were selected to take part in five additional interviews during the course of a year.
Participants living in subsidized housing were recruited with the assistance of a nonprofit organiza -
tion that manages more than 900 subsidized rental units with and without services in Minneapolis
and Saint Paul. The participants on the waiting list were recruited with the assistance of a metro-
politanwide housing authority that administers a Housing Choice Voucher Program and refers
families on its waiting list to owners of project-based assisted properties. Prospective participants
were considered eligible for the study if they were living in subsidized housing or were on a wait-
ing list, had children living in the household, were fluent in English, and had the ability to recall
past information with relative accuracy. The housing organizations applied these criteria when
developing their samples. Recruitment letters were mailed to prospective participants, who were
then selected on a first-come, first-served basis.
All participants took part in an initial interview to gather information about their housing careers.
The study used a modified life-history calendar approach, which is used specifically for the collec -
tion of retrospective data, using residence as the organizing timeline. During the interviews, partic -
ipants provided a detailed account of the housing accommodations in which they had lived from the
time they first lived independently to the time of the interview. The interview procedure included a
series of questions about each residence designed to gather detailed information on the participants’
current and past housing accommodations and their life circumstances and employment while living

160
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
in each place. Throughout the interview process, the researcher and participant worked together to
construct a visual timeline of residences. The interviewer used prompts to help the participant link
their housing to other landmark events, such as the birth of a child, marriage, or a job change to help
participants recall an accurate timeline. Life-history calendars improve the quality of retrospective
data by (1) helping the respondents visually and mentally reconstruct their historical timeline and
(2) using readily remembered events as a reference point for remembering less salient events (Belli,
1998; Freedman et al., 1988).
Sample Characteristics
As a collective, the participants whom we interviewed had extremely low incomes and irregular
work histories. The respondents were frequently unemployed; during the course of their housing
careers, they reported not having a job at least 31 percent of the time.
1
They supplemented their
wage earnings with income from other sources. They reported income from public assistance pro-
grams one-third of the time, from significant others or their parents 27.5 percent of the time, from
food stamps 13.0 percent of the time, from child support 10.0 percent of the time, and then from a
smattering of other sources including social security, disability, and unemployment insurance. The
incomes reported by the respondents were quite low. If we include those times when respondents
reported being unemployed and do not include income other than from public or private safety
net sources, the respondents had incomes of less than 30 percent of the Median Family Income
(MFI) in the region 91 percent of the time throughout their housing careers. Respondents had
incomes of less than 50 percent of MFI more than 97 percent of the time. Thus, for virtually all the
time since adulthood and the formation of their own households, our participants have had very
low or extremely low incomes.
Two-thirds of the respondents were single parents, 81 percent were people of color, 36 percent had
any education beyond high school, and only 8 percent had a post-high-school degree (see exhibit 1).
1
This percentage likely underrepresents the true extent of unemployment, because if participants were employed for
part of the time that they spent in a housing situation, we counted them as employed for the entire duration of their
accommodation.
Exhibit 1
Demographic N (%) Demographic N (%)
Sample Demographics
Female 36 (77)
Male 11 (23)
Married 2 (4)
Single 31 (66)
Divorced/separated 12 (26)
Widow 2 (4)
African American 32 (68)
White 9 (19)
Hispanic 1 (2)
Native American 2 (4)
African 2 (4)
Multiracial 1 (2)
GED = general equivalency degree. HS = high school.
College graduate 2 (4)
2-year or vocational graduate 2 (4)
Some college 13 (28)
HS graduate or GED 19 (40)
Less than HS graduate 11 (23)
No children 5 (15)
One child 13 (38)
Two children 9 (26)
Three or more children 7 (21)
Younger than age 17 at move out 4 (8)
Age 17 to 20 34 (73)
Age 21 or older at move out 9 (19)

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
161Cityscape
The data collected in this study offer the ability to track the paths of very low-income households
through neighborhoods and to analyze their mobility decisions. By geocoding the location of each
residence, we are also able to track the path taken through and across the urban neighborhoods
inhabited by our interviewees. We look at neighborhood conditions as a component of the housing
experience; we asked questions about neighborhood quality, neighborhood satisfaction, and the
role of neighborhood in housing mobility decisions. We are also able to look at objective, census-
based indicators of neighborhood quality to help characterize the residential experience of people
at all stages of the housing careers.
In this article, we examine the role of neighborhood in the housing decisions and outcomes of this
group. The use of this small and nonrandom sample precludes generalization to a larger group of
lower income households. The data we analyze do, however, provide significant insight into the
factors that influence mobility choices among very low-income households.
Findings
Instability
The 47 people in our study had an average housing career of 22 years by the time we interviewed
them. As a result, we have detailed housing and household information for 1,034 person years
for this population. The 47 people we studied reported 682 different accommodations or living
arrangements. As a whole, then, the participants in this study were extremely mobile, with a sub -
stantial number exhibiting what could be termed hypermobility. The average accommodation lasted
only 16.8 months, although when weighted (accounting for the fact that some respondents had
more accommodations than others) the average increases to 20.2 months. Housing stability had no
overall tendency to increase over time for the participants of this study, as is typical of households
with more resources. Separating the first five accommodations for these participants from the rest
shows no statistically significant difference. Instability was common regardless of the type of accom -
modation. Formal rental arrangements lasted an average of 21 months, whereas informal housing
and shared arrangements lasted slightly less than 15 moths. Homeless spells were an average of
8 months in length.
The Importance of Interpersonal Relationships
Relationships, rather than neighborhoods, appear to be the driving factor in residential mobility
and decisionmaking for the low-income families in our study. In the absence of financial resources,
people are an essential source of capital. For very low-income households, support networks
become an important way for families to meet basic needs. The use of informal support networks
to meet housing needs is no exception.
The findings of our study are consistent with previous research on unassisted households. Doubling
up with family and friends accounted for 206 (30.2 percent) of the 682 housing arrangements
documented in the study, the second most common form of housing arrangement after rental
housing (43.5 percent). Most participants used informal housing assistance at some point in their
adult lives; 42 of the respondents (89 percent) reported doubling up at least once in their housing

162
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
careers. Participants in the study spent an average of 27.6 percent of their adult housing careers
living in informal housing arrangements; 11 participants spent more than one-half of their adult
housing career living in doubled-up accommodations. During the course of their adult lives, the
participants in the study spent an average of 64 months living in doubled up accommodations.
Two respondents had doubled up with family or friends 10 or more times in their careers. About
one-half of the participants moved back in with a parent at least once. These accommodations
tended to be shorter in duration, on average, than other forms of housing, suggesting the partici-
pants used living with their parents as a short-term form of housing assistance.
As the preceding figures suggest, the quality of the relationship often dictates the security and con-
ditions of the housing. Sometimes, supportive relationships with parents and friends offered stability
and security even when housing conditions were less than ideal. Kylie, a 28-year-old participant
with five children, describes moving back in with her mother off lease after being evicted because
of a noise violation from an apartment she rented with a boyfriend. Kylie and her two children
moved into her mother’s three-bedroom apartment in public housing along with her two younger
siblings. During the 5 years she lived with her mother, she had two more children. Although living
with eight people in a three-bedroom apartment must have been crowded, she describes being sat-
isfied living with her mother. Kylie liked the neighborhood and, although the apartment had some
mold problems, she felt that living with her mother met the needs of her family. Living with family
or friends sometimes provided additional support that was particularly helpful for single parents.
For example, Nancy, a 46-year-old female participant, moved in with another family while raising
her first child alone. She met a couple with children while living with her first child in a rented
apartment. They moved in with the other family in an off-lease arrangement. Nancy describes the
move as providing benefits for both families beyond affordability.
The convenience of helping each other with kids, and, I mean, they’ve been in the city and they
showed me the ropes. I helped her with her kids.
The two families subsequently moved together to a larger residence where everyone was on the
lease. Living with this couple was a practical arrangement that also seemed to reduce the feeling
of isolation that Nancy experienced when living alone with her daughter, but it was not perfect.
The other family’s housekeeping did not meet her standards. The arrangement ended when the
husband in the other family lost his job and they were all evicted.
Participants were cohabitating with a partner in 40 percent of the informal arrangements. In these
situations, the participant was living with a partner and often children, but the participant was not
on the lease or mortgage. These arrangements often resulted in a tenuous situation wherein insta-
b ility in the relationship created housing instability. When the relationship ended, something that
happened frequently for the participants in our study, the participant (and often children) was
forced to find another place to live. In some cases, participants (usually women) moved in with
men because they had run out of other options. Tiffany, for example, was pressured by her mother
to move out of the house after graduating from high school.
It was a house. It was a brand new area. My mom was pressuring me to move out. With resent
and spite, I moved in with him. … It didn’t work because, like I say, he became possessive and a
controlling dad. I didn’t have any say over anything. It was like every move I made, he wouldn’t
like it. … I wasn’t on the lease, but I just paid him half of the rent for staying there.

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
163Cityscape
Mobility Decisions
Informal housing arrangements, as compared with formal lease accommodations, tended to gener-
ate mobility for reasons more frequently related to interpersonal relationships. Study participants
reported that relationship issues prompted 25.2 percent of the subsequent moves from informal
accommodations compared with only 12.0 percent of moves from formal lease accommodations.
Conversely, formal housing arrangements (defined as a lease or mortgage contract) were much more
likely to result in moves that were prompted by cost or condition. Inability to pay was mentioned
more than three times as often (13.5 to 4.1 percent) as a reason for moving away from a leased
arrangement as from an informal accommodation, and conditions of the unit or neighborhood
nearly twice as frequently (18.7 to 10.9 percent).
We conceptualize forced moves as any move in which the participant did not have a choice; that
is, the move was not planned. These situations included those in which the participant’s actions
triggered a move, including evictions or lease terminations for behavior and starting or ending
a period of incarceration or participation in a chemical-dependency program. Moves in which
affordability problems resulted in eviction for nonpayment of rent or in a move back home with
parents were also considered forced moves, as were moves brought on when housing was con-
demned, sold, or foreclosed. Discretionary moves were those in which the participant had some
control over the move. Moving to establish an independent household, to improve housing and
neighborhood conditions, to pursue a new relationship, and for employment opportunities were
among the common types of discretionary moves. Some residential mobility patterns were neither
completely forced nor completely discretionary. Cases in which a participant moved because they
did not feel safe in the household or neighborhood because of poor housing conditions, or to take
care of an elderly relative are examples of moves that were not entirely voluntary. About 11 percent
of the moves were of this nature.
Overall, 547 of the moves documented in our study could be categorized as either forced or dis-
cretionary moves, of which 48 percent were forced moves. The most common reasons for forced
moves were related to the inability to afford the housing, the end of time-limited accommodations
(transitional housing, residential chemical dependency programs, and incarceration), relationship
problems (typically in doubled-up housing), and entry into jail or mandatory treatment programs.
The nature of these unplanned moves highlights both the issue of housing affordability for very
low-income families and the struggles that many face in their lives. Housing assistance appears to
reduce but not eliminate the likelihood of a forced move. Among all the documented forced moves
in our study, about 14 percent occurred when the participant had tenant or project-based housing
assistance. Overall, formal housing arrangements led to forced moves 49.2 percent of the time,
whereas informal arrangements resulted in forced mobility 38.9 percent of the time (χ
2
significant
at p < .05).
Forced Moves Beget Quick and Haphazard Searches
For very low-income households, residential mobility is more often an exercise in improvisation
than planned. In a typical rental housing search, a household takes stock of its finances, identifies
its housing and location needs and preferences, and then draws on a variety of tools, including ad-
vertisements, apartment search firms, housing authority lists, and networking to locate a home that

164
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
meets its needs and preferences. This process appears to be in place when low-income households
have access to tenant-based housing assistance, particularly when they receive housing-counseling
assistance (Teater, 2009). The findings from our study suggest that very low-income households
use different, often unconventional, strategies to find housing. The process prioritizes convenience
and necessity rather than being a choice among housing units that match a predetermined set
of criteria. The reason is probably twofold. First, forced moves often leave little time to conduct
a thorough housing search. Second, the affordability problems that our study families faced put
market rentals out of reach.
The experiences of the participants in our study suggest that very low-income households rely on
personal relationships, rather than a formal housing search process, to find a place to live. Most of
the time (61 percent), participants found their housing through family, a friend, or a previous land -
lord. Although networking is a common way in which people find housing, our participants’ hous-
ing searches differed in that they often found housing when the friend or family member offered
them a place to stay. For example, Samuel, a 48-year-old man with four children, was without a
place to stay when his girlfriend grew tired of having his children living in her home. After Samuel
and the children spent the night in a shelter, his children’s grandfather took them in, giving the
family of five a place to stay for a while. Situations like Samuel’s were common among the partici-
pants in our study. Looking at public sources of information about rents (that is, newspapers, real
estate agents, and apartment rental services) was less common, used for only 12 percent of the
moves. About 20 percent of the housing was found through a social service provider or housing-
authority waiting list. Housing searches are thus frequently based on personal relationships, family
connections, and the current social network of families.
Neighborhoods
Residence in a low-poverty neighborhood was a rare event for the participants of this study. Only
21 percent of the accommodations that could be geocoded (112 out of 534) were in neighborhoods
with poverty rates of less than 10 percent; another 25 percent were in neighborhoods with poverty
rates of between 10 and 20 percent. More than one-half of the accommodations, therefore, were in
neighborhoods with poverty rates of more than 20 percent, and 28 percent of the accommodations
were in areas where more than 30 percent of the population was below the poverty line. Prolonged
residence in a low-poverty neighborhood was rare as well. Only 14 of the participants (30 percent)
lived in two or more low-poverty neighborhoods consecutively. The rest (33 participants, or 70 per -
cent) would move into such a neighborhood occasionally, but their next move typically would be
out again to a higher poverty destination. For some of the participants who did have consecutive
accommodations in low-poverty neighborhoods, those accommodations came at the beginning of
their housing careers. Conversely, 74 percent of the respondents had consecutive accommodations
in high- or very high-poverty neighborhoods. Of the 47 participants, 26 were stuck in high-poverty
neighborhoods for most of their housing careers and 9 were rarely out of high-poverty environments.
Whereas access to housing in low-poverty neighborhoods has been the focus of housing policies
targeting low-income families, neighborhood conditions and the neighborhood social mix were
not the primary concerns for the participants in our study. Despite the fact that most of them spent
a considerable amount of their housing careers living in neighborhoods with moderate to high

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
165Cityscape
poverty rates, participants’ views of their neighborhoods were mostly positive. When respondents
were asked to describe the neighborhoods, 65 percent of the descriptions offered were positive.
Most commonly, respondents noted when they lived in a “quiet” neighborhood (11.0 percent),
lived in a neighborhood in which they had good relationships with their neighbors (6.0 percent),
or had a positive view of the mix of people more generally (5.0 percent). Safe neighborhoods (3.5
percent) and the presence of families (2.0 percent), whether their own or as a characteristic of the
neighborhood, were also viewed favorably.
It was quiet. Everybody got along with each other.
It was a good neighborhood, nice neighborhood. I wish I could raise my kids up in that neighbor-
hood now. It was a neighborhood for families bringing up small children.
The homeowners that were around us, I think, were older and had older kids, and the neighbor-
hood just wasn’t … because I know the bad parts and the good ones, you know. There wasn’t like
a lot of crime or anything around our neighborhood.
Although respondents cited fewer negative descriptors overall, those that were given indicate that
participants are unsatisfied living in neighborhoods that feel unsafe (9 percent), where drugs are
present (8 percent), or with a loud or boisterous environment (7 percent). When respondents had
something negative to say about their neighborhoods, they most frequently referred to the social
environment; 82 percent of the negative descriptors were about the social environment.
Rough. You had to watch your back … you might get shot, or gangbanging, or, basically, you live
day by day.
Just the neighborhood itself, it was just more people around doing drugs and whatever. Liquor
store on the corner, the local hangout or whatever. Oh, and there was a bar next door. … A lot of
people hung out at the bar and it was loud and stuff. ... I didn’t feel as safe as the other neighbor-
hoods I’ve been in.
Moving because of poor neighborhood conditions was rare, cited as the reason for moving in only
3 percent of the cases. Even when moves were not forced, neighborhood environment was very
rarely a reason for moving out of or into a place.
Participants were able to identify elements of their neighborhoods that they liked and did not like.
When asked to assess whether the housing accommodation met their needs and the ways in which
it did or did not meet their needs, participants identified location—particularly proximity to bus
lines, shopping, and jobs—as ways in which the accommodations met their needs. Locational
features ranked below the presence of supportive people and housing that was of good quality,
however. Bryant, a 51-year-old divorced man with three children, reflected on a time in the 1980s
when he lived off lease with his girlfriend in Chicago in the ABLA housing projects. Bryant had
grown up in the neighborhood, and although the conditions had declined over time he was satis-
fied living there, because it was a place where he still knew many people.
Oh we were, we were all, it was like, you know how a neighborhood raises a family? That’s how
we came up. The neighbors, any adult you know, worked, disciplined you, and it wasn’t as big a
thing as today.

166
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
This finding supports the research by Coulton, Theodos, and Turner (2012), who found that low-
income families living in high-poverty neighborhoods are often attached to their neighborhoods
and have a positive outlook on their futures; many fewer families are dissatisfied but stay in low-
income neighborhoods because they lacked viable alternatives.
Neighborhood conditions, measured through either subjective impressions or objective indicators,
also did not play a prominent role in how respondents assessed the moves they made throughout
their housing careers. Respondents’ assessments about whether moves were good or bad (upward
or downward) were unrelated either to their own subjective impressions of the neighborhoods
from which and to which they were moving or to objective census-based indicators of neighbor-
hood poverty, racial segregation, or housing conditions. The respondents’ impressions of neighbor-
hood conditions, for example, did not correlate with the upward or downward ranking of moves
by respondents. Moving out of a neighborhood that they described in negative terms was statisti-
cally no more likely to be an upward move than a move out of a good neighborhood. Similarly, a
move into a neighborhood they described in negative terms was no less likely to be positive than a
move into a better neighborhood. Furthermore, moves that involved a reduction in neighborhood
poverty were no more likely to be viewed positively than moves to higher poverty neighborhoods.
The changing racial makeup of the neighborhoods was also unrelated to respondents’ judgments
of upward or downward mobility. Changes in median housing values and MFIs produced similar
findings. In sum, neighborhood conditions, measured through either subjective impressions or objec-
tive indicators, did not play a prominent role in how respondents felt about the moves they made.
Having a choice about a move and receiving housing assistance did matter. Forced moves were
marginally more likely to be downward than were discretionary moves (36 to 21 percent; χ2 = 5.49,
p = 0.06). Moves into subsidized housing were seen as upward moves 77 percent of the time and
lateral moves in 10 percent of the cases. Similarly, respondents characterized moves into housing
with services as upward moves 85 percent of the time, and moves into transitional housing were
positive moves in every case (100 percent). Affordability and control over mobility decisions are
more proximate concerns than neighborhood characteristics for these very low-income households.
Conclusion
Mirroring the findings of previous studies, our study found that very low-income participants
relied heavily on informal housing arrangements and were often subject to moves that were not
planned. The prevalence of informal housing arrangements for participants in the study highlights
the importance of support networks in helping very low-income households make their way
through the housing market. Most participants, by far, were subject to the generosity of family,
friends, partners, and acquaintances several times in their adult lives; many relied on these infor-
mal arrangements as a consistent source of housing. Dependence on another person for housing,
whether a parent, partner, friend, or acquaintance, may help families remain housed but provides
very little in the way of housing security, however. When housed informally, the study participants
still showed very unstable housing patterns. When doubled up or depending on extended family
or friends for their accommodations, families were eager to change their housing to a place of their
own. Even when families were not eager to leave to gain independence, informal arrangements were

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
167Cityscape
unstable because they required continued harmony between or among the households sharing the
space. Thus, we found that when informally housed our participants left for two overriding rea-
sons: (1) because they wished to move into a place of their own, and (2) because of reasons related
to breakdowns or changes in interpersonal relationships.
When formally housed, the participants in our study were no more stable in terms of length of
residence. The reasons for instability in the formal housing market, however, had to do with the
inability to continue paying the contract rent and the desire to improve housing or neighborhood
conditions. The very low incomes typically reported for the families in this study made contract
rents difficult to afford for a long period. The number of moves prompted by a desire to improve
housing conditions (and the fewer moves prompted by neighborhood conditions) suggests that
these families made tradeoffs between affordability and housing quality that were also difficult to
sustain over time.
High residential instability levels were common across all participants in the study. About one-half
of the moves reported by households in the study were forced rather than discretionary. The emergent
nature of forced moves typically produced a very truncated housing-search strategy that does not
at all resemble the classic mobility model of information gathering and weighing of alternatives. The
constraints faced by these families and the reliance on interpersonal sources of information and
support meant that neighborhood concerns were mostly irrelevant, both in their search for housing
and in their evaluation of that housing. When neighborhoods were important to the participants
of this study, it was for the ways in which they did or did not enable the families to fulfill other
basic needs. That is, the availability of transportation, affordable and accessible grocery shopping,
and proximity to friends and family were listed as frequently as crime and safety as the important
aspects of neighborhood.
The findings produced by this study of the housing careers of very low-income households provide
some important context for current policy initiatives. No evidence from this study, for example,
suggests that neighborhood conditions were a central consideration in mobility choices. Neighbor-
hoods were rarely mentioned as a reason for moving or referenced when evaluating the quality
of housing accommodations, and the self-evaluation of upward or downward mobility bore no
relationship to improvements or declines in neighborhood conditions. These findings are not to
say that policy should ignore neighborhood environment or livability issues for very low-income
households. Very low-income households benefit from access to decent housing in a safe, livable
neighborhood even if “neighborhood” is not often on their radar. An understanding of the housing
patterns of very low-income households does, however, call into question whether neighborhood
environment should be the driving force behind housing policy. Policies that presume that a change
of neighborhood environment is enough to produce a change in the fortunes of very low-income
families ignore the significant importance of informal support networks in the lives of the target
households. Forced relocation out of communities and into opportunity neighborhoods is especially
insensitive to the necessary social supports that low-income families construct and maintain. This
insensitivity is especially true of programs in which displacement and relocation are typically the
only intervention experienced by needy families, a fact that has been true of most public housing
redevelopment efforts (Levy and Woolley, 2007).

168
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
The introduction of more affluent families into mixed-income communities to achieve a diverse
income mix provides little benefit for most very low-income households. This failure is especially
true if introducing market-rate housing has the effect of reducing, rather than increasing, the
amount of affordable housing immediately available to very low-income households, as has been
demonstrated for so many public housing redevelopment efforts across the country (Goetz, 2013b).
Policies that focus on poverty deconcentration and mixed-income neighborhoods often set in
motion secondary market effects that result in gentrification, which only exacerbates the housing
problems of very low-income households. Redevelopment through mixed-income housing rarely
includes a one-for-one replacement of low-cost housing; when it does, the replacement units are
often in communities that lack access to public transportation and services on which low-income
families rely, as Fraser, Oakley, and Bazuin (2011) pointed out. The experiences of families in this
study point to a set of needs that are more proximate than a change in neighborhood environment.
Authors
Kimberly Skobba is an assistant professor in the Department of Housing and Consumer Economics
at the University of Georgia.
Edward G. Goetz is a professor of urban and regional planning in the Humphrey School of Public
Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
References
Anderson, Debra G., and Margaret A. Imle. 2001. “Families of Origin of Homeless and Never-
Homeless Women,” Western Journal of Nursing Research 23 (4): 394–413.
Belli, Robert F. 1998. “The Structure of Autobiographical Memory and the Event History Calendar:
Potential Improvements in the Quality of Retrospective Reports in Surveys,” Memory 6 (4): 383–406.
Briggs, Xavier, Susan J. Popkin, and John Goering. 2010. Moving To Opportunity: The Story of an
American Experiment To Fight Ghetto Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brown, Diane, and Lawrence E. Gary. 1987. “Stressful Life Events, Social Support Networks, and
the Physical and Mental Health of Urban Black Adults,” Journal of Human Stress 13: 165–174.
Cisneros, Henry G., and Lora Engdahl, eds. 2009. From Despair to Hope: HOPE VI and the New
Promise of Public Housing in America’s Cities. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Clampet-Lundquist, Susan. 2004. “Moving Over or Moving Up? Short-Term Gains and Losses for
Relocated HOPE VI Families,” Journal of Policy Development and Research 7 (1): 57–80.
———. 2003. “Finding and Keeping Affordable Housing: Analyzing the Experiences of Single-
Mother Households in Philadelphia,” Journal of Sociology and Welfare 30 (4): 123–140.
Clark, Sherri Lawson. 2010. Housing Instability: Toward a Better Understanding of Frequent Residential
Mobility Among America’s Urban Poor. Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy. Also available at
http://www.nhc.org/media/files/LawsonClark_analysis_for_child_mobility.pdf.

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
169Cityscape
Clark, William A.V., Marinus C. Deurloo, and Frans M. Dieleman. 2003. “Housing Careers in the
United States, 1968–93: Modelling the Sequencing of Housing States,” Urban Studies 40 (1): 143–160.
Connerly, Charles E. 1986. “The Impact of Neighborhood Social Relations on Prospective Mobility,”
Social Science Quarterly 67 (1): 187–194.
Cook, Christine C., Susan R. Crull, C.N. Fletcher, T. Hinnant-Bernard, and J. Peterson. 2002.
“Meeting Family Housing Needs: Experiences of Rural Women in the Midst of Welfare Reform,”
Journal of Family and Economic Issues 23 (3): 285–294.
Coulton, Claudia J., Brett Theodos, and Margery A. Turner. 2012. “Residential Mobility and Neigh-
borhood Change: Real Neighborhoods Under the Microscope,” Cityscape 14 (3): 55–89.
Curley, Alexandra M. 2009. “Draining or Gaining? The Social Networks of Public Housing Movers
in Boston,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 26 (2–3): 227–247.
Dawkins, Casey J. 2006. “Are Social Networks the Ties That Bind Families to Neighborhoods?”
Housing Studies 21 (6): 867–882.
Dominguez, Silvia, and Celeste Watkins. 2003. “Creating Networks for Survival and Mobility:
Social Capital Among African-American and Latin-American Low-Income Mothers,” Social Problems
50 (1): 111–135.
Drake, St. Clair, and Horace Cayton. 1945. Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Edin, Kathryn, and Laura Lein. 1997. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and
Low-Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Ellen, Ingrid Gould, and Margery Austin Turner. 1997. “Does Neighborhood Matter? Assessing
Recent Evidence,” Housing Policy Debate 8 (4): 833–866.
Fitchen, Janet M. 1992. “On the Edge of Homelessness: Rural Poverty and Housing Insecurity,”
Rural Sociology 57 (2): 173–193.
Fraser, James, Deirdre Oakley, and Joshua Bazuin. 2011. “Public Ownership and Private Profit,”
Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society: 1–16.
Freedman, Deborah, Arland Thornton, Donald Camburn, Duane Alwin, and Linda Young-
DeMarco. 1988. “The Life History Calendar: A Technique for Collecting Retrospective Data,”
Sociological Methodology 18: 37–68.
Furstenberg, Frank. 1993. “How Families Manage Risk and Opportunity in Dangerous Neighbor-
hoods.” In Sociology and the Public Agenda, edited by W.J. Wilson. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE
Publications: 231–258.
Goetz, Edward G. 2013a. “Too Good To Be True? The Variable and Contingent Benefits of Dis-
placement and Relocation Among Low-Income Public Housing Residents,” Housing Studies 28 (2):
235–252.

170
Skobba and Goetz
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
———. 2013b. New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy. Ithaca NY: Cornell
University Press.
Greenbaum, Susan, Wendy Hathaway, Cheryl Rodriguez, Ashley Spalding, and Beverly Ward.
2008. “Deconcentration and Social Capital: Contradictions of a Poverty Alleviation Policy,” Journal
of Poverty 12 (2): 201–228.
Harknett, Kristen. 2006. “The Relationship Between Private Safety Nets and Economic Outcomes
Among Single Mothers,” Journal of Marriage and Family 68: 172–191.
Jencks, Christopher, and Susan E. Mayer. 1990. “The Social Consequences of Growing Up in a
Poor Neighborhood.” In Inner City Poverty in the United States, edited by Lawrence Lynn, Jr., and
Michael McGeary. Washington, DC: National Academies Press: 111–186.
Kalil, Ariel, and Rebecca M. Ryan. 2010. “Mothers’ Economic Conditions and Sources of Support
in Fragile Families,” The Future of Children 20 (2): 39–61.
Keene, Danya E., and Arline T. Geronimus. 2011. “Community-Based Support Among African
American Public Housing Residents,” Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of
Medicine 88 (1): 41–53.
Kendig, Hal. 1990. “A Life Course Perspective on Housing Attainment.” In Housing Demography:
Linking Demographic Structure and Housing Markets, edited by Dowell Myers. Madison, WI: University
of Wisconsin Press: 133–156.
Leopold, Josh. 2012. “The Housing Needs of Rental Assistance Applicants,” Cityscape 14 (2):
275–298.
Levy, Diane K., and Mark Woolley. 2007. Relocation Is Not Enough: Employment Barriers Among
HOPE VI Families. Urban Institute Policy Brief No. 6, June. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Liebow, Elliot. 1967. Talley’s Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
London, Rebecca A. 2000. “The Interaction Between Single Mothers’ Living Arrangements and
Welfare Participation,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 19 (1): 93–117.
Long, Larry C., Jack Tucker, and William L. Urton. 1988. Migration and Residential Mobility in the
United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Manzo, Lynne C., Rachel Kleit, and Dawn Couch. 2008. “‘Moving Three Times Is Like Having
Your House on Fire Once’: The Experience of Place and Impending Displacement Among Public
Housing Residents,” Urban Studies 45 (9): 1855–1878.
Miller-Cribbs, Julie E., and Naomi B. Farber. 2008. “Kin Networks and Poverty Among African
Americans: Past and Present,” Social Work 53 (1): 43–51.
Myers, Scott M. 2000. “The Impact of Religious Involvement on Migration,” Social Forces 79: 755–783.
Phinney, Robin, Sheldon Danziger, Harold A. Pollack, and Kristin Seefeldt. 2007. “Housing Instabil-
ity Among Current and Former Welfare Recipients,” American Journal of Public Health 97 (5): 832–837.

Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households
171Cityscape
Radey, Melissa, and Yolanda C. Padilla. 2009. “Kin Financial Support: Receipt and Provision Among
Unmarried Mothers,” Journal of Social Service Research 35: 336–351.
Rainwater, Lee. 1970. Behind Ghetto Walls: Black Families in a Federal Slum. Chicago: Aldine.
Rollins, Joan H., Renee N. Saris, and Ingrid Johnston-Robledo. 2001. “Low-Income Women Speak
Out About Housing: A High-Stakes Game of Musical Chairs,” Journal of Social Issues 57 (2): 277–298.
Roschelle, Anne R. 1997. No More Kin: Exploring Race, Class, and Gender in Family Networks. Thou-
sand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Rossi, Alice, and Peter Rossi. 1990. Of Human Bonding: Parent-Child Relations Across the Life Course.
New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Sigle-Rushton, Wendy, and Sara McLanahan. 2002. “The Living Arrangements of New Unmarried
Mothers,” Demography 39 (3): 415–433.
Skobba, Kimberly. 2008. “The Influence of Section 8 Vouchers on the Housing Careers of Working
Poor Families.” Dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Stack, Carol B. 1974. All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York: Basic
Books.
Teater, Barbra. 2009. “Factors Predicting Residential Mobility Among the Recipients of the Section 8
Housing Choice Voucher Program,” Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 36 (3): 159–178.
Venkatesh, Sudhir. 2006. Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Wellman, Barry, and Milena Gulia. 1999. “The Network Basis of Social Support: A Network Is
More Than the Sum of Its Ties.” In Networks in the Global Village: Life in Contemporary Communities,
edited by Barry Wellman. Boulder, CO: Westview Press: 83 –118.

172 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

173Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
“It was really hard. ...
It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation
Experiences and Destination
Satisfaction in Atlanta
Deirdre Oakley
Erin Ruel
Lesley Reid
Georgia State University
Abstract
This article uses data from an Atlanta-based longitudinal study following public hous-
ing residents from pending relocation through relocating between 2009 and 2010. Its
purpose is to examine residents’ satisfaction with the relocation experience and with
their postmove home and neighborhood. In addition, we examine whether levels of
relocation satisfaction or dissatisfaction were associated with any significant differences
in destination neighborhood characteristics. We build on previous research concerning
prerelocation attachment to community and the hard-to-house. Findings suggest some
consistency with previous research on levels of attachment to public housing communities
and residents who fall into the category of the hard-to-house. Specifically, being older,
having a disability, having longer tenure in public housing, and experiencing postreloca-
tion financial strain are significantly associated with lower levels of satisfaction with the
relocation process. Our findings, however, are far more mixed concerning the relationship
between levels of satisfaction with the relocation process and destination neighborhood
characteristics and pose some questions about poverty deconcentration and mixed-
income assumptions. Policy implications are discussed.

174
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Introduction
In 1936, Atlanta became one of the first cities in the nation to provide low-income, project-based
public housing to needy families; in the early 1990s, the city became one of the first to take advantage
of Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI), which, coupled with the massive re-
development for the city’s hosting of the 1996 Summer Olympics, resulted in national recognition
for rethinking public housing. By 2011, Atlanta had become the first city in the country to eliminate
all its traditional project-based public housing; it also eliminated five Section 202 highrises for se-
niors.
1
The final elimination of project-based public housing in Atlanta began in early 2007, when
the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) announced plans to demolish the remaining 10 family public
housing communities and two highrises for seniors. This last round of demolitions was not done
under HOPE VI; rather, it was completed under Section 18 of the 1937 Housing Act, which, unlike
HOPE VI, requires no immediate replacement of any units. About 10,000 former public housing
residents have been relocated since 2007, bringing the grand total since 1994 to 50,000 residents
(Oakley, Ruel, and Reid, 2013). For the last round of demolitions, the only relocation option resi -
dents were given was to move to private rental-market housing with a voucher through the Housing
Choice Voucher Program (formerly Section 8). Despite this massive public housing transformation
effort, now known as the Atlanta Model, only 7 of the more than 30 traditional public housing
communities eliminated were awarded HOPE VI funds for redevelopment (Farmer, 2012). Thus,
relocation to voucher-subsidized, private-market housing with neither the option to return to the
redevelopments nor to move to other public housing is one hallmark of the Atlanta Model, and
many other cities are following suit (Ruel et al., 2012).
Although a substantial body of research concerns public housing residents’ postrelocation outcomes
in terms of a variety of quality of life measures and the condition of the home and destination
neighborhood, relatively little research has focused on how satisfied (or unsatisfied) the residents
were with the relocation process. Research also has not examined whether the relocation process
affected residents’ postrelocation satisfaction and destination outcomes.
These issues are important for several reasons. First, as Goetz (2010) found, premove orientation
toward the prospect of relocation played a role in subsequent postrelocation experiences and per-
ceptions. In other words, residents who were more attached to their public housing communities
were less likely to be satisfied with their relocated homes. Second, a body of research related to
public housing transformation policy concerns what Popkin et al. (2008) termed “hard-to-house”
households. These households include a variety of former public housing residents such as custo -
dial grandparents, singles with disabilities or households with a disabled member, residents with
chronic health issues (including elderly residents), residents with a criminal background, and
very large families (see Cunningham, Popkin, and Burt, 2005). As Cunningham, Popkin, and
Burt (2005) pointed out, such residents may (1) have greater difficulties negotiating the relocation
process, (2) be less likely to find quality private-market housing with their voucher subsidy, and
(3) not receive the support services they need after relocation. Finally, mass relocation of households
1
Section 202 came out of the 1959 amendment to the 1937 Housing Act. Its purpose was to provide affordable housing to
very low-income households with residents 62 years of age or older (HUD, 2011).

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
175Cityscape
typically occurs within a relatively short time and within the highly bureaucratic organizational
systems of public housing authorities (PHAs) (Venkatesh 2002, 2000), which implies that, because
of the bureaucracy, not all residents’ relocation needs are met (Oakley, Ruel, and Wilson, 2008).
Using data from an Atlanta-based longitudinal study following public housing residents from
pending relocation until after relocation, this article builds on the previous research by focusing on
residents’ level of satisfaction with the relocation experience and how that translated into postmove
satisfaction with home and neighborhood. This article also examines whether levels of relocation
satisfaction led to any significant differences in destination neighborhood characteristics. Because
our sample included residents from both family public housing and highrise housing for seniors,
we also examine whether variations in relocation, destination satisfaction, and neighborhood
characteristics differ by origin housing type.
We begin with an overview of the existing HOPE VI relocation literature concerning resident desti -
nation outcomes and issues. Subsequently, we focus on the relocation process during Atlanta’s
last demolitions. Then we conduct descriptive, multivariate regression and Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) analyses using our survey data concerning the effect of satisfaction with the relocation
process on postrelocation satisfaction with home and neighborhood, how this effect translated
into variation in census tract-level destination neighborhood characteristics, and whether variation
across home and neighborhood differed by origin housing type.
Public Housing Relocation
The two existing multisite studies of HOPE VI relocations are the HOPE VI Panel Study and the
HOPE VI Resident Tracking Study, both commissioned by Congress and conducted by the Urban
Institute (Buron et al., 2002; Keene and Geronimus, 2011; Popkin, 2010; Popkin and Cunningham,
2002). Whereas the HOPE VI Panel Study tracked relocated residents longitudinally, the HOPE VI
Resident Tracking Study provided a one-point-in-time snapshot of postrelocation living conditions.
Popkin et al. (2009) summarized the major findings from these studies, concluding that for the
most part results show significant improvements in the quality of life of relocated residents; they
are living in neighborhoods that are safer and have lower poverty levels than public housing.
Popkin et al. (2009) also pointed out, however, that many relocated residents struggle with the
new challenges they face in private-market rental housing, and that those who moved to other
public housing developments experienced an only minimal improvement from the communities
they were forced to leave.
Case studies have captured some less positive nuances of relocation and placed greater emphasis
on the fact that destination neighborhoods are as racially segregated as the public housing neigh-
borhoods (see, for example, Buron, Levy, and Gallagher, 2007; Chaskin et al., 2012; Comey,
2007; Crump, 2002; Devine et al., 2003; Fischer, 2002, 2001; Fraser et al., 2004; Goetz, 2010,
2003, 2002; Greenbaum, 2008, 2002; Johnson-Hart, 2007; Keene and Geronimus, 2011; Keller,
2011; Kingsley, Johnson, and Pettit, 2003; Kleit and Manzo, 2006; Oakley and Burchfield, 2009;
Venkatesh, 2002; Wang, Varady, and Wang, 2008). Other less positive outcomes include loss of
important social support networks, increases in residential instability, and little benefit in terms
of better employment and education opportunities. In fact, Chaskin et al. (2012) found evidence

176
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
of decreased earnings after relocation. Goetz (2010) also emphasized that, although destination
neighborhoods may be less poor than public housing neighborhoods, poverty rates are typically
greater than citywide rates.
How community attachment, loss of social support, and proximity to existing networks affect
moving decisions and outcomes has been the subject of several studies. As Briggs (1998) pointed
out, social support is a type of social capital essential to low-income residents that typically involves
having locally based, homogeneous social ties (Boyd, 2008). Clampet-Lundquist (2010) found that
families relocated from public housing in Philadelphia under HOPE VI lost their neighborhood-
based social capital, which they drew on in public housing for safety. Therefore, residents felt more
vulnerable in their new neighborhoods. Manzo, Kleit, and Couch (2008) found that community
attachment was important to relocated residents. In their Atlanta public housing relocation study,
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid (2013) likewise found that postrelocation home and neighborhood satisfac-
tion was based largely on perceived community cohesion, not improved neighborhood character-
istics. Also, as mentioned previously, Goetz (2010) found that prerelocation orientation toward
the prospect of relocation played a role in subsequent postrelocation experiences or perceptions.
Related to all these findings, Kleit and Galvez (2011) found that relocation decisions were driven
largely by the desire to remain close to existing and needed social supports. In a previous study,
Goetz (2003) found similar results.
In terms of the hard-to-house literature, the most extensive study to date came from the Urban
Institute, documenting the Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration (Popkin et al., 2008).
The origins of this demonstration came in part from the findings of the Urban Institute’s HOPE VI
Panel Study and Resident Tracking Study. Popkin, Levy, and Buron (2009), among other Urban
Institute publications, found that, whereas those residents who were able to move back into the
HOPE VI redevelopments had significant improvements in their quality of life, the outcomes for
many others who relocated either with a voucher subsidy or to another traditional project-based
public housing unit did not indicate any improvements. For example, according to Popkin (2006),
in the first stages of the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA’s) Plan for Transformation, qualified
households were simply given voucher subsidies and left to find housing by themselves. As Popkin
(2006: 154) stated, “Families receiving vouchers ended up in neighborhoods that were racially
and economically segregated; some residents were ‘lost’ before they could receive services to which
they were entitled, and even more simply failed to move at all, ending up in ‘temporary’ housing in
other CHA buildings, some of which were also slated for demolition.”
Among those residents who ended up in these situations, specific characteristics became apparent;
for example, large families, custodial grandparent households, disability and chronic health issues,
and felony convictions (Theodos et al., 2010). The term hard to house was developed to describe
these vulnerable subgroups. In response, the Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration
was established to help hard-to-house households in public housing better negotiate the relocation
process through intensive counseling (Popkin et al., 2008). According to Popkin et al. (2008),
despite this help, many residents were not ready to make a move with a voucher during the first
year of the demonstration.
Although this research has provided much-needed information on how to help these vulnerable
public housing households make the transition to subsidized private-market rental housing, its

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
177Cityscape
focus was not on residents’ perceived satisfaction with the relocation process and how such atti-
tudes may affect postrelocation satisfaction and destination characteristics. From the Atlanta public
housing study, we found that this process was complex and very stressful.
The Relocation Process Before the Last Demolitions in Atlanta
Note that most residents (88 percent) in our sample qualified for a voucher and were successful at
leasing up. Those residents in our sample who did not receive a voucher typically ended up staying
with relatives or in illegal boarding housings, extended stay hotels, and (in one case) a homeless
shelter.
The relocation process began with a series of meetings with the residents at their public housing
communities, led by AHA officials. These meetings were mandatory for anyone wishing to apply
for a voucher, and officials provided the residents with an overview of the process, including
information concerning eligibility, requirements, and procedures for obtaining a voucher subsidy.
In addition, residents completed the necessary voucher paperwork at these meetings. HUD regu-
lates voucher subsidies and requirements and bases ineligibility on federal guidelines concerning
income levels and drug-related and sexual offender criminal history. According to HUD (2001),
unless compelling special circumstances are presented, households are eligible for a voucher if they
are making between 30 and 50 percent of the locality’s median household income. No member of
the household (that is, any member on the lease) is allowed to have had a felony conviction for a
drug-related or sexual assault crime (HUD, 2001).
This entire process occurred between 6 months and 1 year before relocation actually began.
Within only a few months, residents received notification of whether they had been approved for
a voucher. To actually get the voucher, residents were then required to participate in the Good
Neighbor Program. AHA (2008: 7) described this program as “a training series that prepares AHA-
assisted families to transition successfully from environments of concentrated poverty into healthy
mixed-income communities.” The program provided information to voucher-qualified residents
about compliance with private rental landlord and neighborhood expectations, including (1) car-
ing for a unit and premises, (2) respecting the rights of neighbors, and (3) compliance with other
essential conditions of tenancy. In addition, residents were assigned relocation counselors to assist
them in finding a new place (AHA, 2008).
On completion of the Good Neighbor Program, residents begin the waiting-to-move process. Residents
can look at single-family rental houses and apartments and express interest with the respective land -
lords and property managers. Landlords and property managers, however, typically do not allow a
lease signing until the residents have evidence that their voucher has been issued. HUD distributes
voucher subsidies to state PHAs first, and then allocates them to local PHAs in the state (HUD, 2001).
Thus, at least in the case of our study, residents approved for a voucher received the official paper-
work at different times, meaning that some residents were able to move before other residents. On
receipt of the official voucher paperwork, the residents had 90 days to find a new place to live.
2
2
The AHA did allow extensions of this deadline.

178
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Data and Methods
About 6 months after the AHA’s 2007 announcement, members of the jurisdictionwide Public
Housing Resident Advisory Board met with Georgia State University (GSU) sociology department
faculty to discuss conducting a survey of residents’ views about relocation and how relocation
ultimately affected their lives and overall well-being. GSU formed the Urban Health Initiative to
conduct this study.
Of the public housing communities slated for demolition, five were nearly vacant and one was
inaccessible because the resident board president had already been relocated when we began de-
veloping the survey in early 2008. Thus, we targeted communities that would not begin relocation
until September 2008 (which included four family developments and two highrises for seniors and
people with disabilities).
We conducted a baseline (prerelocation) survey during the summer of 2008. We intended to compile
a disproportionate random sample of 426 participants with equal numbers from each housing com -
munity (N = 71). We initially achieved only 49 percent of our goal (N = 208) because of constraints
beyond our control, primarily regular interference from the AHA, but not related to characteristics
of the public housing residents; thus, no systematic bias was introduced. We then opened the study
up to volunteers to increase the sample size. An additional 103 residents volunteered. Our final
sample size is 311, or 73 percent of our desired sample size, a major limitation of our study. We
tested the random and nonrandom portions of the sample on all variables included in the study
and found no significant differences on any variables, however.
All respondents were age 18 or older, more than 90 percent were the leaseholder, and only one
member per household participated. Given that we knew which units were occupied in each hous -
ing community before sampling, we created postsurvey sampling weights to make the sample
representative of the six public housing communities. Nonetheless, apply caution when making
generalized inferences from this sample.
We reinterviewed our respondents 6 to 8 months after relocation, from November 2009 to Septem -
ber 2010. The survey was essentially the same as the baseline survey to assess prerelocation-to-
postrelocation change. For the 6-month followup, we obtained a retention rate of 87 percent across
the six relocating sites. At the writing of this article, we had recently completed data collection for
the 24-month followup, data that are currently being cleaned.
3
For this article, we limited the analyses to relocated respondents who completed both the pre-
relocation and 6-month postrelocation surveys (N = 248), dropping 13 cases with missing values
on the relocation process variable. Two participants who did not participate at 6 months after
relocation but did participate in the 24-month postrelocation interview were included in the
analyses. Both participants experienced a hard relocation process. We then geocoded the addresses
of the original public housing sample and the addresses residents lived in 6 months after relocation
using 2010 census boundaries. Using the geocodes, we attached census tract identifiers for each
3
Our retention rate between waves two and three is 91 percent.

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
179Cityscape
participant and merged the survey data with 2005–2009 American Community Survey (ACS) data.
In this process, we limited the sample to those who moved within the Atlanta metropolitan area
(dropping five out-of-state cases), giving us a final full sample size of 232.
Before presenting our multivariate analysis, we provide a thematic map of where residents moved,
average census tract characteristics from the 2005–2009 ACS, and crime statistics from the Atlanta
Police Department 2009 Crime Incident Reports.
Perceived Relocation Satisfaction Constructs
Our dependent variable comes from an open-ended question asked at the 6-month postrelocation
interview and at 24 months for those few respondents lost to followup at 6 months. Specifically,
we asked, “Looking back, how would you describe the relocation process?” Answers ranged from
statements like, “It wasn’t a problem because I found a place and everything just went smoothly”;
to, “Kind of stressful” or, “It was a fair process, it was ok”; and then finally to statements like, “The
process was stressful because you did not know where you were going and you were just looking
around. ... It was very stressful” and, “It was horrible. I had to move from a place where all my
friends were like family and now I am in the middle of nowhere.”
Two authors independently coded responses to this question, met, and came to consensus on the
categories to use to describe the process. A consistent theme became apparent. They then recoded
the question using the agreed-on categories. After we achieved more than 65 percent agreement
on the codes, the two authors met and coded the remaining responses together and refined the
category definitions. We created six codes: process was (1) hard, terrible, or traumatic with stress;
(2) stressful; (3) somewhat stressful; (4) OK/alright/fair; (5) good/fine; (6) easy/smooth. Given the
difficulty in distinguishing “good/fine” from “easy/smooth” and distinguishing “hard, terrible, or
traumatic with stress” from “stressful”, we then collapsed the six categories into three: (1) hard,
(2) neutral, and (3) easy relocation experience. For this analysis, we are interested in the character-
istics of public housing residents who thought the relocations were easy, so we dichotomized the
variable with easy relocation experience coded as 1 and neutral and hard coded as 0.
We controlled for variables that might predict an easy relocation experience. First is a dummy vari-
able for moving from family housing versus from a highrise for seniors.

We include this variable
for three reasons. First, family housing and senior housing were very different. The family housing
was barrack-style, in worse condition, and farther from the city center. Second, the neighborhoods
differed: the family housing was located in poorer, more racially segregated, and higher crime areas.
Third, a major finding from our premove baseline survey was that, although the majority of the fam -
ily housing residents wanted to move (73 percent), the majority in senior housing did not want to
move (61 percent). Because there were seniors in family housing, we also included age as a control.
Disability status was coded 1 for individuals who said they did not work because of a disability
or who said carrying groceries, walking up a flight of stairs, or walking around the neighborhood
without assistance was a significant problem, and coded 0 for individuals who did not indicate any
of these problems. A dummy variable for having a chronic condition was coded 1 for respondents
who had been diagnosed with at least one of the following conditions: high blood pressure, heart
disease, asthma, arthritis, stroke, or cancer. We measured tenure in public housing in years.

180
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Experiencing financial strain is a dummy indicator, with 1 coded as not having enough money to
make ends meet most months in the past year and 0 coded as having more than enough money,
some money left over, or barely enough money to make ends meet at the end of most months.
Having no friends in public housing is a dummy variable, with 1 coded as having no friends living
in public housing and 0 coded as having at least a few friends living in same public housing commu -
nity. We asked respondents if they thought the condition of their postrelocation home was excellent,
good, fair, or poor. We also asked respondents if they were (1) very satisfied, (2) somewhat satis-
fied, (3) in the middle, (4) somewhat dissatisfied, or (5) very dissatisfied with their postrelocation
neighborhood. We did not include race, gender, marital status, education, or income as controls
because of lack of variation.
For the second set of analyses, we used several measures from the ACS 2005–2009 census tract-
level data. We used percentage of residents living in poverty, percentage of households that are
female headed, percentage of household heads who are unemployed, percentage of homes that are
vacant, percentage of homes that are occupied by renters, percentage of homes that are more than
30 years old, and percentage of residents who are non-Hispanic African American. Turnover in the
neighborhood is measured by the percentage of households living in the same place for less than
10 years. Finally, we include a measure we call high former public housing receiving neighbor-
hood. Our receivership categorization is similar to that of Popkin et al. (2012). High-receiving
neighborhoods had more than 12 former public housing households move in, medium-receiving
neighborhoods had 5 to 12 former public housing households move in; low-receiving neighbor-
hoods had fewer than 5 former public housing households move in. In some analyses we present,
we dichotomize our receivership variable so that high receiving is coded 1 and all other is coded 0.
In preliminary analyses, we also included educational attainment and household size as predictors
of an easy relocation process, but they were not at all significant and, because our sample size is
very small, we decided to drop them.
Multivariate Analysis
We ran generalized estimating equations, or GEE, for these analyses using the GENMOD (General-
ized Linear Model) procedure in SAS
®
version 9.2 to deal with the autocorrelation inherent in
clustered data (six communities) (Liang and Zeger, 1986). In this case, we use the public housing
community as our cluster, because 6 months is not a sufficient time to diminish the autocorrelation
of living in a specific public housing community. In addition, we run logistic regression models in
which the outcome is the probability of experiencing an easy relocation process versus not experi-
encing an easy relocation process. We present raw logit estimates and standard errors. Finally, to
examine whether destination home and neighborhood conditions differ significantly between those
who experienced an easy relocation and those who did not, we use ANOVA procedures to test
mean differences in reported home and neighborhood conditions.
Results
Exhibit 1 shows the demographic information for our initial sample and the sample in our present
analysis. Although we were unsuccessful in locating about 13 percent of those who participated

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
181Cityscape
in the baseline survey, and another 6 percent died, the population characteristics among the three
survey periods are very similar. Comparing those who participated in the baseline survey with
only those who participated in the 6-month followup, however, age is different, meaning younger
people were less likely to participate in the 6-month followup.
Most of our sample, by far, were African American (96 percent) and female (85 percent); 46 percent
were between the ages of 18 and 44 years, another 39 percent were between the ages of 45 and 64
years, and 15 percent were 65 years or older. Nearly three-fourths reported living in public housing
for between 2 and 8 years. Only 5 percent reported being married, and the average number of
children younger than age 18 in the household was two. Only 55 percent reported having a high
school degree or general equivalency diploma (GED), and the average monthly income was $832.41,
putting these households, regardless of size, well below the federally established poverty line.
Exhibit 2 presents basic descriptive statistics of the variables used in our analyses. The topmost
rows of exhibit 2 provide the distribution for the original coded variable and the final dichotomous
variable. Findings indicate that 31 percent considered the relocation process either hard, terrible,
or traumatic with stress (15 percent) or stressful (16 percent). Another 15 percent considered it
somewhat stressful, 18 percent reported it being ok/alright/fair, and 37 percent considered it either
good/fine (18 percent) or easy/smooth (19 percent). On a scale of 1 (excellent) to 4 (poor), the
average level of satisfaction with the new home is 1.79. On a scale of 1 (very satisfied) to 5 (very
dissatisfied), the average level of satisfaction with the new neighborhood is 2.04. The average tenure
in public housing is 6.2 years, and the average age is nearly 46. The means for the computed di-
chotomous variables (living in a family project, being disabled, having a chronic health condition,
Exhibit 1
Variable
Baseline Sample Analysis Dataset
N % N %
Weighted Sample Demographics
Number of cases weighted 311
a
NA 232
b
75
Female 263 85 188 81
African American 298 96 222 96
Age
18–44 142 46 92 40
45–64 122 39 97 42
65+ 47 15 43 19
Years in public housing
Fewer than 2 years 106 33 70 30
2–4 years 58 19 53 23
4–8 years 66 21 52 22
More than 8 years 81 26 57 25
Have high school degree or GED 170 55 118 51
Married 15 5 16 7
Monthly income $832.41 $831.71
GED = general equivalency diploma. NA = not applicable.
a
Does not include the nonrelocating control group.
b
Of the 232 original respondents, 24 died before the 6-month interview, we were unable to locate 31 for the 6-month interview,
5 moved out of state before the 6-month interview, and 11 had missing information on one or more of the outcome variables.

182
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
having financial strain after relocation, and having no public housing friends in destination neighbor -
hoods) show a mixed story. Specifically, the level of being disabled or having a chronic condition
is nearly 0.60, but experiencing financial strain is only 0.16. Likewise, having no public housing
friends is 0.35, indicating that most did have friends in public housing. Interestingly, the dichoto-
mous variable concerning whether a resident moved to a high-receiving neighborhood is 0.08,
indicating that most residents in the sample did not move to this type of area.
The average neighborhood characteristics for the sample used in our analysis, shown in exhibit 2,
are consistent with previous research. Specifically, on average, these former public housing residents
are moving to neighborhoods with less poverty (but not low poverty) that are racially segregated;
the average poverty level is nearly 32 percent, and the average percentage non-Hispanic African
American is more than 84 percent. On average, they are also moving to neighborhoods where the
percentage of homes built more than 30 years ago is high (nearly 65 percent). These neighborhoods
are also characterized by a high mobility level, with an average of nearly 71 percent living in the
Exhibit 2
Relocation Process Mean/Proportion Range
Descriptive Statistics of Variables Used in the Analysis
Hard, terrible, or traumatic with stress 0.15
Stressful 0.16
Somewhat stressful 0.15
Okay/alright/fair 0.18
Good/fine 0.18
Easy/smooth 0.19
Easy relocation 0.37 (0.48) 0–1
Live in family project 0.76 (0.42) 0–1
Age 45.70 (16.78) 19–93
Have disability 0.57 (0.50) 0–1
Have chronic health condition 0.58 (0.49) 0–1
Tenure in public housing in years 6.22 (6.92) 0.25–38.00
Financial strain 0.16 (0.37) 0–1
No public housing friends 0.35 (0.48) 0–1
Condition of postrelocation home
(1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor)
1.79 (0.83) 1–4
Satisfaction with postrelocation neighborhood
(1 = very satisfied, 2 = somewhat satisfied, 3 = in the middle,
4 = somewhat dissatisfied, 5 = very dissatisfied)
2.04 (1.26) 1–5
High former public housing-receiving neighborhood 0.08 (0.27) 0–1
Neighborhood percent of homes more than 30 years old 64.81 (21.84) 14.81–96.76
Neighborhood percent of homes vacant 21.27 (8.37) 6.93–45.13
Neighborhood percent renters 51.92 (14.86) 12.49–80.69
Neighborhood percent living in same place less than 10 years 70.72 (15.22) 38.91–100.00
Neighborhood percent in poverty 31.73 (11.49) 3.85–64.26
Neighborhood percent female-headed households 19.28 (8.60) 1.72–40.04
Neighborhood percent unemployed 17.12 (6.57) 1.71–34.90
Neighborhood percent non-Hispanic African American 84.53 (22.78) 6.54–98.25
Notes: Neighborhood characteristics represent the census tracts where the public housing residents moved and are from the
2005–2009 American Community Survey. N = 232. Standard deviations in parentheses.

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
183Cityscape
same place for less than 10 years. Average unemployment is about 17 percent and the average of
households that are female headed is nearly 20 percent. Average vacancy is slightly more than 21
percent, and the average of households who are renters is nearly 52 percent.
Neighborhood Characteristics by Level of Receivership
To put our subsequent multivariate analysis in perspective, we also provide some descriptive
information at the census tract level for the entire sample (including those residents we drop from
the subsequent multivariate analysis of relocation satisfaction) by levels of receivership. Exhibit 3
shows the receivership categories by census tract. Based on the distribution of former public hous-
ing households across the destination census tracts, we came up with the following categorization:
(1) nonreceiving; (2) low receiving, meaning 1 to 5 households; (3) medium receiving, meaning
6 to 12 households; and (4) high receiving, meaning more than 12 households.
Exhibits 4 and 5 show the average tract-level population and socioeconomic characteristics by
level of receivership. Exhibit 4 provides this information for the city of Atlanta and includes crime
information. Exhibit 5 shows the population and socioeconomic information for the suburbs (note
that the crime data are not available for the suburbs). On average, all the receiving tracts differ sub-
stantially from the nonreceiving tracts. Based on 2000 census tract boundaries, of the 660 census
Exhibit 3
Public Housing Relocation Receivership, by Census Tract
City of Atlanta boundary
Public housing
Census tract boundaries
Nonreceiving
Low receiving
Medium receiving
High receiving
Relocated resident destinations

184
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
tracts in the Atlanta metropolitan region, former public housing residents moved to 84, with 64
within the city limits. Thus, less than 10 percent of our sample moved outside the city limits, and
those who did so typically relocated to tracts adjacent to the city boundaries with relatively similar
neighborhood characteristics to the characteristics of the tracts to which those who relocated
within the city moved. The average distance moved is only 3 miles. Thus, by far, most relocated
residents are not far from the former public housing locations.
We begin with the average census tract characteristics by receivership for the city, shown in exhibit 4.
In terms of racial composition, low-receiving, medium-receiving, and public housing census tracts
range from 71 to 75 percent African American. High-receiving tracts average 95 percent African
American, and the average percentage African American across all levels of receivership is slightly
more than 80. By contrast, nonreceiving tracts are 46 percent African American, and the citywide
Exhibit 4
Exhibit 5
Citywide
Non -
receiving
Low
Receiving
Medium
Receiving
High
Receiving
Average
Receiving
Public
Housing
Metropolitanwide Suburb Nonreceiving Suburb Receiving
Average Characteristics of Destination Census Tracts Within the City of Atlanta
Average Characteristics of Destination Census Tracts in Suburban Atlanta
Nonviolent crime rate 96.97 106.22 95.83 67.88 94.69 81.13 97.76
Violent crime rate 20.83 18.96 23.79 16.96 25.71 22.15 26.93
Total population 4,511 4,467 3,841 6,115 5,278 5,078 3,001
Percent non-Hispanic
African American
60.00 46.00 71.10 75.14 95.21 80.48 73.40
Percent non-Hispanic
White
31.00 44.00 21.00 17.00 3.00 13.70 16.15
Percent Hispanic 5.20 6.01 5.22 4.18 1.41 3.60 6.00
Percent vacancy 22.00 19.00 25.00 24.08 21.27 22.70 25.13
Percent rental household 41.24 40.00 43.50 39.02 61.58 48.03 54.15
Percent homeowner
household
37.00 41.46 32.00 37.00 17.14 28.71 21.00
Percent poverty 22.40 21.00 33.54 26.10 29.00 29.55 41.11
Number of census tracts 121 58 48 13 3 64 12
Total population 7,702 8,455 7,408
Percent non-Hispanic African American 35.58 29.16 49.00
Percent non-Hispanic White 49.52 55.00 31.16
Percent Hispanic 9.35 10.03 14.56
Percent vacancy 13.00 10.46 16.09
Percent rental household 29.53 26.57 35.00
Percent homeowner household 58.00 63.00 49.01
Percent poverty 15.00 12.00 16.00
Number of census tracts 660 549 20
Sources: 2005–2009 American Community Survey 5-year estimates; Atlanta Police Department crime incident reports, 2009
Source: 2005–2009 American Community Survey 5-year estimates

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
185Cityscape
percentage is 60. Thus, a clear pattern of racial segregation is apparent; former public housing
residents are not moving to more racially integrated neighborhoods, and, in fact, the level of racial
segregation is much greater in high-receiving tracts than in the public housing census tracts.
Nonreceiving neighborhoods have the lowest vacancy and medium-receiving neighborhoods have
the lowest renter household percentages. Across the other receivership categories and citywide,
however, little difference emerges except in the high-receiving tracts, where the proportion of rental
households is about 20 percentage points more. Homeownership percentages are less in high- and
low-receiving tracts and in the public housing tracts as compared with the percentages in nonre-
ceiving tracts and citywide. Medium-receiving tracts, however, have a homeownership percentage
equal to that of the city. The average across all receiving tracts is slightly less than 29 percent as
compared with the citywide average of 37 percent and the nonreceiving tract average of slightly
more than 41 percent.
Poverty percentages across all receiving and public housing tracts are greater than the citywide and
nonreceiving tract percentages. Whereas the citywide poverty rate is 22.4 percent, and the non-
receiving tract rate about the same, the poverty rate for the low-receiving tracts is 33.5 percent,
for medium-receiving tracts is 26.0 percent, and for high-receiving tracts is 29.0 percent, with an
average across all receiving tracts of 29.6 percent. The poverty rate for the receiving tracts is between
7.5 and 12.0 percentage points less than for the public housing tracts. Like those of previous studies,
our findings reveal that residents are moving to neighborhoods with less poverty than public hous-
ing. The widely accepted definition of low-poverty neighborhoods is 20 percent or less, however
(Goetz, 2003). All levels of receivership neighborhoods in our study exceed this threshold by be-
tween 6.0 and 13.5 percent, and the citywide and nonreceiving figures also exceed this threshold.
Crime trends indicate some interesting patterns. Specifically, the nonviolent crime rate per 1,000
people is greatest (106) in the nonreceiving tracts and least in the medium-receiving ones (68).
By contrast, the citywide, low-receiving, and high-receiving rates are nearly equivalent (95 to 97),
with the average across all receiving tracts at 81. The nonviolent crime rate for public housing is
greater than for all the receiving and citywide tracts, at nearly 98. Similarly, the violent crime rate
is least (17) in the medium-receiving neighborhoods even compared with crime rates in the city-
wide (21) and the nonreceiving (19) tracts. Low-receiving neighborhoods have a rate of 24 and
high-receiving neighborhoods a rate of 26, with the average across all receiving tracts at 22. The
rate in the public housing tracts is the greatest, at 27.
Exhibit 5 shows the suburbanwide population and socioeconomic characteristics compared with
the averages for the receiving and nonreceiving census tracts. Because most residents stayed within
the city limits, the numbers of households per suburban census tract varied little, with the average
being three. Therefore, we simply categorize the suburban tracts as receiving or nonreceiving.
Findings indicate that, although the receiving tracts are more disadvantaged and racially segregated
on average than both the nonreceiving and metropolitanwide tracts, they are less disadvantaged than
public housing. In addition, residents who moved to the suburbs are living in far less disadvantaged
and racially segregated tracts than those residents who moved within the city, which in large part
reflects disparities that have existed between the urban and suburban regions of metropolitan areas
around the country since suburbanization began in the 1950s. The fact that so few residents in our

186
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
study (10 percent) left the city proper suggests both structural barriers (such as lack of public trans -
portation) and individual choices (reluctance to move too far away from existing social supports).
Exhibit 6 presents the first set of logistic regressions. Model 1 presents raw logits and standard
errors from logistic regression of an easy relocation process. Residents of family projects are sig-
nificantly more likely than residents of projects for seniors to have experienced an easy relocation
process (b = 0.96). For each additional year of age, the probability of an easy relocation increases
significantly, by 0.04 logits. Having a disability is significantly associated with 0.60 lower logged
odds of an easy relocation process than the nondisabled. Having a chronic health condition is not
associated with the ease of the relocation process, however. Each additional year living in public
housing (tenure) is associated with a 0.07-logged odds reduction in experiencing an easy reloca-
tion process. Those experiencing financial strain have 1.26 lower logged odds of an easy relocation
process than those with no financial strain. Having no friends in the public housing community is
associated with 0.52 higher logged odds of an easy relocation process than those with friends in
public housing community.
Exhibit 6
Model 1 Model 2  Model 3 Model 4 Model 5
Logistic Regressions of Having an Easy Relocation Process on Baseline Hard-to-
House Characteristics
QIC = Quasilikelihood under the Independence Model Criterion (goodness of fit).
+
p ≤ .10. * p ≤ .05. ** p ≤ .01. *** p ≤ .0001.
Notes: The reference categories are living in housing for seniors or people with disabilities, having a functional limitation or
disability, having no chronic conditions, and having no financial strain. Raw estimates and standard errors in parentheses.
Intercept – 0.85*** – 0.78** – 0.87*** – 0.91*** – 0.64***
(0.09) (0.28) (0.15) (0.09) (0.11)
Live in family project 0.96*** 0.89
+
0.99** 0.92** 0.68*
(0.26) (0.48) (0.33) (0.31) (0.31)
Age 0.04 ** 0.04 ** 0.04 ** 0.04 * 0.04 **
(0.01) (0.01) (0.02) (0.02) (0.01)
Have disability – 0.60 ** – 0.69 *** – 0.61 ** – 0.54 * – 0.61 **
(0.20) (0.09) (0.21) (0.22) (0.19)
Have chronic health condition – 0.06 – 0.07 – 0.07 – 0.05 – 0.04
(0.09) (0.10) (0.08) (0.09) (0.19)
Tenure in public housing in
years
– 0.07* – 0.07* – 0.07* 0.01 – 0.07*
(0.03) (0.03) (0.03) (0.03) (0.03)
Financial strain – 1.26* – 1.26* – 1.10** – 1.23* – 1.27*
(0.50) (0.50) (0.38) (0.51) (0.50)
No public housing friends 0.52* 0.52* 0.52* 0.48* – 0.14
+
(0.22) (0.22) (0.22) (0.22) (0.08)
Live in family—disabled 0.11
(0.33)
Live in family—financial strain – 0.21
(0.89)
Live in family—tenure in
public housing in years
– 0.11**
(0.03)
Live in family—no public
housing friends
0.85**
(0.29)
QIC 283.51 283.86 284.74 283.85 282.22

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
187Cityscape
Models 2 through 5 explore whether the hard-to-house characteristics vary by type of housing
project. This examination is important because the effect of relocation on residents of housing
for seniors has received little examination. All noninteracted variables change little if at all, and
therefore we will not reinterpret them but focus solely on the interactions. In model 2, we interact
disability status with housing type. Having a disability is associated with 0.69 lower logged odds of
an easy relocation process, but the odds did not differ significantly for residents of family housing
versus housing for seniors.
Model 3 interacts financial strain by housing type. Experiencing financial strain is associated with
0.11 lower logged odds of an easy relocation process, but the odds did not differ significantly for
residents of family housing versus housing for seniors. Model 4 interacts tenure in public housing
with type of housing project. A significant difference emerges in the association of tenure in public
housing with the relocation process for residents of family housing versus housing for seniors.
Each additional year of tenure in public housing reduces the logged odds of an easy relocation
process for family housing residents compared with the corresponding odds for residents of hous-
ing for seniors. Model 5 interacts having no friends in public housing with type of housing project.
A significant difference emerges in the association of having no friends in public housing with the
relocation process for residents of family housing versus housing for seniors. Those in family hous-
ing with no public housing friends had a 0.85-logged odds greater likelihood of an easy relocation
process than residents of housing for seniors.
In sum, being older and from housing for seniors, having a disability, experiencing financial strain,
and living a longer time in public housing decreased the probability of experiencing an easy reloca-
tion process. What are the consequences in terms of the new homes and neighborhoods of not
experiencing an easy relocation process? Does it lead to worse home and neighborhood conditions?
Exhibit 7 presents mean differences in reported home and neighborhood conditions and objective
census tract-level measures of neighborhood conditions between those who experienced an easy
Exhibit 7
Mean for Not Easy
Relocation
Mean for Easy
Relocation
F-Test
Predicting Home and Neighborhood Consequences of Easy Relocation Versus Not
Easy Relocation
Condition of postrelocation home
(1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor)
1.93 (0.85) 1.57 (0.77) 9.46*
Satisfaction with postrelocation neighborhood 2.27 (1.28) 1.66 (1.12) 14.19**
High former public housing receiving neighborhood 0.06 (0.23) 0.11 (0.31) 4.95*
Neighborhood percent of homes more than 30 years old 62.76 (21.34) 68.17 (22.39) 1.22
Neighborhood percent of homes vacant 21.48 (8.68) 20.92 (9.14) 0.37
Neighborhood percent renters 52.43 (14.40) 51.08 (15.69) 0.12
Neighborhood percent living in same place less than
10 years
73.12 (14.03) 66.80 (16.44) 5.15*
Neighborhood percent in poverty 32.09 (11.32) 31.16 (11.86) 0.27
Neighborhood percent female-headed households 18.63 (8.93) 20.35 (7.90) 4.06
Neighborhood percent unemployed 16.13 (6.94) 18.75 (5.50) 10.15*
Neighborhood percent non-Hispanic African American 79.93 (26.29) 92.02 (11.00) 17.16***
* p ≤ .05. ** p ≤ .01. *** p ≤ .0001.
Note: Raw estimates and standard errors in parentheses.

188
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
relocation and those who did not, along with the reported ANOVA test results. Resident evaluation
of both home and neighborhood is significantly greater for those who experienced an easy reloca-
tion than for those who did not. Those who experienced an easy relocation also were significantly
more likely to move into neighborhoods where at least 12 others from our sample moved compared
with those who did not experience an easy relocation.
In terms of the census tract measures, no significant difference emerges between the neighborhoods
of those who had an easy relocation and those who did not in terms of neighborhood percentage
vacancy, percentage renters, and percentage older homes. Approximately 20 percent of homes
were vacant in neighborhoods for each group. For each group, slightly more than 50 percent of all
occupied homes were occupied by renters. Although the neighborhoods chosen by those experi-
encing an easy relocation had more older homes, the difference was not significant. A significant
difference does emerge, however, in the level of neighborhood turnover. Those who experienced
an easy relocation moved into neighborhoods with significantly less turnover (66.8 percent) than
those who did not experience an easy relocation (73.0 percent).
The neighborhood poverty level for those who did and did not experience an easy relocation exhibits
no significant difference. Those who experienced an easy relocation chose neighborhoods with
significantly greater proportions of both female-headed households and unemployed heads of
households than did those who did not experience an easy relocation. Similarly, those who expe-
rienced an easy relocation ended up in more racially segregated neighborhoods, with 92 percent
non-Hispanic African-American neighbors, compared with the neighborhoods of those without an
easy relocation (79 percent African American).
Discussion and Conclusion
The goal of this article has been to examine whether perceived levels of satisfaction with the relo-
cation process among former public housing residents affected postrelocation satisfaction with
home and neighborhood and to examine whether there are significant differences in destination
neighborhood characteristics based on levels of satisfaction with the relocation process. We con-
ducted this analysis using data from an Atlanta-based longitudinal study following public housing
residents from pending relocation through being relocated, interviewing them before relocation
and then 6 months after relocation.
Overall, our destination neighborhood-level findings are consistent with the previous research: by
and large, former public housing residents are moving to neighborhoods that have less poverty (but
not low poverty) and that are safer than, but just as racially segregated as, their former neighbor-
hoods. Our findings are also consistent with the previous research concerning levels of attachment
to public housing communities and residents who fall into the category of hard to house. Specifi-
cally, being older, having a disability, having a longer tenure in public housing, and experiencing
postrelocation financial strain are significantly associated with lower levels of relocation process
satisfaction. Although those in highrise housing for seniors or people with disabilities were less
likely to experience an easy relocation process, they were not the only hard-to-house residents.
Within family housing, those residents with longer tenure and greater attachment to the commu-
nity in terms of networks were less likely to experience an easy relocation process.

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
189Cityscape
The findings are far more mixed concerning the relationship between levels of relocation-process
satisfaction and destination neighborhood characteristics. First, no significant difference emerges
in terms of levels of satisfaction and levels of neighborhood poverty. In other words, regardless of
poor satisfaction or high satisfaction, residents are moving to neighborhoods with similar poverty
levels. On the other hand, those residents with high satisfaction are moving to neighborhoods
that are more stable in terms of mobility, but these neighborhoods also have a significantly higher
proportion of female-headed households, unemployment, and racial segregation.
What, then, do these findings imply for the policy imperatives to use public housing demolition
and relocation in an effort to deconcentrate poverty and, in the process, create mixed-income de-
velopments and places? The most obvious implication is that the policy discourse clearly does not
match up with residents’ perceptions in terms of being relocated and postrelocation satisfaction.
The relationship appears direct between those who were less satisfied with the relocation process
and those who are less satisfied with their postrelocation home and neighborhood. The relationship
between relocation process levels of satisfaction and postrelocation neighborhood characteristics
tells a different story, however. There is no statistical difference in neighborhood levels of poverty,
and, although those who were more satisfied with the relocation process ended up in more stable
neighborhoods, those neighborhoods had higher racial segregation.
The underlying assumptions of the poverty deconcentration imperative clearly are not supported
by our analyses. More specifically, our analyses point to the importance of acknowledging that
one size does not fit all and that resident perceptions matter. Public housing transformation efforts
using relocation to the subsidized private rental market need to better accommodate the varying
circumstances of the residents before relocation and their relocation preferences within the context
of health conditions, disability, age, public housing tenure, and essential social supports.
Our findings also speak to the importance of proactively including residents’ voices in the reloca-
tion process and not simply assuming that they will be better off because they are moving out of
public housing and into neighborhoods with less poverty. Lastly, although at least in our sample
the majority of residents in family housing expressed a desire to move (whereas the majority of
those in senior housing did not want to move), an explicit acknowledgement that these are forced
moves needs to be better incorporated into such policies.
Acknowledgments
Support for this study was provided by National Science Foundation grants # SES-0852195 and
1123105, the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, the Partnership for Urban Health,
the Center for Metro politan and Urban Studies, and the College of Arts and Sciences of Georgia State
University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of
the granting entities. The authors thank the reviewers and HUD editors for helpful comments and
critiques.
Authors
Deirdre Oakley is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University.
Erin Ruel is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University.
Lesley Reid is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University.

190
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
References
Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA). 2008. FY 2004 MTW Annual Implementation Plan. Atlanta:
Atlanta Housing Authority.
Boyd, Melody L. 2008. “The Role of Social Networks in Making Housing Choices: The Experience
of the Gautreaux Two Residential Mobility Program,” Cityscape 10 (1): 41–64.
Briggs, Xavier. 1998. “Brown Kids in White Suburbs: Housing Mobility and the Many Faces of
Social Capital,” Housing Policy Debate 9 (1): 177–221.
Buron, Larry, Diane Levy, and Megan Gallagher. 2007. Housing Choice Vouchers: How HOPE VI
Families Fared in the Private Market. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, Metropolitan Housing and
Communities Center.
Buron, Larry, Susan Popkin, Diane Levy, Laura Harris, and Jill Khadduri. 2002. The HOPE VI
Resident Tracking Study. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Chaskin, Robert J., Mark L. Joseph, Sara Voelker, and Amy Dworsky. 2012. “Public Housing
Transformation and Resident Relocation: Comparing Destinations and Household Characteristics
in Chicago,” Cityscape 14 (1): 183–214.
Clampet-Lundquist, Susan. 2010. “Everyone Had Your Back: Social Ties, Perceived Safety, and
Public Housing Relocation,” City and Community 9 (1): 87–107.
Comey, Jennifer. 2007. HOPE VI’d and on the Move. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, Metropoli-
tan Housing and Communities Center.
Crump, Jeff. 2002. “Deconcentration by Demolition: Public Housing, Poverty, and Urban Policy,”
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 20: 581–596.
Cunningham, Mary, Susan Popkin, and Martha Burt. 2005. Public Housing Transformation and the
“Hard to House”. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Devine, Deborah, Robert Gray, Lester Rubin, and Lydia Taghavi. 2003. Housing Choice Voucher
Location Patterns: Implications for Participants and Neighbourhood Welfare. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.
Farmer, Dwanda. 2012. “Exploring the Impacts of the HOPE VI Program on Residents and Sur-
rounding Neighborhoods in the City of Atlanta.” Dissertation, School of Community Economic
Development, Southern New Hampshire University.
Fischer, Paul. 2002. Racial Concentration and the CHA Relocation Program. Chicago: Shriver National
Poverty Law Center of Chicago.
———. 2001. Section 8 and the Public Housing Revolution: Where Will the Families Go? Chicago:
Woods Fund of Chicago.
Fraser, James, William Rohe, Shannon van Zandt, and Chris Warren. 2004. Few Gardens HOPE VI
Evaluation: Baseline Values for Economic Development and Neighborhood Revitalization. Report for the
Durham Housing Authority. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The
Center for Urban and Regional Studies.

“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.”
Public Housing Relocation Experiences and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta
191Cityscape
Goetz, Edward G. 2010. “Better Neighborhoods, Better Outcomes? Explaining Relocation Out-
comes in HOPE VI,” Cityscape 12 (1): 5–32.
———. 2003. Clearing the Way. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
———. 2002. “Forced Relocations vs. Voluntary Mobility: The Effects of Dispersal Programmes on
Households,” Housing Studies 17 (1): 107–123.
Greenbaum, Susan. 2008. “Poverty and the Willful Destruction of Social Capital: Displacement and
Dispossession in African American Communities,” Rethinking Marxism 20 (1): 42–54.
———. 2002. “Social Capital and Deconcentration: Theoretical and Policy Paradoxes of the
HOPE VI Program,” North American Dialogue 5 (1): 9–13.
Johnson-Hart, Lallen. 2007. Residential Outcomes of HOPE VI Relocatees in Richmond, VA.
Master’s thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Keene, Danya, and Arline Geronimus. 2011. “‘Weathering’ HOPE VI: The Importance of Evaluating
the Population Health Impact of Public Housing Demolition and Displacement,” Journal of Urban
Health 88 (3): 417–435.
Keller, JoDee. 2011. “Experiences of Public Housing Residents Following Relocation: Explorations
of Ambiguous Loss, Resiliency, and Cross-Generational Perspectives,” Journal of Poverty 15 (2): 141–163.
Kingsley, Thomas, Jennifer Johnson, and Kathryn Pettit. 2003. “Patterns of Section 8 Relocation in
the HOPE VI Program,” Journal of Urban Affairs 25 (4): 427–447.
Kleit, Rachel, and Martha Galvez. 2011. “The Location Choices of Public Housing Residents
Displaced by Redevelopment: Market Constraints, Personal Preferences, or Social Information?”
Journal of Urban Affairs 33 (4): 375–407.
Kleit, Rachel, and Lynn Manzo. 2006. “To Move or Not To Move: Relationships to Place and
Relocation Choices in HOPE VI,” Housing Policy Debate 17 (2): 271–308.
Liang, Kyee, and Scott Zeger. 1986. “Longitudinal Data Analysis Using Generalized Linear Models,”
Biometrika 73: 13–22.
Manzo, Lynn, Rachel Kleit, and Dawn Couch. 2008. “Moving Three Times Is Like Having Your
House on Fire Once: The Experience of Place and Impending Displacement Among Public Housing
Residents,” Urban Studies 45: 1855–1878.
Oakley, Deirdre, and Keri Burchfield. 2009. “Out of the Projects, Still in the Hood: The Spatial Con -
straints on Public Housing Residents’ Relocation in Chicago,” Journal of Urban Affairs 31 (5): 589–614.
Oakley, Deirdre, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid. 2013. “Atlanta’s Last Demolitions and Relocations:
The Relationship Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Resident Satisfaction,” Housing Studies
28 (2): 205–234.
Oakley, Deirdre, Erin Ruel, and E. Wilson. 2008. A Choice With No Options: Atlanta Public Housing
Residents’ Lived Experiences in the Face of Relocation. Atlanta: Georgia State University.

192
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Popkin, Susan. 2010. “A Glass Half Empty? New Evidence From the HOPE VI Panel Study,” Hous-
ing Policy Debate 20 (1): 43–63.
———. 2006. “No Simple Solutions: Housing CHA’s Most Vulnerable Families,” Northwestern
Journal of Law & Social Policy 148: 2006.
Popkin, Susan, and Mary Cunningham. 2002. CHA Relocation and Mobility Counseling Assessment
Final Report. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Popkin, Susan, Diane Levy, and Larry Buron. 2009. “Has HOPE VI Transformed Residents’ Lives?
New Evidence From the HOPE VI Panel Study,” Housing Studies 24 (4): 477–502.
Popkin, Susan, Michael Rich, Leah Hendey, Chris Hayes, and Joe Parilla. 2012. Public Housing Trans -
formation and Crime: Making the Case for Responsible Relocation. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Popkin, Susan, Brett Theodos, Catrina Roman, Elizabeth Guernsey, and Liza Getsinger. 2008. The
Chicago Family Case Management Demonstrations: Developing a New Model for Serving “Hard to House”
Public Housing Families. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Ruel, Erin, Deirdre Oakley, Chandra Ward, Renee Alston, and Lesley Reid. 2012. “Public Housing
Relocations in Atlanta: Documenting Residents’ Attitudes, Concerns and Experiences,” Cities. Avail-
able at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.07.010 (accessed February, 3, 2013).
Theodos, Brett, Susan Popkin, Elizabeth Guernsey, and Liza Getsinger. 2010. Inclusive Public Hous-
ing: Services for the Hard to House. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 2011. Section 202 Supportive Housing
for the Elderly Program. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
———. 2001. The Housing Choice Voucher Guidebook. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development.
Venkatesh, Sudhir. 2002. The Robert Taylor Homes Relocation Study: A Research Report From the
Center for Urban Research and Policy. New York: Columbia University.
———. 2000. American Project: The Rise and Fall of the Modern Ghetto. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Wang, Xinhao, David Varady, and Yimei Wang. 2008. “Measuring the Deconcentration of Housing
Choice Voucher Program Recipients in Eight U.S. Metropolitan Areas Using Hot Spot Analysis,”
Cityscape 10 (1): 65–90.

193Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
The three preceding articles in this symposium raise the similar question of how very low-income
households (some of whom move with the assistance of the Housing Choice Voucher Program
[HCVP]) fare across a range of potential outcomes, including employment, residential stability,
housing satisfaction, school quality, and neighborhood economic conditions. In this commentary,
I first briefly frame the historical and political context that led to public housing policy reforms,
before summarizing the findings from the three articles in this section. Coinciding with the implica -
tions suggested by the authors, I make strategic recommendations for programmatic and structural
changes that aim to create greater access to affordable rental apartments and to supportive housing
interventions. My central argument throughout this commentary is that market-based housing
strategies aimed at mobility alone will not significantly shift economic and social outcomes for
extremely low-income households. As these articles suggest, poverty alleviation requires more than
access to private-market rental housing. In closing, I offer policy recommendations that aim to re-
allocate federal housing assistance by increasing the supply of affordable housing units, providing
universal tax incentives for renters, expanding the use of vouchers to unsaturated neighborhoods,
and creating supportive housing interventions to address deep and persistent poverty.
Public Housing Transformation and Market-Driven Policy
Reforms
The underlying rationale of the HCVP, particularly as it relates to public housing reforms, prioritizes
the private-market provision of affordable rental housing. The historical and political context is
relevant in order to assess the findings and implications of these three studies, as well as the others
in this symposium on mixed-income housing strategies.
Since the late 1960s, the federal governments’ role for the provision of affordable rental housing
has steadily embraced strategies that subsidize private owners of rental properties. As opposed to
Market-Driven Public Housing
Reforms: Inadequacy for
Poverty Alleviation
Amy T. Khare
University of Chicago
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Basolo, by Skobba
and Goetz, and by Oakley, Ruel, and Reid.

194
Khare
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
publically owned properties, most new affordable housing units have been built through federal 
initiatives—such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (1986) and HOME funds from the National
Affordable Housing Act (1990)—that use public funding to leverage private financing (Erikson, 2009;
Fraser, Oakley, and Bazuin, 2012; McCarty, 2012; Schwartz, 2010). Subsidizing private develop-
ment has been argued by political opponents of large government bureaucracy as a more efficient
and timely method for producing affordable rental housing. Advocates of privatization claim the
U.S. government has historically failed to adequately deliver necessary quality services, in part be-
cause of the inefficient state bureaucracies that are poorly managed and not properly incentivized.
The reduction of government services encourages private-sector entities to enter new markets that
were previously untapped. Private-sector actors, seeking to maximize their economic interests, will
deliver better quality services, at lower costs. Individual citizens benefit by having an expanded
market with more attractive alternatives than were previously available when the public service
was the only option (Ellickson, 2010; Glaeser and Gyourko, 2008; Husock, 2003; Marcuse and
Keating, 2006).
The underlying rationale for reforms suggests that market investment into the built environment of
places long associated with concentrated poverty is necessary because the public-sector interven-
tions have failed. If urban neighborhoods are to be radically reshaped, then a significant portion of
the subsidized public housing rental units (and the renters living in them) will need to be replaced
with housing and other related amenities that increase the potential for economic development.
These housing policy reforms reflect a broader movement of the U.S. welfare state that increasingly
shifts responsibility from the public sector to the private sector for the provision of necessary goods
and services, such as affordable rental housing. The trend in U.S. policymaking, which is increasing,
has been to retrench government programs that meet basic needs for vulnerable citizens (such as
for food, shelter, safety, and health) and to implement a private-sector model in which nongovern-
mental institutions are engaged by public policies to respond to individual needs. This shift places
the role of the state in a removed or hidden position, as the government contracts out the direct
operations of rental housing to private actors (Dreier, 2006; Hacker, 2002; Marcuse and Keating,
2006). These alterations in housing policy became widely embraced in the 1970s with federal
housing assistance models that used rental subsidies to essentially reserve existing units in the
private housing market. Rather than making an investment in rehabbing the old public housing
units or constructing new units, the federal government policies since the mid-1980s responded
to criticisms and shortcomings of the public housing program by inducing the private market to
deliver affordable rental units.
A movement in the mid-1990s to reform public housing and deconcentrate poverty resulted in
two major approaches that continue to dominate the policy agenda. The first focuses on dispersing
public housing tenants and relocating them primarily through the use of the HCVP. Instead of living
in public housing projects they would move to privately owned apartments where their rent would
be subsidized by vouchers (Goetz, 2003; Varady et al., 2005). The second framework of mixed-
income development focuses on redeveloping public housing sites through demolition, renovation,
and the construction of new housing, primarily as embodied in the Housing Opportunities for
People Everywhere (HOPE VI) Program. The new developments would, it was argued, attract resi-
dents with higher incomes to urban low-income neighborhoods while maintaining a portion of the

Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation
195Cityscape
units for lower income residents (Fraser, Oakley, and Bazuin, 2012; Joseph, Chaskin, and Webber,
2007; Popkin et al., 2004; Smith, 2006). The policy framework of mixed-income development
depends on the first strategy of dispersal because the mixed-income model necessitates the removal
of tenants who live in redeveloping public housing sites, only a portion of whom are eligible and
able to return the site. In contrast to the mixed-income development strategy, the dispersal strategy
through housing vouchers does not aim to integrate public housing residents in close proximity to
housing units that are not considered to be public or subsidized housing. Rather, voucher holders
have the freedom to choose their housing and neighborhoods, although in a context of real constraints
given the lack of affordable rental housing options truly available to residents who obtain vouchers.
A growing body of literature critiques housing reforms centered on mixed-income development
and dispersal strategies. At the core of these analyses is the value to be extracted from otherwise
underdeveloped areas of a city. Critics see government policies that encourage mixed-income
housing and mobility initiatives as examples of neoliberal urban redevelopment—a process aimed
at generating profits for economic and political elites who reclaim centrally located neighborhoods
from the poor (Arena, 2012; Chaskin and Joseph, 2013; DeFilippis and Fraser, 2010; Fraser,
DeFilippis, and Bazuin, 2012; Hackworth, 2009, 2007; Hyra, 2012; Imbroscio, 2011, 2008; Lees,
2008; Lipman, 2008; Smith and Stovall, 2008; Steinberg, 2010). What these policies do not do
accomplish, critics say, is addressing systemic economic inequality, expanding opportunities for
low-income families, or making efforts toward equitable urban redevelopment.
HOPE VI and the HCVP are illustrative of neoliberal policies that use government incentives to
induce property owners to lease apartments to low-income households through the use of portable
vouchers. Because these strategies are not structured to expand the availability of rental housing
in tight markets, the strategies aim to address the problem of housing affordability, while leaving
vague the problem of housing availability. This dilemma is the case because the policies are struc-
tured around the consumption rather than the production of new affordable rental units (Hays, 2012;
Pierson, 1994; Schwartz, 2010). Since passage of the Quality Housing and Work Opportunity
Reconcilia tion Act of 1998, public housing reforms have resulted in the reduction of approximately
200,000 units of public housing (McCarty, 2012). Furthermore, the 2008 recession affected the
rental housing market in tremendous ways, primarily by increasing the numbers of households in
need of rental housing. In fact, the number of households seeking rental housing rose by 1 million
in 2011, representing the single largest increase in a 1-year period since the early 1980s (JCHS,
2012). As the rental housing market booms, the vacancy rates decrease and create a tighter rental
market in which rents can be increased. According to the report from the National Low Income
Housing Coalition, Out of Reach 2013, “for every 100 extremely low-income renter households,
there are just 30 affordable and available units” (NLIHC, 2013: 1). During this same period, the
federal government has continued to reduce the amount of funds for the HOME Investment Partner -
ships program, the Community Development Block Grant program, the Public Housing Operating
and Capital Funds, and other programs that support federal rental assistance. It is within this
historical and political context that research on public housing reforms that work to rely on market
mechanisms need to be interrogated, a topic to which I now turn.
Victoria Basolo’s study investigates the neighborhood poverty levels, employment status, and
school quality for residents moving with housing vouchers compared with nonmovers who also
have housing vouchers; it also examines these same factors for the movers before their move and

196
Khare
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
subsequently afterwards. Basolo has a unique dataset comprising primary survey data and second-
ary administrative data from two local housing authorities in California collected between 2002
and 2004. Her literature review helps to contextualize the policy shifts that led to the expansion
of the HCVP. She finds that movers do not have any significant differences when compared with
nonmovers. It is more interesting that she finds that movers live in neighborhoods with very slight
improvements in poverty rates and school quality, but that their employment status significantly
drops after their move. These findings support previous research that the HCVP does not result in
significant poverty deconcentration or produce mixed-income neighborhoods. In the aggregate,
the HCVP may amount to a reshuffling of low-income households into other concentrated and
segregated neighborhoods.
The findings by Kimberly Skobba and Edward G. Goetz raise the question of why informal hous-
ing arrangements and support networks matter more to low-income households than mobility to
neighborhoods with access to higher quality services, amenities, and resources. This qualitative
study examines the role of neighborhood conditions in the relocation decisions that low-income
households make. Findings suggest that very low-income households are likely to use family, friends,
and previous landlords to conduct quick, unplanned housing searches characterized out of “conve-
nience and necessity.” It is most significant that this article critiques housing policy strategies that
make false assumptions about the choices and benefits of moving to opportunity neighborhoods,
suggesting that low-income households make decisions about their moves based on relationships
rather than on neighborhood environments. The authors argue that the informal social-support
systems of low-income families are valuable assets to their residential stability, and so should not
be ignored in the design of housing policies.
In Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid’s empirical study of 232 former public housing resi -
dents who relocated in Atlanta, the author’s present two major findings. First, they find that residents
who were less satisfied with the relocation process are also less satisfied with their postrelocation
home and neighborhood. This finding is not surprising, considering that the Atlanta Housing
Authority required all residents to move regardless of their personal needs or interests. Residents
may have perceived that they were under dictates by the policy initiative that forced them to move.
As a result, they reported ongoing discomfort with the experience of relocation and the ultimate
outcome of living in their new apartments and neighborhoods. This finding raises the question of
how to best provide the prerelocation and postrelocation supports to maximize a more positive
experience for residents who have no choice but to move. The finding also calls into question
whether residents (the purported beneficiaries) perceive the reforms, which demolish existing
public housing, as positive. The second major finding is that relocated residents are moving to
neighborhoods characterized by poverty and racial segregation. These neighborhoods are only
slightly safer and less disadvantaged than the neighborhoods where their public housing apart-
ments were located. Across the sample, former public housing residents who reported high sat-
isfaction with their relocation process moved to slightly more residentially stable neighborhoods.
Those neighborhoods also had significantly higher proportions of female-headed households,
unemployment, and racial segregation, however—all indicators of neighborhood disadvantage.
This finding suggests that mobility initiatives may not deconcentrate poverty in central cities when
programmatic requirements are not in place to ensure vouchers are used in housing markets that
do not already have saturation of subsidized housing.

Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation
197Cityscape
Poverty Deconcentration or Poverty Alleviation?
In response to the three articles presented here and the summarized historical and political context,
I now critique the underlying assumption that mobility policies, as represented through the HCVP,
may be a “mechanism for low-income people to achieve better neighborhoods and access to new
opportunities,” as Basolo says. The underlying assumption—made by some policymakers, advocates,
researchers, housing providers and others—that public housing reforms aimed at deconcentrating
poverty also aim to decrease poverty must be called into question (Goetz, 2013, 2010; Imbroscio,
2011, 2008). Several reasons exist as to why it is important to not confuse poverty deconcentration
through housing mobility with poverty alleviation.
The first reason relates to the structures of benefits in the HCVP. Although the manifest aim of
policy is to provide housing assistance to low-income households, the transfer of the benefit from
the government goes directly to the private property owner. The rent burden is reduced for the
low-income household, while the property owner benefits through access to stable rental income.
Depending on the condition of the unit and the demand for rental housing, the costs to operate an
apartment may be less than the rental income provided through the program. It is possible that the
HCVP creates a higher profit margin for owners leasing to a subsidized renter. This higher profit is
one reason that owners of mixed-income housing developments in Chicago (and likely other places)
are leasing market-rate units to voucher holders. Although it is not always the case that significant
profit is obtained by landlords who house residents in the HCVP (as can be seen by its spatial
concentration in certain areas and not others), the market-driven policy structure enables wealth
generation, such that the unintended consequence of the policy further expands income and asset
inequalities between those who have the means to purchase property and those who do not.
There is a second reason to be cautious to not assume the aims of poverty deconcentration through
housing mobility are the same as poverty alleviation. These strategies do nothing to create equity
in federal housing tax policy among citizens with low incomes and those with higher incomes (as
signified by their ownership of a home). As is well documented, homeowners derive additional
income through tax benefits (Dreier, 2006). Tax-based subsidies benefiting the affluent come in a
variety of forms, including the federal home-mortgage interest deduction. This policy universally
benefits higher income households who own homes because it lowers taxes for these households,
at a cost of more than $60 billion to the federal government (NLIHC, 2013). This tax benefit has
the effect of stimulating the demand and raising prices of owner-occupied housing units, which in
turn negatively affects the supply of low- and moderate-income housing. If the most economically
challenged proportion of the population is forced out of the private market (in part, because of
government policies), then the solution may not be to further expand the use of market-driven
policy mechanisms through vouchers but rather to find ways to expand access to income and
wealth generating opportunities. One policy solution for this expansion could be in the form of a
tax benefit for low-income renters that provides a similar tax benefit as the home-mortgage interest
deduction, thus creating more equity between renters and homeowners alike.
The third reason to be cautious not to assume the aims of poverty deconcentration through housing
mobility are poverty alleviation is that housing vouchers do not in and by themselves create access
to more economically stable neighborhoods with greater resources, institutions, and amenities.

198
Khare
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
The research presented here suggests that the opposite is true—that low-income households with
vouchers remain housed in neighborhoods that are racially segregated and economically discon-
nected. Although Skobba and Goetz suggest that this phenomenon may be because of individual
desires to remain close to informal social-support networks, they also recognize that the portability
of the vouchers are limited because of discrimination in certain local markets. By design, the policy
does not necessitate that vouchers be distributed across municipalities or regions. This flexibility in
how low-income households can use the vouchers (particularly in this case across spatial boundar-
ies) may appear as a positive aspect of the program because households have the freedom to relocate
to the area of their “choice.” As the findings in these studies and others demonstrate, however, the
voucher program is less flexible in implementation than in policy design because vouchers are
clearly not a ticket to any neighborhood (Buron, Hayes, and Hailey, 2013; Chaskin et al., 2012).
These articles demonstrate the real constraints of the voucher program because, in all three studies,
most households remained in areas characterized by concentrated poverty and racial segregation.
Because the federal policy lacks requirements (and proper incentives) for owners in stronger hous -
ing markets to participate, the outcomes of this housing mobility program are largely predictable.
Municipalities with more economic stability (and usually where most of the population is nonmi-
nority) have very little enticement to take advantage of the program if the limited rental housing
that exists can easily be rented through traditional market-rate methods. Thus, the current imple-
mentation of the voucher program does little to stem racial segregation and poverty concentration.
Again, poverty deconcentration strategies should not be confused with poverty alleviation.
The final reason to be cautious about the underlying policy assumptions is that the policy is designed
as a nonentitlement and nonuniversal program. As mentioned previously, many more households
are eligible for federal rental housing assistance than who are awarded it. Although the access to
rental subsidies certainly helps to reduce the rent burden on households lucky enough to receive it,
it does not aim to address deep and persistent poverty on a systemic level for the nearly 30 percent
of renter households who live below the federal poverty line (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011).
Public housing reforms aimed at deconcentrating poverty through mobility strategies, embodied by
the HCVP, are not fundamentally aimed at decreasing poverty among most households who face
risky housing and neighborhood environments. Instead, these strategies enable a portion of eligible
households to access a subsidized housing benefit, thus reducing their rent burden. If this policy
systemically aimed to alleviate poverty, then this benefit would be universally awarded while also
expanding the overall number of permanent affordable housing units.
Implications for Policy and Practice
This analysis suggests that shifts in federal policy and local implementation will be necessary to
create better outcomes for low-income households needing affordable rental housing. These market-
driven housing strategies of housing vouchers have been embedded in the political structures and
processes since the mid-1970s. These strategies are likely to be maintained unless significant politi-
cal disruption occurs, such as social movement organizing that leads to a more radical transition in
housing policy. Until a larger movement erupts, avenues for incremental reforms could restructure
access and affordability to housing, such as the ones I recommend here.

Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation
199Cityscape
First, one solution to meeting the increasing demand for affordable rental housing is simply to
increase the supply of it. Several policy strategies are available to increase the supply of affordable
rental housing, some of which are politically tricky. One important step that should be taken while
the Obama Administration is still in office is to secure funding for the National Housing Trust Fund,
which was authorized in the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act (Hays, 2012). The appropria -
tions for the fund have yet to be awarded. To finance the fund, The National Low Income Housing
Coalition is proposing to reform the mortgage interest deduction, converting it to a nonrefundable
15-percent tax credit and reducing the cap on the maximum mortgage to receive a tax break from
$1 million to $500,000 (NLIHC, 2013).
My second proposal suggests the need to ensure the existing public housing stock has sufficient
funding for capital improvements. The period in history when repairs and maintenance on public
housing could not be addressed needs to be over; but it is not. Instead, most existing public hous-
ing properties and other federally assisted multifamily properties (such as those properties that fall
under Section 8 Mod Rehab or Section 236 regulations) need significant capital repairs and face
a significant lack of funding to address capital risks. HUD’s new Rental Assistance Demonstration
(RAD) program allows for the conversion of these properties to long-term Section 8 project-based
rent subsidies, while also creating the ability to obtain private equity and debt to pay for necessary
renovations. As of January 2013, HUD awarded new Housing Assistance Payment contracts on
approximately 13,000 units through the RAD program (HUD, 2013). I hope this program will
represent a shift toward more creative economic feasibility and sustainability of the rental housing
stock. The maintenance of the existing public housing stock through federal programs such as
RAD is of utmost importance.
Third, it may be time to rethink the benefits of the HCVP and call into question the extent that it
may be contributing to maintaining urban poverty. If vouchers are unintentionally contributing to
reconcentrating poverty in the areas where public housing projects once stood and where mixed-
income developments are now located, then resources may be better allocated to investing in
strategies that stem the downward cycling of the economic instability in these areas. It may be time
to better invest in other economic development and housing strategies that aim to comprehensively
redevelop urban neighborhoods. As an alternative, local housing advocates, government officials,
and program operators may also need to develop expertise in accessing rental housing outside
high-poverty neighborhoods to create better access to residential options. Regional initiatives, such
as Chicago’s Preservation Compact that preserves existing affordable rental housing and increases
access to it for low-income households, may serve as a model for other municipalities attempting
to expand the use of housing vouchers outside of central-city areas (Preservation Compact, 2012).
My final recommendation relates to the importance of ongoing support services for relocated
families. The literature review and findings from all three articles suggest that families who are
relocated through public housing transformation initiatives face an array of economic and social
challenges that are not fundamentally altered by housing initiatives alone. Recent research by the
Urban Institute demonstrates that intensive case management to support a particular group of
“high need” residents and their children may enable conditions under which some families will
be able to address the trauma, violence, and poverty they have endured (Theodos et al., 2012).
The Urban Institute’s multisite Housing Opportunity and Services Together demonstration is

200
Khare
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
developing a model for innovative strategies for equipping young people and their adult family
members with tools to overcome the effects of concentrated disadvantages with the goal of
interrupting intergenerational poverty (Scott et al., 2013). Although this demonstration aims at a
place-based strategy in family public housing and mixed-income developments, a need still exists
to develop and test social-support interventions for those residents who relocate into apartments in
the private market through the use of a housing voucher. As evidenced by all these articles, many
families who endured the worst of distressed public housing and who are in the midst of reloca-
tion face extremely complex challenges, such as long-term disconnection from the labor force,
extremely low incomes, and larger household sizes. This reality points to questions about how
former public housing residents relocating with vouchers will fare during and after their moves,
because they may be in particularly precarious positions and further disconnected from formal
community and social supports. It is for these reasons that relocating residents may benefit by pro-
viding increased access to and funding for neighborhood-based community and social supports.
In conclusion, the research presented in this symposium, along with the commentaries, enables us
to see the importance of developing housing policies that aim to significantly reduce the conditions
that create economic inequality and poverty. Public housing reforms that deconcentrate poverty
through housing mobility and mixed-income development strategies do not necessarily shift the
opportunities and outcomes for very low-income households. Rather, these market-based housing
strategies aimed at mobility need to be partnered with other economic and social development
policies that together may more fundamentally shift the poverty in the United States.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Jim Fraser, Deirdre Oakley, and Diane Levy for their leadership on this issue
and for the invitation to contribute.
Author
Amy T. Khare is a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Admin-
istration; a senior research analyst with the Mixed-Income Development Study at the University of
Chicago; and a research associate for the Urban Institute, Metropolitan Housing and Communities
Policy Center.
References
Arena, John. 2012. Driven From New Orleans: How Nonprofits Betray Public Housing and Promote
Privatization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Buron, Larry, Christopher Hayes, and Chantal Hailey. 2013. An Improved Living Environment, but… .
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Chaskin, Robert J., and Mark L. Joseph. 2013. “‘Positive’ Gentrification, Social Inclusion, and the
‘Right to the City’ in Mixed-Income Communities: Uses and Expectations of Space and Place.”
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37 (2): 480–502.

Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation
201Cityscape
Chaskin, Robert J., Mark L. Joseph, Sara Voelker, and Amy Dworsky. 2012. “Public Housing
Transformation and Resident Relocation: Comparing Destinations and Household Characteristics
in Chicago,” Cityscape 14 (1): 183–214.
DeFilippis, James, and Jim Fraser. 2010. “Why Do We Want Mixed-Income Housing and Neigh-
borhoods?” In Critical Urban Theory, edited by Jonathan S. Davies and David L. Imbroscio. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press: 135–147.
Dreier, Peter. 2006. “Federal Housing Subsidies: Who Benefits and Why?” In A Right to Housing:
Foundation for a New Social Agenda, edited by Rachel G. Bratt, Michael Stone, and Chester Hartman.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press: 105–139.
Ellickson, Robert C. 2010. “The False Promise of the Mixed-Income Housing Project,” UCLA Law
Review 57: 983–1021.
Erikson, David. 2009. The Housing Policy Revolution: Networks and Neighborhoods. Washington, DC:
Urban Institute Press.
Fraser, Jim, James DeFilippis, and Josh Bazuin. 2012. “HOPE VI: Calling for Modesty in Its Claims.”
In Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth? edited by Gary Bridge, Tim Butler, and Loretta Lees.
London, United Kingdom: The Policy Press: 209–229.
Fraser, Jim, Deirdre Oakley, and Joshua Bazuin. 2012. “Public Ownership and Private Profit in
Housing,” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 5 (3): 397–412.
Glaeser, Edward, and Joseph Gyourko. 2008. Rethinking Federal Housing Policy: How To Make Housing
Plentiful and Affordable. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Goetz, Edward G. 2013. New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, & Public Housing Policy. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
———. 2010. “Desegregation in 3D: Displacement, Dispersal, and Development in American
Public Housing,” Housing Studies 25 (2): 137–158.
———. 2003. Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America. Washington, DC:
Urban Institute Press.
Hacker, Jacob. 2002. The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in
the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hackworth, Jason. 2009. “Destroyed by HOPE: Public Housing, Neoliberalism and Progressive
Housing Activism in the U.S.” In Where the Other Half Lives: Lower Income Housing in a Neoliberal
World, edited by Sarah Glynn. London, United Kingdom: Pluto Press: 232–256.
———. 2007. The Neoliberal City: Governance, Ideology, and Development in American Urbanism.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Hays, R. Allen. 2012. The Federal Government & Urban Housing, 3rd ed. Albany, NY: State University
of New York Press.
Husock, Howard. 2003. America’s Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.

202
Khare
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Hyra, Derek S. 2012. “Conceptualizing the New Urban Renewal: Comparing the Past to the Present,”
Urban Affairs Review 48 (4): 498–527.
Imbroscio, David L. 2011. “Beyond Mobility: The Limits of Liberal Urban Policy,” Journal of Urban
Affairs 34 (1): 1–20.
———. 2008. “United and Actuated by Some Common Impulse of Passion,” Journal of Urban
Affairs 30 (2): 111–130.
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS). 2012. State of the Nation’s Housing.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Joseph, Mark L., Robert J. Chaskin, and Henry S. Webber. 2007. “The Theoretical Basis for Address -
ing Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development,” Urban Affairs Review 42 (3): 369–409.
Lees, Loretta. 2008. “Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?”
Urban Studies 45 (12): 2449-2470.
Lipman, Pauline. 2008. “Mixed-Income Schools and Housing: Advancing the Neoliberal Urban
Agenda,” Journal of Educational Policy 23 (2): 119–134.
Marcuse, Peter, and Dennis Keating. 2006. “The Permanent Housing Crisis: The Failures of
Conservatism and the Limitations of Liberalism.” In A Right to Housing: Foundation for a New Social
Agenda, edited by Rachel G. Bratt, Michael Stone, and Chester Hartman. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press: 139–162.
McCarty, Maggie. 2012. “HOPE VI: Public Housing Revitalization Program: Background, Funding,
and Issues.” In Public Housing: Background and Issues (Housing Issues, Laws and Programs), edited by
Sara M. Larsen. New York: Nova Science Publishers: 65–93.
National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). 2013. “Out of Reach 2013.” Available at http://
nlihc.org/oor/2013 (accessed March 26, 2013).
Pierson, Paul. 1994. Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment.
Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Popkin, Sue J., Bruce Katz, Mary Cunningham, Karen D. Brown, Jeremy Gustafson, and Margery
Austin Turner. 2004. A Decade of HOPE VI: Research Findings and Policy Challenges. Washington,
DC: Urban Institute Press; Brookings Institution Press.
Preservation Compact. 2012. Preserving Chicagoland’s Future, 2012. Available at http://www.
preservationcompact.org/PreservationCompactReport2012.pdf (accessed March 26, 2013).
Schwartz, Alex F. 2010. Housing Policy in the United States, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Scott, Molly M., Elsa Falkenburger, Marla McDaniel, Amy Khare, and Sue J. Popkin. 2013. HOST
Year 2: Implementation and Expansion. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Smith, Janet L. 2006. “Public Housing Transformation: Evolving National Policy.” In Where Are
Poor People To Live?: Transforming Public Housing Communities, edited by Larry Bennett, Janet Smith,
and Patricia A. Wright. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe: 19–40.

Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation
203Cityscape
Smith, Janet L., and David Stovall. 2008. “‘Coming Home’ to New Homes and New Schools: Critical
Race Theory and the New Politics of Containment,” Journal of Education Policy 23 (2): 135–152.
Steinberg, Steven. 2010. “The Myth of Concentrated Poverty.” In The Integration Debate: Competing
Futures for American Cities, edited by Chester W. Hartman and Gregory D. Squires. New York:
Routledge: 213–227.
Theodos, Brett, Susan J. Popkin, Joe Parilla, and Liza Getsigner. 2012. “The Challenge of Targeting
Services: A Typology of Public-Housing Residents,” Social Service Review 86 (30): 527–544.
U.S. Census Bureau. 2011. Housing Costs—Renter Occupied Units 2011. American Housing Survey.
Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.
U.S. Department of Housing an Urban Development (HUD). 2013. “Rental Assistance Demonstration.”
Available at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/RAD (accessed March 26, 2013).
Varady, David, Jeffrey A. Raffel, Stephanie Sweeney, and Latina Denson. 2005. “Attracting Middle-
Income Families in the HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization Program,” Journal of Urban Affairs
27 (2): 149–164.

204 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

205Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
The notion of the dispersal of poverty was in some ways an argument about the power of place.
Some neighborhoods were places lacking social and economic opportunity. The people in such
neighborhoods lived in concentrated poverty. If the problem was poverty concentration, then the
answer must be dispersal. As Victoria Basolo (this symposium in Cityscape) points out, the policy
world came to this answer in the early 1990s with little evidence that dispersal would really reduce
poverty for people. At the time, the struggle to understand the causes of poverty was in earnest, as
Basolo summarizes, “These arguments concerning the causes of poverty were not merely academic,
because the persistence of poverty was a social problem without an effective policy.” Concerns
about poor places arose concurrently, especially concerns regarding what to do about dilapidated
public housing (National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, 1992).
If poverty reduction for people were our only goal, then we could say that, in fact, poverty disper-
sal policies such as HOPE VI (or Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere), the Moving to
Opportunity (MTO) demonstration, or even the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) have
not been successful in that arena—most studies show that people involved in these programs do
not become more economically secure (see the review by Basolo in this symposium). By definition,
however, moving people out of public housing and rebuilding it as mixed-income housing does
have a poverty reducing impact on place. Policy success in for poor places has occurred, perhaps,
at the expense of policy success for poor people.
Nonetheless, policy goals have created and perpetuated a logic model for these programs as reducers
of individual and family poverty that rests on four false assumptions that are necessary for success.
1. Moving always creates upward mobility and improves neighborhoods.
2. People living in poverty make housing decisions in a hierarchical manner that considers
neighborhood before other concerns.
3. When given a choice, people living in assisted housing will choose to move away from familiar
neighborhoods.
False Assumptions About
Poverty Dispersal Policies
Rachel Garshick Kleit
The Ohio State University
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Basolo, by Skobba
and Goetz, and by Oakley, Ruel, and Reid.

False Assumptions About Poverty Dispersal Policies
207Cityscape
the stresses of their experiences with housing. Skobba and Goetz are eloquent in their reminder of
these dynamics. Given these considerations, why would we create a policy based on moving that
does not concurrently address the extreme stress and housing instability of households living in
poverty? Families are not making decisions in a hierarchical manner that considers neighborhood
first, voiding the second assumption. Nor are they considering opportunity as policy conceives it
when they move, suggesting the fourth assumption is also false.
The research here also causes some question for the third assumption, the idea that people who
are poor or live in assisted housing all think about moves in the same way. The motivation for
dispersal programs’ intervening in the move process is that if households are not moving to neigh-
borhoods with better opportunities, then something in the process must be preventing higher
opportunity moves—a lack of information, a lack of resources, or a lack of transportation. Deirdre
Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid suggest that the relocation process is about not only informa-
tion but also the challenges families and individuals face depending on their personal situations.
For people with differing challenges—disabilities, financial strain, or being elderly—relocation can
have varied meanings and different outcomes. The differential results along a series of factors bear
this reality out. Those who lived in family projects compared with senior projects said they had
an easier time with relocation. The longer respondents lived in public housing, the more difficult
it was to relocate, but they still had an easier time than those who lived in senior projects—and
these differences are large. If a respondent lived in family housing, she was 1.6 times more likely
to have easy relocation. For a family housing resident, each additional year in public housing was
associated with being 2.4 times more likely to say she had an easy move. If the respondent lived in
family housing and had no friends in public housing, she was 3.3 times more likely to have an easy
time compared with those who reside in senior housing.
Underlying these observations is that seniors are among the hardest individuals to house, which is
not unusual for assisted housing. Furthermore, these results may understate the stress for seniors
because the 24 deaths between surveys are not reflected in the results—there is no real way to
account for an increased death rate among seniors because of relocation. Nonetheless, the third
assumption—that people in assisted housing all behave the same way—is clearly refuted.
In some ways, setting up these assumptions and refuting them is a red herring. It is not unknown
in policy circles that the world does not work according to these four assumptions. Nonetheless,
the policy continues with the underlying assumption that somehow moving will address problems
of structural inequality. Providing choice or opportunities to move will not reduce poverty without
concerted attention to overcoming the forces that reproduce inequality; without such supports,
policy is putting the burden of changing the very structure of inequality in our society on the backs
of the very poor. In a world where inequality is growing, those at the bottom can have very little
power to stop structural inequality from perpetuating itself. The lack of positive outcomes suggests
that the real issues are structural: the quality of schools that poor children attend, the quality of work,
the quality of neighborhoods poor people live in, and the central city-to-outer suburban divide.
What is the purpose of assisted housing policy? A more proximate outcome might be the provision
of stable, safe, and affordable housing. Recent thinking considers housing as a platform for other
services (see, for example, the Urban Institute’s Housing Opportunity and Services Together
demonstration program [Popkin et al., 2012]); MDRC’s Jobs Plus evaluation, dating from 1999,

208
Kleit
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
included service saturation focused on employment within public housing communities (MDRC,
n.d.). If the goal is to improve the schools that poor children attend, then service programs that
focus on either schools or getting children connected to good schools would be more effective.
Better jobs occur not by relocating but rather by using wraparound services to connect adults with
sustainable education programs integrated with the workforce system. With the economy not
producing many moderate-paying jobs, targeted efforts are necessary.
Since the 1960s, U.S. housing policy concerning poverty dispersal has been central to creating a
diverse and equitable society (Goetz, 2003). The most recent vintage, dating from the early 1990s,
has failed to actually reduce family poverty because it is based on a set of false assumptions, there-
by producing a lack of attention to the factors that will produce the outcomes desired. Even with
appropriate attention (and resources), one could argue that the sorts of skills needed to make these
efforts work are not usually found among public housing agencies, which are traditionally dedi-
cated to providing housing rather than human and social services (Kleit & Page, 2012). Although
place does matter, attention to place alone is not enough. To make the dream of addressing family
poverty a reality, we need to invest in policies based on theories of change, first, that recognize the
diversity and fragility of the population concerned; second, wherein the outcomes desired actually
can directly result from the program’s efforts; and third, that directly and simultaneously deter the
reproduction of structural inequality.
Author
Rachel Garshick Kleit is a professor in the City and Regional Planning Section of the Knowlton
School of Architecture at The Ohio State University.
References
Briggs, Xavier de Souza, Susan J. Popkin, and John Goering. 2010. Moving to Opportunity: The Story
of an American Experiment To Fight Ghetto Poverty. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University
Press.
Buerkle, Karla, and Sandra L. Christenson. 1999. “A Family View of Mobility Among Low-Income
Children,” CURA Reporter: 7–12.
Goetz, Edward G. 2003. “Housing Dispersal Programs,” Journal of Planning Literature 18 (1): 3–16.
Kearns, Robin A., and Christopher J. Smith. 1994. “The Residential Mobility of Marginalized
Populations,” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 85: 114–129.
Kleit, Rachel Garshick, and Stephen B. Page. 2012. “The Changing Role of Public Housing Author-
ities in the Affordable Housing Delivery System.” Paper presented at After the Crisis: Housing
Policy and Finance in the US and UK, New York.
MDRC. n.d. “Jobs-Plus Community Revitalization Initiative for Public Housing Families.” Available at
http://www.mdrc.org/project/jobs-plus-community-revitalization-initiative-public-housing-families#
featured_content (accessed June 3, 2013).

False Assumptions About Poverty Dispersal Policies
209Cityscape
National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing. 1992. The Final Report of the National
Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing: Report to Congress and the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Pettit, Kathryn, Jennifer Comey, and Michel Grosz. 2011. “The Costs of the Foreclosure Crisis for
Children: What Education and Housing Policy Makers Can Do To Minimize the Harm.” Paper
presented at the Urban Affairs Association 41st Annual Meeting, New Orleans.
Popkin, Susan J., Molly M. Scotte, Joe Parilla, Elsa Falkenburger, Marla McDaniel, and Shinwon
Kyung. 2012. Planning the Housing Opportunity and Services Together Demonstration: Challenges and
Lessons Learned. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Skelton, Ian. 2002. “Residential Mobility of Aboriginal Single Mothers in Winnipeg: An Exploratory
Study of Chronic Moving,” Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 18 (2): 127–144.
Steele, Claude, and David A. Sherman. 1999. “The Psychological Predicament of Women on Welfare.”
In Cultural Divide: Understanding and Overcoming Group Conflict, edited by Deborah A. Prentice and
Dale T. Miller. New York: The Russell Sage Foundation: 393–428.

210 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

211Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
The orderly way in which we present research certainly belies the roundabout way in which insights
are obtained. Some years back, in the middle of my study on Chicago public housing transformation,
an elderly tenant withdrew from my study. She said that my interview was making her depressed.
She decided to stop the interview just as I had completed about 30 of the 60 questions in my hand.
She shook her head and said—
I’ve had enough. You keep asking me about what I want, what my choice is, what’s going to
happen. I don’t see how any of this will be helpful.
I explained (for the second time) what was written on my informed consent form—the form that
I would read to ensure that respondents understood the purpose of my visit. I said slowly that we
were interested in the decisions that poor families made as they entered the private market after
years in public housing. If they had a choice, I said, would they choose to live in better off neigh-
borhoods? It seemed like a reasonable question, until I heard her answer.
It’s not about what we choose to do. Any fool can make choices, but you want to know the
difference between you and me? When you make a bad decision, it won’t matter. You’ll be fine.
See, when poor folk make choices, it can go terribly wrong. Terribly wrong. You want to help us?
Make it so it doesn’t matter if we make a bad choice.
In that instant, I understood how much my own scholarly approach was based on untested and
unexamined assumptions about the social world: choice mattered to me because most of my
choices were not life or death. If my basic choices carried great weight, I would feel burdened and
anxious. Residential location is a perfect example: I am fortunate to be able to live in a variety of
middle-class neighborhoods, with varying amenities. I have some choice. Then again, I am not
considering gang turf boundaries, lack of hospitals and grocery stores, police neglect, or anything
else that really affects my material welfare. Every neighborhood I choose comes with these ameni-
ties. In other words, not much choice exists at all.
Acknowledging the Structural
Features of Choice
Sudhir Venkatesh
Columbia University
Commentary
These comments relate to the articles in this Cityscape symposium by Basolo, by Skobba
and Goetz, and by Oakley, Ruel, and Reid.

212
Venkatesh
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
For poor residents, choices are grave matters and the process can be tiresome after a point. Moving
year after year, worrying about gun violence or the availability of decent public transportation, and
getting children into a new school are all deeply anxiety-provoking, energy-consuming activities.
Our approach to housing policy should take into account this structural feature of choice. The
articles by Victoria Basolo, by Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid, and by Kimberly Skobba
and Edward G. Goetz remind us just how important choices are for low-income families. These
articles challenge us to consider the forces that propel families into stability or lurch them over the
cliff further into impoverishment. They also point to novel ways to better equip families to organize
their lives in efficacious ways.
In the articles, I found several lines of argument—all rooted in careful empirical analysis—that are
worth pursuing as we reflect on the future of housing policy for low-income households seeking to
live in more economically and socially mixed areas.
First, social networks are critical for the poor urban residents, but the networks also provide con-
tradictory benefits. They can facilitate comfort and security, but they also anchor individuals and
their families in ties that are difficult to leverage for material benefits—such as information about
jobs, schools, and safe neighborhoods.
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid write, “being older and from housing for seniors, having a disability, experiencing
financial strain, and living a longer time in public housing decreased the probability of experiencing
an easy relocation process.” Their findings suggest that public housing residence has a temporal
quality in which aspects of one’s lifestyle become difficult to overcome. The longer one stays in
a housing development, the more likely that one’s personal connections affect the relocation and
choice process. One will be influenced by others in a social network; or, more commonly, one
may be in networks of monetary indebtedness that make it difficult not to follow those whom one
has been relying on for support in dire times. Conversely, familiar faces can help ease the burden
precisely for these reasons. Oakley, Ruel, and Reid find, “Those who experienced an easy relocation
also were significantly more likely to move into neighborhoods where at least 12 others from our
sample moved.”
Skobba and Goetz echo this point regarding relationships.
Relationships, rather than neighborhoods, appeared to be the driving factor in residential
mobility and decisionmaking for the low-income families in our study. In the absence of
financial resources, people are an essential source of capital. For very low-income house-
holds, support networks become an important way for families to meet basic needs. The
use of informal support networks to meet housing needs is no exception. … Sometimes,
supportive relationships with parents and friends offered stability and security even when housing
conditions were less than ideal (emphasis added).
The Skobba and Goetz article reminds us not to view social networks as a panacea—social ties are
limited as catalysts for change. They present a careful, grounded portrait of the residents in their
sample for whom social networks served as a resource (and possibly a constraint). Their work sug-
gests that improving the ties of low-income households through mobility is important, but that it is
never a direct outcome of residential relocation.

Acknowledging the Structural Features of Choice
213Cityscape

Basolo’s analysis of families who relocated in Orange County highlights an issue that is often under -
emphasized in mobility research: larger metropolitan areas typically receive the greatest scholarly
attention, which can be a determinant to creating a nuanced understanding of how housing choice
can affect household welfare across the country. Focusing on a complex region in which several
midsize urban and suburban spaces are strung together, Basolo in her research reminds us of the
importance of measured expectations in mobility research. Change neither comes right away, nor
to the degree that policymakers would like to see happen.
Voucher holders’ locational choices in Orange County and elsewhere may be constrained to a limited
number of relatively similar neighborhoods. In other words, moving would not change outcomes
dramatically. Such an interpretation about the lack of differences between Housing Choice Voucher
Program (HCVP) movers and nonmovers is consistent with the results comparing mover-only
outcomes before and after their residential relocation. Although there were improvements in the
neighborhood poverty rate and school quality, they were quite small. As such, it is reasonable to
suggest these marginal changes likely have no discernible positive effects on the lives of voucher
holders or their children.
Context matters, as Basolo makes clear. The relevant context could include the dynamics of the
housing market and the administrative capacities of the agencies delivering assistance and services
to families. Basolo’s measured views on this subject are highly welcomed, given the outsized hopes
that many of us have for voucher-based programs.
The burden for HCVP administrators is to work on opening up new neighborhoods that
offer more opportunities to voucher holders, although doing so is a tall order for LHAs
that have struggled in the past convincing landlords to accept voucher recipients.
Skobba and Goetz articulate a point that is also not emphasized enough in studies of housing mo-
bility. “For very low-income households, residential mobility is more often an exercise in improv-
isation than planned.” Their corrective is necessary for scholars and policymakers who too often
construct housing policy based on a search procedure that resembles a middle-class flowchart:
check the classified ads, make an appointment, visit a few places, choose a home. Such searches
are typically portrayed as an emotionally unremarkable activity, except for the motivation to flee
one’s existing neighborhood. Whereas, in reality, the attachments that low-income households
have to one another and to their community mitigates against any such smooth linear process.
The findings from our study suggest that very low-income households use different, often
unconventional, strategies to find housing. The process prioritizes convenience and neces -
sity rather than being a choice among housing units that match a predetermined set of
criteria. The reason for this is probably twofold. First, forced moves often leave little time
to conduct a thorough housing search. Second, the affordability problems that our study
families faced put market rentals out of reach.… The experiences of the participants in
our study suggest that very low-income households rely on personal relationships, rather
than a formal housing search process, to find a place to live.
One general and consistent theme in the articles is that the move to a low-poverty neighborhood
does not necessarily produce higher levels of satisfaction for movers—whether the movers are

214
Venkatesh
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
voucher holders or nonvoucher holders. This point sounds nearly heretical in today’s discourse,
given the core policy assumption that poor neighborhoods are places to leave—and quickly. The
trouble with this view is that a limit exists in terms of a society’s capacity to use “exit” as social
policy. Skobba and Goetz are clear on this issue.
Forced relocation out of communities and into opportunity neighborhoods is especially
insensitive to the necessary social supports that low-income families construct and main -
tain. This insensitivity is especially true of programs in which displacement and relocation
are typically the only intervention experienced by needy families, a fact that has been true
of most public housing redevelopment efforts.
At some point, realistic housing policy would suggest that we adopt a neighborhood-level focus
in which low-income families are given the services necessary to live comfortably and safely in
their existing area. In our silo-based approach to social policy, however, such nonhousing matters
can easily be shuttled off to the next agency or scholarly conference. This result would be a pity,
because as the three articles intimate, if the problems are complex, such that multiple factors are
brought together, then it seems that the solutions might necessarily need to be organized in such
a manner as well.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the editors for helpful comments.
Author
Sudhir Venkatesh is the Williams B. Ransford Professor of Sociology at Columbia University.

215Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Cityscape Mixed-Income
Symposium Summary and
Response: Implications for
Antipoverty Policy
Mark L. Joseph
Case Western Reserve University
I commend symposium guest editors James C. Fraser, Deirdre Oakley, and Diane K. Levy for initiat -
ing and compiling this collection of symposium articles on the timely topic of poverty deconcentra tion
and mixed-income development. As these articles were being finalized, the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development announced that three additional cities would receive Choice
Neighborhoods implementation grants of about $30 million, joining the five cities that were named
in 2011. Thus, in the United States, the Obama Administration is doubling down on the approach
of poverty deconcentration through public housing demolition, resident relocation, and mixed-
income redevelopment.
After nearly 20 years of poverty deconcentration and mixed-income efforts in the United States and
Western Europe (and in other parts of the world, such as Australia), however, fundamental questions
remain. The intentions and overall outcomes of efforts to create pathways to self-sufficiency and
opportunity for those who have been socially and economically isolated in high-poverty, inner-city
communities remain unclear. The articles in this symposium reflect on and add to the literature
that has provided evidence of these shortcomings.
Although the symposium is introduced as focusing on “mixed-income housing initiatives,” I would
contend that the scope of its articles is better framed as “poverty deconcentration” with a focus on
the two main policy approaches of the past two decades: dispersal and mixed-income development.
The articles by Victoria Basolo, by Kimberly Skobba and Edward G. Goetz, and by Deirdre Oakley,
Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid review relocation and mobility programs. The articles by James C. Fraser,
Robert J. Chaskin, and Joshua Theodore Bazuin, by Ade Kearns, Martin McKee, Elena Sautkina,
George Weeks, and Lyndal Bond, by JoDee Keller, Janice Laakso, Christine Stevens, and Cathy
Tashiro, by Reinout Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham, and by Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and
Kassie Bertumen consider mixed-income and mixed-tenure efforts. The symposium guest editors
understandably describe relocation efforts as also having the objective of promoting mixed-income
neighborhoods. The literature on mobility research and the articles in this symposium demonstrate,
however, that, although relocation may be a tool to move some low-income households to better
neighborhood environments, relocation is generally not creating mixed-income communities and

216
Joseph
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
certainly is not creating a mix as systematically and directly as initiatives such as Housing Oppor-
tunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI), Right to Buy, and Choice Neighborhoods are doing. As
I shall make clear when I return to future implications, I think it is important not to conflate these
two related, but distinct, policy choices and approaches under the construct of mixed-income housing.
Regardless of framing, the intention of the symposium is clear: to take stock of efforts to address
poverty concentration on both sides of the Atlantic. Several important questions are posed and
answered in these articles, including these: What have been the benefits of social mixing for poor
people? What are the implications of today’s dominant ideological approach to urban poverty
policy, focusing on individual rather than structural causes and turning to the market to provide
social and public housing? Given the shortcomings of current efforts, what design improvements
could be made to poverty deconcentration programs?
An essential question posed in Fraser, Oakley, and Levy’s introductory article, but never fully and
directly tackled by any of the other articles, is “When and how should society, and its government
leaders, house the least advantaged?” Additional questions about deconcentration policy not ad-
dressed by the articles include these: What alternative antipoverty paradigm should be considered?
What are the relative costs and benefits of poverty dispersal and mixed-income development? Is
each approach a better match for certain low-income households than for others, and can we be
more effective at anticipating which approach might work best for whom?
I will use my summary-and-response essay to summarize some of the key conclusions from these
articles and to suggest my own response to some of the unanswered questions by way of suggesting
directions for future place-based antipoverty policy.
The Limited Results of Social Mixing
Despite high hopes, expectations, and rhetoric from policymakers, the evidence seems clear in this
symposium and in the broader deconcentration literature that mixed-income and dispersal policies
have thus far had limited and, in some cases, detrimental effects on urban poor people. Whereas
these policies have had measurable and, in some cases, dramatic effects on urban places, they have
been far less successful on the people side.
On the positive side, these policies, in general, have been successful at moving individuals and
families out of the most desperate and deteriorated living conditions. Mixed-income development
has been far more successful on this front, completely demolishing and rebuilding entire housing
complexes, often complete with parks and other amenities. As Kearns et al. and Levy, McDade,
and Bertumen indicate, those households that meet screening criteria and can secure units in new
mixed-income developments experience high-quality unit, building, and often neighborhood con-
ditions. The neighborhood condition results of relocation cited in this symposium are more mixed.
Oakley, Ruel, and Reid report that relocatees in Atlanta moved to neighborhoods that, although
still high poverty, were less poor and safer than the neighborhoods from which they had moved.
Basolo, on the other hand, reports no decrease in neighborhood poverty and no increase in public
school quality from the moves of the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) participants in
California whom she studied.

Cityscape Mixed-Income Symposium Summary and Response:
Implications for Antipoverty Policy
217Cityscape
The results for individuals have been far more disappointing. Kearns et al. and Levy, McDade, and
Bertumen assert that despite living in a mixed-income environment, former social or public housing
residents are still living in a state of personal deprivation, confronting behavioral challenges, and
demonstrating little change of aspirations. Relocation efforts have fared no better. In this symposium,
Basolo reports that employment among HCVP participants in her study fell by more than 20 per-
centage points after their moves.
Part of the rationale for a neighborhood-focused approach is a theoretical assertion of the impor-
tance of a supportive community for individual well-being. In theory, more socially and economi-
cally diverse environments should provide more productive social ties for low-income households.
In practice, as Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin; Kearns et al.; Keller et al.; Kleinhans and van Ham; and
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen indicate, many obstacles stand in the way of building cross-class ties,
including lifestyle, behavioral and cultural differences, segregated physical designs, and life-stage
differences such as the presence of children in the household. Furthermore, stigmatized, unequal
treatment from other residents and development staff and a predilection for formal control meth-
ods (cameras, police) as opposed to informal community control have led to what Kearns et al.
describe as “static tenure mix, rather than the nurturing of dynamic social mixing.” Keller et al. and
Levy, McDade, and Bertumen point out that, in many cases, residents of mixed-income environ-
ments experience less community and a greater sense of isolation and stigmatization.
The Problematic Ideologies Shaping Poverty Deconcentration
More fundamental than some of the design and implementation shortcomings of deconcentration
policies is the ideological basis for those policies. Authors in this symposium point out three main
problematic ideological perspectives that shape and constrain policy approaches. The first, as Fraser,
Chaskin, and Bazuin point out, is the framing of poverty as an individual rather than a structural
issue. Given the realities, as they state, of “global capitalism, ... racism and racial inequality and
the unequal distribution of quality public goods,” among other structural factors, the individual
approach is necessarily insufficient. Improving housing conditions and social mix alone will not
fundamentally change educational opportunities or labor-market access.
The second core ideology is the belief in the potential for privatization and the power of market
forces to spur production of housing for poor people and a pathway out of poverty. Fraser, Chaskin,
and Bazuin note that the private sector is not obligated to provide for human rights in the same
way as a government and caution that the mixed-income approach is simply paving the way for
market reinvestment that does not necessarily benefit the most vulnerable people in society. In
their article about the Right to Buy program in the United Kingdom, Kleinhans and van Ham
provide an excellent example of some of the counterproductive outcomes and inequity that can
be generated by turning to market forces. A major outcome of the program was residualization,
whereby the best quality social housing units in the best neighborhoods were the most likely to be
purchased, leaving mostly lower quality homes in lower quality neighborhoods available to social
housing renters.
A third ideological frame is the presumed association of choice and neighborhood quality. It has
been assumed that if households are given a greater degree of choice in their residential decisions,

218
Joseph
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
they will choose higher quality neighborhood environments. Because, as Basolo and as Skobba and
Goetz point out, relocatees are not moving to higher quality neighborhood contexts, this assumption
must be re-examined. Skobba and Goetz suggest that low-income households are driven by more
“proximate concerns” such as affordability, control over their local environment, and existing social
ties and supports. Oakley, Ruel, and Reid suggest that more remains to be understood about how
low-income households perceive and navigate a structurally unequal racialized real estate market.
Improving Intervention Design
Beyond ideological critiques, the articles offer up specific design changes that might improve results.
Two overarching improvements would be to sharpen the connection between theory and evidence
and to develop more specific goals that can be more carefully measured and assessed. Fraser, Chaskin,
and Bazuin critique the lack of a “coherent intervention model built from a clear theory of change,”
and Kearns et al. point out the vague policy goals generated from a policy orthodoxy without sup -
porting evidence. Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin; Levy, McDade, and Bertumen; and Kearns et al.
generate lists of design changes to mixed-income development that include more socially conducive
design of units and public spaces; more onsite maintenance; more attention to property manage-
ment; governance and community building; and focused, more holistic, efforts to address individual
education, employment, and health needs. Regarding relocation policies, Basolo and Skobba and
Goetz recommend stronger relocation counseling that is more attuned to individual interests and
needs and generates a broader choice set that offers more social and economic opportunity and
respects and accommodates social ties and supports.
Implications for Better Antipoverty Policy and Practice
Although it covers a broad scope, this symposium leaves several important questions unanswered.
Beyond tweaking the design of these programs as currently implemented, what fundamental en -
hancements and course corrections might be made to poverty deconcentration policy? As I read
the articles in this symposium, I reflected on how the findings summarized and presented would
be fodder for some of the sharpest critics of poverty deconcentration and mixed-income policy,
such as David Imbroscio, Mary Pattillo, and Larry Vale, whose perspectives were not directly in-
cluded in this symposium (Imbroscio, 2012, 2008; Pattillo, 2008; Vale, 2013, 2006, 1996). These
scholars share a concern that current urban policy is too focused on integrating poor people into
mainstream residential contexts and too little focused on how to revitalize their current contexts
without engineered economic or racial integration. In these critics’ preferred scenarios, any mixed-
income integration would come from increased income and assets of the current population. Im-
broscio (2012) labeled the alternative antipoverty paradigm that emerges from their contributions
to the literature the “placemaking paradigm,” with a focus on investing in high-poverty, racially
segregated communities as they are without requiring resident mobility in or out.
Noting the underlying structural factors that present the fundamental barriers to greater social and
economic mobility, Fraser, Chaskin, and Bazuin begin to map out an agenda for comprehensive
political action to address a list of issues such as living wage, Earned Income Tax Credit program
expansion, affordable housing, education, access to technology, and “issues of discrimination.”

Cityscape Mixed-Income Symposium Summary and Response:
Implications for Antipoverty Policy
219Cityscape
Imbroscio, Pattillo, and Vale would likely propose that a place-based frame be added for strategic
targeting of these structural changes. For this recommendation to be feasible and actionable, far
more detail will be needed about the catalyst for such comprehensive political action and the
civic, political, and perhaps corporate mechanisms through which such action will be mobilized,
organized, and sustained long enough to achieve legislative and policy success. A host of potential
allies certainly exists for such a movement—tenant and resident leadership groups, legal advocates,
housing activists, policy organizations, and scholar-activists, to name a few. Armed with the grow-
ing evidence about the futility of an individuals-only approach to poverty deconcentration and
the enduring and mounting costs to communities, municipalities, regions, and ultimately nations
from avoiding more structural solutions, it may be possible to forge strategic alliances with housing
authorities, municipal governments, and eventually civic and corporate interests.
In the meantime, as some policymakers and practitioners pursue a path to more fundamental
structural changes, others could tackle a more pragmatic and short-term path to a comprehensive
rethinking and reformulating of poverty deconcentration efforts. I do agree that the realities of en-
during segregation (in some cases through structural marginalization of poor people and racial and
ethnic minorities, in other cases through individual choice and preferences, and in most cases for
reasons hard to distinguish) require us to seek policies that will revitalize low-income communities
as they are. I also feel, however, that we must continue to sharpen and advance our abilities to create
and sustain mixed-income communities of choice. Increasing diversity and socioeconomic divides
require the continuation of the quest for greater residential inclusion and equity in all communities,
rather than the acceptance that separate but equal may be the best we can accomplish in our society.
Rather than tossing mixed-income development and dispersal programs into the same category, I
suggest that as a field we need to be even sharper about the distinctions between these two approaches
and their relative costs, benefits, and feasibility in various contexts. Even more important would
be to develop better evidence about which types of households seem to benefit most from each
approach so that we can provide a better science of resident relocation counseling and supports.
Furthermore, several existing federal and local programs could be strategically enhanced to address
the shortcomings discussed in this symposium. I would recommend, rather than modifying each
separately, a comprehensive rethinking of these programs as a suite of efforts with a common and
integrated set of enhancements. These efforts would include technical assistance to implementers,
stronger guidelines and requirements in funding applications and competitions, better local col-
laborations to make more efficient use of existing local capacities and resources, and incentives for
innovation.
To be specific, in the U.S. context, which I know best, the programs I have in mind are the HCVP,
project-based vouchers, mixed-income development, inclusionary zoning, and community devel-
opment block grants (CDBG). The first four programs primarily and often exclusively focus on
affordable housing as a platform, without strategically leveraging that platform with other local
resources to attempt to change household social and economic mobility. The CDBG program is
usually disconnected from these other efforts, deployed locally in a variety of ways, and it usually
spreads a shrinking set of resources inefficiently across the local landscape.

220
Joseph
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
At the national, regional, and local levels, policymakers and practitioners could draw on existing
evidence to identify the most important strategic enhancements to these housing platform programs
and how existing resources could be better aligned and integrated to add these programmatic dimen -
sions. Choice Neighborhoods in the United States presents a live example of this process, enhanc-
ing the HOPE VI program with a focus on employment and education. Why not apply this same
housing-plus enhancement innovation to the HCVP and project-based voucher and inclusionary
zoning programs? How might CDBG funds be deployed in much tighter coordination with these
other efforts?
The early Choice Neighborhoods experience is instructive; successful implementation of the hous-
ing platform alone is exceedingly complex. Designing, resourcing, implementing, and sustaining
enhancements such as supportive services, high-quality educational opportunities, workforce devel -
opment, governance, and community building will take careful upfront strategic design; dedicated
and vigilant technical assistance; and keen accountability from funders, partners, and constituencies.
As evidence mounts about the limited and sometimes detrimental effects of current social-mixing
policies on urban poor people, the need for course correction and a new comprehensive path
forward is clear. Ideally, this path will involve a longer term political quest for more structural
change and a short-term effort to fundamentally enhance current programs in a comprehensive,
integrated way.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Smaranda Ene, Taryn Gress, and April Hirsh for their research assistance on the
review of articles in this symposium.
Author
Mark L. Joseph is an associate professor at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied
Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and the Director of the National Initiative on
Mixed-Income Communities (http://nimc.case.edu).
References
Imbroscio, David. 2012. “Beyond Mobility: The Limits of Liberal Urban Policy,” Journal of Urban
Affairs 34 (1): 1–20.
———. 2008. “United and Actuated by Some Common Impulse of Passion: Challenging the Dis-
persal Consensus in American Housing Policy Research,” Journal of Urban Affairs 30 (2): 111–130.
Pattillo, Mary. 2008. “Investing in Poor and Black Neighborhoods ‘As Is.’” In Public Housing Trans-
formation: Confronting the Legacy of Segregation, edited by Susan J. Popkin and Lynette Rawlings.
Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press: 31–46.
Vale, Lawrence. 2013. Purging the Poorest: Public Housing and the Design Politics of Twice-Cleared
Communities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Cityscape Mixed-Income Symposium Summary and Response:
Implications for Antipoverty Policy
221Cityscape
———. 2006. “Comment on Mark Joseph’s ‘Is Mixed-Income Development an Antidote to Urban
Poverty?’” Housing Policy Debate 17 (2): 259–269.
———. 1996. “Public Housing Redevelopment: Seven Kinds of Success,” Housing Policy Debate
7 (3): 491–534.

222 Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes

223Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Richard K. Green
University of Southern California
At first blush, there is no reason to think that choice of housing tenure should affect child out-
comes. Economists think of tenure choice as a financial decision, grounded in the relative costs
of owning or renting a house. But a problem exists with the economist’s view of the tenure choice
problem—for most people, in most time periods, after taking into account the transaction costs
and maintenance costs of being a homeowner, owning produces an inferior economic outcome
to renting. Yet, even in the aftermath of a period when owner-occupied housing has performed
intensely badly, Americans seem to want to be homeowners. The question is, why?
Before we attempt to answer this question, let us look at the evidence for the relationship between
tenure and child outcomes. We may divide research papers into two types—those that view the
preponderance of the evidence as supporting the idea that kids of homeowners are more likely to
finish school, less likely to get pregnant at a young age, have better cognition, and fewer behavioral
problems (Green and White, 1997; Haurin, Parcel, and Haurin, 2003; Dietz and Haurin, 2003)
and those that do not view the preponderance of the evidence this way (Barker and Miller, 2009;
Holupka and Newman, 2012).
All the papers agree on a stylized fact—that using simple econometric models, homeowning, after
controls are in place, predicts child outcomes. If all we were worried about was prediction, we could
stop the argument at that point. To say one thing predicts another is, however, different from
saying that one thing causes another. If something we observe is highly correlated with something
we do not observe, and that observed thing predicts an outcome, we can not say whether it is the
observed thing or the unobserved thing that is causing the outcome. All papers attempt to control
for unobserved characteristics; results across papers vary.
Assume that it is not tenure choice that drives child outcomes, but rather unobservable character-
istics: parents who select into owning are simply different from parents who do not. Let us also say
that parents who become owners are more likely to have personality traits conducive to being good
Do Kids of Homeowners Do
Better Than Kids of Renters?
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
For this issue’s Point of Contention, we asked four housing economists with substantial
knowledge of the topic to argue for or against the following proposition—“The research
to date is consistent with a significant causal effect of homeownership on child well-being
and the educational attainment of young people.” Please contact alastair.w.mcfarlane@
hud.gov to suggest other thought-provoking areas of controversy.

224
Green
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
parents than those who become renters. This assumption prompts a couple of questions. First, does
the process of becoming an owner change the unobserved characteristics of parents? If so, so-called
“corrections” for self-selection will mask a very real effect that ownership has on children. But what
if the parents who embark on the ownership path are different from others from the beginning?
We might then ask why these parents want to be homeowners.
The answer might have something to do with stability. Owners essentially have infinitely lived leases.
This longevity indicates they can assure that their children remain in a stable environment, and,
more specifically, can remain in a school district that their parents find desirable. Indeed, much
of the work referred to in the previous section indicates that, after controlling for tenure choice,
length of stay in one home is an important predictor of child outcomes. Parents with 1-year leases
are not able to assure their children will have residential stability.
This conclusion raises some provocative questions about America’s institutional arrangements for
renting. Other countries in the world, such as Germany, have much stronger tenant protections
than the United States, which allows renters to be quasi-owners. Although this quasi-ownership has
doubtless benefits to those who rent, it also discourages the market from supplying rental housing,
thereby shutting some households out of the market. As such, it is not clear whether offering
stronger generic tenant protections for renters would produce a net social benefit.
It is a little strange, however, that choices about the length of the lease seem to be so limited. House -
holds seem to have the choice between the alpha of a 1-year lease and the omega of an infinite
lease (that is, ownership). Given that children stay in school for 13 years, one wonders whether a
13-year lease might not be optimal for some households. We observe a very wide variety of leases
in the commercial real estate market—office, retail, and industrial tenants frequently sign 1-, 3-, 5-,
and 10-year leases.
Well-established literature provides evidence that residential stability is good for children (e.g.,
Adam 2004). In the U.S. context, ownership is the method by which parents can assure their
children stability. Unless we change how real estate institutions in the United States work, home-
ownership will continue to play an important role in producing positive outcomes for children.
One final note—recent work by Gary Painter, Michelle White, Sarah Mawhorter, and Richard K.
Green suggests that those parents who buy homes without making a downpayment have children
who behave like children of renters, while all parents who put anything down have children who
behave like children of all other owners. This finding suggests that the act of saving—even a little
bit—has some association with child outcomes.
Author
Richard K. Green is the Director and Chair of the University of Southern California Lusk Center for
Real Estate.

Do Kids of Homeowners Do Better Than Kids of Renters?
225Cityscape
References
Adam, Emma K. 2004. “Beyond Quality Parental and Residential Stability and Children’s Adjust-
ment,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 13 (5): 210–213.
Barker, David, and Eric Miller. 2009. “Homeownership and Child Welfare,” Real Estate Economics
37 (2): 279–303.
Dietz, Robert D., and Donald R. Haurin. 2003. “The Social and Private Micro-Level Consequences
of Homeownership,” Journal of Urban Economics 54 (3): 401–450.
Green, Richard, Gary Painter, and Michelle White. 2012. Measuring the Benefits of Homeowning:
Effects on Children Redux. Research Institute for Housing America Research Paper 12-01. Washington,
DC: Research Institute for Housing America.
Green, Richard K., and Michelle J. White. 1997. “Measuring the Benefits of Homeowning: Effects
on Children,” Journal of Urban Economics 41 (3): 441–461.
Haurin, Donald R., Toby L. Parcel, and R. Jean Haurin. 2003. “Does Homeownership Affect Child
Outcomes?” Real Estate Economics 30 (4): 635–666.
Holupka, Scott, and Sandra J. Newman. 2012. “The Effects of Homeownership on Children’s
Outcomes: Real Effects or Self-Selection?” Real Estate Economics 4 (3): 566–602.

226
Green
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being

227Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Donald Haurin
The Ohio State University
In the fourth quarter of 2012, the homeownership rate in the United States was 65.4 percent for
all households. For the groups most likely to have children, the ownership rate was substantially
lower, ranging from 21.9 percent for households under age 25, to 34.9 percent for those ages 25
to 29, to 48.6 percent for those ages 30 to 34, and to 60.4 percent for those ages 35 to 44.
Improving child outcomes is important for parents and society. These outcomes include high cog -
nitive abilities, positive behaviors, graduating from high school and attaining additional education,
earning high wages, and achieving other positive economic and social outcomes as young adults.
The question of whether homeownership affects child well-being is thus important for understanding
child outcomes and determining which public policies could be effective in improving outcomes.
Many studies have examined the determinants of homeownership. Economic factors known to
positively influence the probability of a household being a homeowner include greater household
wealth and permanent income, lower costs of owning (interest rates, property taxes, and transaction
costs), greater expected returns on housing as an investment, and higher rental costs (the alternative
to owning). Annualized transaction costs are lower the longer a household plans to remain in the
dwelling; thus, households that expect to be geographically stable tend to be homeowners. Demo-
graphic factors such as marriage increase the likelihood of owning. In addition, it is likely that
unobserved household characteristics, perhaps a desire to attain the “American Dream,” increase
the probability of a household becoming a homeowner.
The major difficulty in determining whether homeownership causes improved child well-being is
that many items in the list of factors that increase the likelihood of homeownership also are likely
to improve child outcomes. For example, greater wealth permits greater investment in children and
also access to better school quality. Greater household stability is more likely for homeowners than
for renters and also has been shown to improve schooling outcomes. Owned dwellings are larger
than rented dwellings, and the increased amount of space per child has been shown to positively
affect child outcomes. Some of the difficult-to-observe household characteristics that increase the
likelihood of homeownership are also likely to positively affect child outcomes. These confounding
factors must be measured and controlled for in a statistical analysis of child outcomes before any
conclusions can be drawn about the causal effect of homeownership.
The Relationship of
Homeownership, House
Prices, and Child Well-Being

228
Haurin
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Another difficulty in establishing a causal linkage between homeownership and child outcomes
is theoretically identifying a causal mechanism and then showing that the mechanism is present
in U.S. society. Why might homeownership cause better child outcomes? One plausible reason is
that homeowners maintain their properties better than landlords or renters. An important aspect
of maintenance for older properties is lead paint abatement. Homeowners have a direct incentive
to engage in optimal abatement, whereas the incentives for landlords and renters are less clear.
Fur thermore, it is well established that lead in the home environment negatively affects children’s
cognition and behaviors. This is only one example of a mechanism that would link homeowner-
ship to improved child well-being. The literature identifies few linkages, however, and rarely tests
for their effect.
The conclusion of the previous arguments is that it is challenging for empirical work to link
homeownership and improved child outcomes. Even so, empirical studies attempt to address the
previous problems. Haurin, Parcel, and Haurin (2002) studied child cognition and behavioral out-
comes using a multiyear panel dataset that contains extensive information about a child’s parents
and their socioeconomic situations, thus controlling for a large number of confounding factors.
They use statistical methods that attempt to control for which households choose to be owners
(self-selection). This analysis concludes that the children of homeowners, compared with the
children of renters, achieve modestly higher math and reading scores (measured by a standardized
test). An important unanswered question in this study, however, is whether it is homeownership
that affects child outcomes or whether it is the characteristics of owned dwellings compared with
rented dwellings; examples of these characteristics include building and lot size. This particular
lack of clarity occurs in other studies of the effect of homeownership on children. Until this topic
is researched further, the question of whether homeownership causes improved child well-being
should be considered open.
New research on the linkage between housing and child outcomes is following another, more
general route. Decades of research have established that lower house prices increase households’
demand for housing (the price elasticity estimates tend to be about -0.6). If more and better housing
improves child outcomes, then public policies that reduce the price of housing should have a posi -
tive effect on children. The linkage between home sales prices and child outcomes is much more
complex, however, than a simple linkage between sales price and quantity. Given that housing
demand is price inelastic, higher house prices (rented or owner-occupied) imply that households
will spend more on housing, leaving less to spend on other goods. This reduction likely includes
spending less on children’s educational materials and experiences that would positively affect chil-
dren. Another response to high house prices and increased expenditures on housing may include
additional hours worked by the parents, reducing their time inputs to childcare. Recent studies
argued that high house prices affect marital stability through an asymmetric effect whereby both
rising and falling prices reduce divorce. Also, high house prices may affect fertility. Both changes
would likely affect a child’s well-being. Because of the capitalization effects, high house prices
may reflect high-quality neighborhood amenities such as schools and a child’s peers. Overall, the
theoretical direction of effect of high house prices on child outcomes is ambiguous, but the pre-
sumption is that negative effects will dominate. Empirical work on the linkage of house prices and
child outcomes is very limited. Recently, Blau, and Haurin (2013) found that high owner-occupied

The Relationship of Homeownership, House Prices, and Child Well-Being
229Cityscape
house prices reduce children’s math cognition but not their reading cognition, behavioral problems,
or health. They find no effects of rental prices on any of these outcomes. The effect is greatest for
the female children of Hispanics, especially when ages 6 to 10, and for mothers whose cognitive
achievement is in the lower half of the distribution. Blau and Haurin also found that living in
areas where owner-occupied house prices are high during childhood reduces young adult wage
rates, perhaps because of lower cognitive skills in math. The effect on math abilities could occur
through multiple mechanisms. For example, higher owner-occupied house prices could result in
households choosing to rent, thus forgoing the benefits of homeownership mentioned earlier. Or,
higher owner-occupied house prices could result in smaller owner-occupied dwellings, increasing
crowding and reducing children’s ability to study. Or, as mentioned previously, higher owner-
occupied house prices could affect other parental behaviors, including reducing expenditures
on educational materials or spending fewer parental hours with their children. Further research
is needed to clarify the mechanisms through which house prices affect household behaviors and
child outcomes. This research is required before public policies can be optimally targeted.
Author
Donald Haurin is Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at The Ohio State University.
References
Blau, David M., and Donald R. Haurin. 2013. The Effect of the Price of Housing on Child and
Young Adult Outcomes. Working paper. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University.
Haurin, Donald R., Toby Parcel, and R. Jean Haurin. 2002. “Does Home Ownership Affect Child
Outcomes?” Real Estate Economics 30: 635–666.

230
Haurin
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being

231Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
David R. Barker
University of Iowa
Billionaires live in big houses, but aspiring tycoons would be mistaken if they concluded from this
fact that upgrading their abodes would increase their chances of obtaining great wealth. Similarly,
the fact that children of homeowners are better off than children of renters does not necessarily
imply that every parent should own a house.
Believing that simple solutions will ease the problems of poverty and inequality is tempting, partic-
ularly when the solutions are promoted by armies of brokers, builders, and bankers who stand to
profit from them. Factors influencing the well-being of children are particularly complex, however,
and it is unlikely that merely switching families from renting to owning their homes would make a
significant difference.
Homeownership may have positive effects on children, but negative effects may also exist, making
the net effect difficult to determine. For example, home equity often represents a large fraction of
a family’s wealth, reducing the level of diversification in their investment portfolio, making them
more vulnerable to economic fluctuations. Owning a home also makes it more difficult to move
quickly in response to changes in employment opportunities. Lower family income can have a
negative effect on children, possibly offsetting any positive effect of homeownership.
Perhaps the earliest research on the relationship between the well-being of children and home-
ownership was that of Harvard historian Stephan Thernstrom. Thernstrom (1964) studied records
of children in 19th-century Newburyport, Massachusetts. Thernstrom found that homeownership
was associated with less upward occupational mobility for children, probably because spending
more money on housing made it harder to pay for education.
In contrast to Thernstrom’s findings, modern data clearly show a positive correlation between child
welfare and homeownership, but the question of causation is more difficult. The problem is not
reverse causality, because it seems unlikely that having wonderful children causes parents to pur-
chase houses, but that additional factors may affect the well-being of children and homeownership.
Researchers must carefully control for the wide variety of factors that might simultaneously influence
the well-being of children and homeownership.
The Evidence Does Not
Show That Homeownership
Benefits Children

232
Barker
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
One of these factors is building type. Research on the relationship between the well-being of children
and housing during the 1960s and 1970s was mostly about the effects of building type rather than
ownership (Conway and Adams, 1977). Large post-war public housing projects prompted concerns
about the effects on families of living in high-rise buildings. Several researchers found that living on
the upper floors of tall buildings had detrimental effects on children. These results are important in
any investigation of homeownership because of the correlation between building type and ownership—
most single-family houses are owned, but most multifamily units are rented. If, as older research
suggests, building type can influence child welfare, then this factor must be carefully controlled in
any investigation of the effects of ownership. Recent papers finding positive effects of ownership on
children do not control for building type.
Mobility is another factor that is correlated with homeownership and the well-being of children.
Most research on residential mobility shows that frequent moves have detrimental effects on the
academic performance and the well-being of children. Because the costs of moving are higher for
homeowners than for renters, families who expect to move in the near future are much more likely
to live in rental housing. Although pushing families into ownership might reduce mobility, doing
so might cause bigger problems, because families often move in response to loss of a job or because
of crime or other problems associated with particular locations. Families might also move to place
their children in better schools. Immobility resulting from subsidized homeownership can make
such a move more difficult. Renting in a good school district, particularly with government rental
assistance, is often the only affordable way for children in poor families to access high quality
education.
Wealth is also an important factor in the well-being of children. Wealthy people tend to buy their
homes, but poorer people tend to rent. Children obviously benefit in many ways from family
wealth, and so any observed correlation between homeownership and the well-being of children
might be because of these effects, rather than any direct effects of ownership. Having equity in a
house provides a cushion against financial difficulties, but so does having money in the bank or in
stocks, bonds, or a family business.
Many unobserved factors associated with child welfare are likely to also affect the propensity of
families to purchase housing. Homeownership is something that many Americans desire for a
variety of reasons. Capable people are more likely to attain goals such as homeownership, and
they are also more likely to do a better job of raising their children. Observed correlations between
homeownership and the well-being of children may be because of these unobserved characteristics
of parents, rather than homeownership itself.
The first careful research to look specifically at the effect of homeownership on children was
conducted by Green and White (1997). Controlling for several factors, they found that, on average,
children of homeowners stay enrolled in school longer than children of renters. Aaronson (2000)
found that controlling for mobility and self-selection into homeownership eliminated the statistical
significance of Green and White’s results. Barker and Miller (2009) also reexamined Green and
White’s data, finding that adding dwelling type, mobility, and wealth cast serious doubt on their
results. In fact, we found that ownership of an automobile had a higher estimated effect on the
well-being of children than did ownership of a home.

The Evidence Does Not Show That Homeownership Benefits Children
233Cityscape
Haurin, Parcel, and Haurin (2002), using different data and corrections for self-selection and
mobility, found positive effects of homeownership on measures of children’s academic performance
and well-being. Barker and Miller (2009) also reexamined their results, finding that, when families
switched from renting to owning, these measures did not improve, and when they switched from
owning to renting, they did not deteriorate. Examining switches such as these is useful because it is
a way of controlling for unobserved characteristics of parents that do not change when the switch
is made.
Using new data that were available neither to Green and White nor to Haurin, Parcel, and Haurin,
Barker and Miller (2009) found that controlling for child and family characteristics eliminated the
statistical significance of homeownership. In fact, we found limited evidence of a negative effect,
with homeownership associated with lower reading scores for young children.
The most recent work on the effects of homeownership and child welfare is a paper by Holupka
and Newman (2012). These authors find little evidence of beneficial effects of homeownership and
conclude that selection effects probably explain earlier findings of statistically significant positive
effects. They also find that the effects of homeownership are different for White and African-American
families. There is weak evidence implying a beneficial effect of homeownership for White children,
but none showing such an effect for African-American children. Different results for different groups
suggests that the effects of homeownership are not well understood, and perhaps that a factor other
than homeownership itself is responsible for the correlations that have been observed.
Papers from a decade ago that show positive effects of homeownership on the well-being of children
have been cited prominently in support of policies favoring homeownership. Subsequent research
has cast serious doubt on these results. In addition, the nation has conducted a large experiment in
expanding homeownership, which ended very badly. Since 2007, more than 20 million foreclosures
occurred, which suggests that many families have been uprooted physically and financially as a
result of the push for homeownership, justified in part by published studies showing that children
would benefit. Now that the evidence suggests that no causal relationship is probable between
homeownership and the well-being of children, policy neutrality toward housing tenure seems
more appropriate.
Author
David R. Barker is an adjunct professor in the Finance Department at the University of Iowa.
References
Aaronson, Daniel. 2000. “A Note on the Benefits of Homeownership,” Journal of Urban Economics
47: 356–369.
Barker, David, and Eric Miller. 2009. “Homeownership and Child Welfare,” Real Estate Economics
37: 279–303.
Conway, Jean, and Barbara Adams. 1977. “The Social Effects of Living off the Ground,” Habitat
International 2 (5/6): 595–614.

234
Barker
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Green, Richard, and Michelle White. 1997. “Measuring the Benefits of Homeowning: Effects on
Children,” Journal of Urban Economics 41: 441–461.
Haurin, Donald, Toby L. Parcel, and Jean R. Haurin. 2002. “Does Homeownership Affect Child
Outcomes?” Real Estate Economics 30: 635–666.
Holupka, Scott, and Sandra J. Newman. 2012. “The Effects of Homeownership on Children’s
Outcomes: Real Effects or Self-Selection?” Real Estate Economics 40: 566–602.
Thernstrom, Stephan. 1964. Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth Century City. New
York: Atheneum.

235Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Sandra J. Newman
C. Scott Holupka
Johns Hopkins University
For those interested in the effects of homeownership on children’s well-being, the empirical litera-
ture offers good news and bad news. The good news is that the topic has generated a sizable body
of serious research by highly respected researchers. The existence of multiple studies examining
the same basic question is the coin of the realm in the hard sciences but is all too rare in housing
policy research. The bad news is that this research has not produced consistent evidence about
whether the effects of homeownership are positive, negative, or nonexistent. Because the studies
are not replications, differences in a host of features from sample composition to the approach for
addressing selectivity bias could account for discrepant results. Until we begin to take stock of the
state of homeownership research and the tedious task of sorting through the sources of these diver-
gent results, we are unlikely to make much progress in understanding whether a “homeownership
effect” exists. In this commentary, we start this stocktaking and sorting process. We briefly discuss
four topics: addressing selection; specifying models; treating income, race, and ethnicity; and
handling residential stability.
Selectivity Bias
Researchers agree that a (or perhaps the) major challenge in estimating the net effects of home-
ownership on child well-being is separating the effects of the characteristics of parents who select
into homeownership, which are highly correlated with child outcomes, from the effects of the
homeownership per se. Most studies of homeownership address selection with an instrumental
variable (IV) strategy.
Exhibit 1 summarizes key characteristics of 10 prominent studies of homeownership, nearly all of
which use nationally representative panel data. The first column indicates that 9 studies use an IV,
and 1 study (Engelhardt et al., 2010) uses an experimental design. The first 7 studies pertain to
shorter term child outcomes or the effects of homeownership during childhood and adolescence
on longer term outcomes in early adulthood. We include the final 3 studies, which pertain to ef-
fects on citizen engagement, because the selection problem applies to all homeownership outcomes
(not only child outcomes), all IV studies must estimate a first-stage model predicting homeowner-
ship regardless of the outcome being predicted in the second-stage model, and this group of
studies includes the only experimental evidence available.
Looking Back To Move Forward
in Homeownership Research

236
Newman and Holupka
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
I. Child W
ell-Being
Ratio of average user cost of HO to average r
enter cost in year of
household’
s most r
ecent
move.
b
Sour
ce: Gr
een and White
(1997).
Renter: B = – 14.2, SE (2.0),

p < .001. Owner: B = – 14.4, SE (2.0),

p < .001.
Owned home.
c
Head’
s race.
Family size. Family income. Head younger than 18

when child bor
n.
Head’
s education.
Head female. Head divor
ced.
Head worked in past year
.
Still in school. Had a child

(girls only).
PSID, national; 1980 thr
ough 1987, out
-
comes and covariates measur
ed in year when
child is 17 years old.
Pr
obit models for all thr
ee

datasets find that HO has statistically
significant

ef
fects on—
• Still in school (+). • Have a child (-). No statistically significant evi
-
dence of selection bias found.
A
verage HO rates by
state, by year
, by race,
and by income quintile. Number of family moves befor
e child tur
ned

5 years old (IV for r
esidential
mobility).
Sour
ce: Aar
onson (2000).
F
-statistic, full

sample: 216.1 (w/o mobility) 126.5 (with mobility). Partial R
2
:
0.053 (w/o mobility) 0.060 (with mobility).
Child’
s race.
Child’
s gender
.
Whether in stepfamily
.
Par
ents’ education.
Family income. Head worked in last year
.
Family composition. Number of childr
en.
Y
ear dummies.
Fr
equency of moves.
Duration of r
esidence.
House equity
.
House equity
.
b
V
ehicle equity
.
V
ehicle assets.
b
Other r
eal estate.
Other r
eal estate.
b
Cash, stocks, bonds.
Graduated fr
om

high school

by age 19.
PSID, national; 1975 thr
ough 1993: out
-
comes measur
ed in
year when child is 17 years old. Time varying covariates measur
ed
fr
om ages 7 to 16.
Statistically significant (+)

ef
fect in base model.
Not statistically significant when mobility added to model.
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (1 of 7)

Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research
237Cityscape
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
Index of house prices. Sour
ce: Haurin, Par
cel,
and Haurin (2002).
B = – 0.73,

t = 3.4,

p < .001. Model corr
ectly
pr
edicts 87% of
r
enters, 68% of
owners.
Whether homeowner
.
Duration owned home. Par
ents’ wages.
Nonlabor income. House value. Other r
eal estate value.
Owned businesses value. V
alue of vehicles.
V
alue of other durables.
Financial assets. Family size. Mater
nal marital history
.
Mater
nal backgr
ound.
d
Pater
nal backgr
ound

(age, education). Child characteristics.
e
Community characteristics.
f
HOME-C. HOME-E. PIA
T
-Reading.
PIA
T
-Math.
BPI.
NLSY 97, national;

childr
en ages 5 to 8

in 1988, outcomes

observed in 1988, 1990, 1992, and

1994.
IV models, statistically significant ef
fects on—
• HOME-C (+). • HOME-E (+). • PIA
T
-Math (+, p < .10).
• PIA
T
-Reading (+, p < .10).
Find statistically significant sample selection bias in four

of six outcomes.
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (2 of 7)

238
Newman and Holupka
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
Annual change in state’
s
per capita highway investment. Ratio of r
enter
-to-owner
costs in census r
egion
year of last move. Metr
o/county ratio of
median r
ent to median
pr
operty value.
State HO rate. Sour
ce: Harkness and
Newman (2003).
Low-income

sample: Highway stock (+),

t = 2.8, p = .005. Cost ratio (+),

t = 5.69, p = .000. Metr
o ar
ea (+),

t = 4.95, p = .000. State HO (+),

t = 11.82, p = .000. High-income

sample: Highway stock (+),

t = 1.76, p = .078. Cost ratio (+),

t = 1.47, p = .141. Metr
o ar
ea (+),

t = 7.17, p = .000. State HO (+),

t = 6.59, p = .000.
Child in owned home

ages 11 to 15. Race. Gender
.
Y
ear bor
n.
Mother’
s age at birth.
Head’
s education.
Number of childr
en.
Y
ears in two-par
ent family

x
annual ear
nings.
Income beyond ear
nings.
Y
ears on welfar
e.
Y
ears in city > 500,000
population. Y
ears in city 100,000 to
500,000 population. State.
T
een birth

(girls only). Idleness age 20. Y
ears education
age 20. High school graduate by

age 20. Postsecondary education. A
verage ear
nings.
Received welfar
e.
PSID, national; childr
en
bor
n 1957 thr
ough
1973 with PSID data available when ages

11 to 15. T
wo income samples:
low income (< 150 poverty) and high in
-
come (>150 poverty). Chow tests r
esults
r
eject pooling low-

and high-income households.
Statistically significant r
esults
by IV— Low-income sample: • None with state HO. • Highway stock, cost ratio,
and metr
o ar
ea:
•
Y
ears of education (+).
•
High school grad (+).
•
Postsecondary (+).
•
Ear
nings (+).
•
W
elfar
e (-).
High-income sample:

None with any IV
.
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (3 of 7)

Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research
239Cityscape
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (4 of 7)
Index of metr
o HO prices.
Index of metr
o gr
oss
r
ents.
30-year fixed mortgage rate. Ratio metr
o r
ent/own
costs. Received lump sum payment. Change in household income. HO rate in county
.
Interaction terms by r
enter status.
Sour
ce: Galster et al.
(2007).
Str
ength of individual
IVs not r
eported.
Overall model “only performed moder
-
ately well (the R
2
was
0.29), although we had 12,500 child-year observations
and
only
31 r
egr
essors.”
“…The r
elatively
weak power of the instruments leaves us with little variation to exploit.”
Per
cent years in owned

home. x

tract poverty
.
Per
cent childhood years
moved. Race. Gender
.
Birth or
der
.
Age. Married. Hours worked. Par
ents’ and household
characteristics.
g
High school diploma or mor
e.
College degr
ee or
mor
e.
No child befor
e 18.
HO in 1999. Ln wages.
PSID, national; chil
-
dr
en bor
n between
1968 and 1974, outcomes observed 1999.
Only HO in 1999 (+) statistic
-
ally significant. Recommend tr
eating IV r
esults
“as suggestive only
.” Note that

parameter estimates in IV mod
-

els ar
e as lar
ge, or lar
ger than
OLS models, but SEs ar
e lar
ger
,

pr
oducing nonsignificant
r
esults.
State average mar
ginal
tax rates, 1- and 5-year averages. Sour
ce: Gr
een, Painter
and White (2012).
Dr
opout by age 17:
5-year
, B = – 0.001,
not significant.

1-year
, B = – 0.002,
not significant. Mother by 17:

5-year
, B = 0.001,

not significant.

1-year
, B = 0.001,

not significant.
Whether homeowner
.
Length of tenur
e.
Par
ents’ educational

attainment. Par
ents’ employment status.
Household size. Par
ents’ marital status.
Family’
s income.
Financial wealth. Race. Mother’
s age when first child
bor
n.
Location and year fixed ef
fects.
Size of downpayment.
Dr
opout by age 17.
Had a child (girls only).
PSID,
national;
1980–
2007, outcomes and covariates measur
ed
in year when child is 17 years old.
Statistically significant (-) for both outcomes using either IV
.

240
Newman and Holupka
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (5 of 7)
Housing price index (FMR). A
verage HO rates by race
and income quintiles by state. Sour
ce: Holupka and
Newman (2012).
F
-Statistic:
PSID
FMR Black: 0.87–3.09. White: 0.95–3.42. HO Rate Black: 6.96–8.36. White: 2.08–4.56.
NLSY
FMR Black: 1.39–1.86. White: 0.00–0.48. Hispanic: 3.35–6.77. HO Rate Black: 4.42–6.81. White: 7.52–8.85.
Per
cent childhood owned
home. Child’
s age.
Mother’
s age.
Mother’
s education.
Mother’
s cognitive ability
.
Per
cent years in two-par
ent
family
.
Never in two-par
ent family

x
number of siblings.
Per
cent childhood on

welfar
e.
Whether always on welfar
e.
A
verage family income over
child’
s life.
Whether br
eastfed.
Whether metr
o ar
ea.
Number of years since

first HO. Par
ental mediators.
h
Cognitively stimulating materials in home. Residential stability
.
Neighborhood mediators.
i
PSID:

WJ letter wor
d.
WJ passage

comp. WJ applied pr
oblems.
BPI. Health. NLSY
:

PIA
T r
eading
r
ecog.
PIA
T r
eading
comp. PIA
T math.
BPI.
2002 PSID-CDS, na
-
t
i
o
n
a
l
;

a
ll Black/White

c
h
i
l
d
r
e
n
,
ages 5–17 in
2002. NLSY79 child surveys, national; childr
en bor
n
after 1985.
No statistically significant HO ef
fects.
Similar r
esults (only a few sta
-
tistically significant HO ef
fects)
found when using pr
opensity
matching.

Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research
241Cityscape
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
II. Citizen Engagement A
verage homeownership
rate by income quartile, by state, by race. Sour
ce: DiPasquale and
Glaeser (1999).
Not r
eported.
Authors note that “in several cases in
-
strumenting causes the coefficient to rise to implausibly high levels,” which they attribute to the use of imperfect instru
-
ments.
Owned home. Age. Race. Gender
.
Marital status. Childr
en in household.
Log city size. Educational attainment. Income. Length of r
esidence.
Structur
e type.
Number of non
-
pr
ofit or
ganization
members. Know school head. Know congr
ess
-
man. V
ote local election.
Help local pr
oblems.
Gar
den.
Own a gun. Attend chur
ch.
U.S. General Social Survey
.
IV models: (+) ef
fect on all
outcomes. Statistically significant on majority
.
Random
assignment.
Sour
ce: Engelhar
dt et al.
(2010).
B = 0.092,

SE (0.046),

p < .05.
Whether homeowner
.
j
Marital status. Income. Number of childr
en.
Race.
V
oted in an election.
Support local candidate. Contact public official. V
olunteer
ed.
W
orked neighbor
-
hood pr
oject.
Participate in com
-
munity or
ganization.
Car
ed for adult/
child. W
atched a home/
pet. Contact for some
-
one. Exterior home r
epairs.
Interior home r
epairs.
T
ulsa IDA experi
-
ment; employed; income < 150% FPL.
No statistically significant HO ef
fects.
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (6 of 7)

242
Newman and Holupka
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Exogenous IV
Str
ength
a
Independent V
ariables
Outcomes
Sample/Data
Finding(s)
Exhibit 1 Key Featur
es of Selected Resear
ch on Homeownership Ef
fects (7 of 7)
State-specific total maxi
-
mum mortgage subsidy rate. Sour
ce: Hilber (2010).
F
-statistic
Ranges fr
om 1.8

to 2.8 acr
oss 12
models (4 outcomes, 3 model specifica
-
tions).
Whether homeowner
.
Number of years in same community
.
Plan to stay 5+ years. Commuting time. Race. Gender
.
Age. Whether a par
ent.
Income. Marital status. Educational attainment. Employment status. Per
cent developed land

in tract. Neighborhood characteristics.
k
Mur
der arr
est rate.
Number of social interactions (log). Participate in neighborhood gr
oups.
Number of social interactions with coworkers. Participate in fra
-
ter
nal and service
or
ganizations.
Social Capital Commu
-
nity Benchmark Survey (2000), 41 communities thr
oughout the United
States.
HO statistically significant (-) with number of social interac
-
tions. HO by per
cent land developed
(focal variable), statistically sig
-
nificant (+) for number of social interactions and in neighbor
-
hood gr
oups.
IV estimates computed using JIVE instead of 2SLS, pr
o
-
duced similar r
esults.
BPI = Behavioral Problems Index. FMR = Fair Market Rent. FPL = federal poverty line.
HO = homeownership. IV = instrumental variable. Ln = natural log. NLSY = National Longitudinal
Sur
veys of Y
outh. OLS = ordinar
y least squares. PIA
T = Peabody Individual Achievement T
est. PSID = Panel Study of Income Dynamics. PSID-CDS = PSID-Child Development
Supplement. SE = standard error
. w/o = without. WJ = W
oodcock-Johnson.
x
= mean.
a
IV strength measured by whether IV is statistically significant in the first stage model,
or reported F-statistic of 10 or greater
.
b
IV variable used to account for selection in a bivariate probit (endogenous switching)
model, not a regular IV
.
c
V
ariables listed for PSID. Public Use Microdata Sample analysis adds length of tenure
and housing cost. High School and Beyond analysis adds dummy income variables, youth disabled,
English spoken at home, whether youth attends an academic high school, and whethe
r the school is urban or rural.
d
Ethnicity
, age, education, cognitive ability
, religiosity
, household type where mother resided at age 14, maternal master
y
, and paid work hours during child’
s first 3 years of life.
e
Gender
, whether disabled, and low birth weight.
f
Median household income, population density
, percent Black, percent Hispanic, unemployment, poverty
, crime, and education.
g
During childhood years: percent of years in poverty
, percent of years in two-parent family
, percent of years living in metro area, average number of neighbors head knows by name,
percent of years with family within walking distance, education of head, occupational pr
estige of head, percent of years head self-employed, percent of years wife of head employed, annual
hours head worked, religion of head, percent of years head read a newspaper ever
y day
, percent of years head belonged to a union, percent of years head did not attend weekly religious
ser
vice, percent of years head never participated in social clubs, percent of years hea
d planned life ahead, percent of years head trusted most people, whether head is a veteran, mother
first gave birth as teen, and head raised in large city or small town. h
Parental warmth toward child, parent activities with child, and parent stress.
i Poverty rate, homeownership rate, and residential stability
.
j Four years after randomization. k
Homeownership rate, percent of housing units in that are in multiunit buildings, size o
f the settlement to which the neighborhood belongs, average household income, income Gini
coefficient, measures of linguistic heterogeneity
, measures of ethnic heterogeneity
, and population size and density
.

Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research
243Cityscape
We draw three main conclusions from reviewing the first column listing the IVs and the second
column showing the strength of the IVs. First, the range of IVs tested to date and their weak per -
formance indicate that we have not been successful in identifying theoretically valid and empirically
strong instruments.
1
This set of results may indicate that we need to think harder, but it may also
indicate that we need to consider other strategies for addressing selection beyond the IV approach.
Second, while there is some overlap in IVs, only one identical replication exists: Holupka and
Newman (2012) intentionally replicate Aaronson (2000) to allow for the comparison of results
from the second-stage outcome models. Comparing results when the IV is different (or even when
it is similar but not identical) could account for differences in both IV strength and outcome find-
ings. For example, studies by Green and White (1997) and Galster et al. (2007) both use the ratio
of the cost of owning to renting, measured in somewhat different ways, as their IV; both analyze
national Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data for all income groups combined; and both
examine education and teen birth outcomes in late adolescence. Yet Green and White report that
their IV has no effect on their probit models showing effects of homeownership on both outcomes,
and they conclude that no evidence of selectivity bias exists. By contrast, Galster et al. use the ratio
of owning to renting as one of several IVs, report that their first-stage homeownership prediction
model performed “only moderately well,” and find no effects of homeownership on these two sets
of outcomes. Another example of inconsistent results arises in analyses using variants on the state
homeownership rate, a second IV that has been used in several studies. Focusing only on studies
that consider all income groups combined, this IV is relatively weak in DiPasquale and Glaeser
(1999)
2
and Galster et al. (2007) but is very strong in Aaronson (2000).
3
Finally, although the IV approach has yielded mixed results to date, two other analytic approaches
are consistent with the IV approach in not finding a homeownership effect. The strongest evidence
comes from the sole homeownership experiment (Engelhardt et al., 2010), and additional evidence
comes from propensity score matching (Holupka and Newman, 2012). In both cases, after selec-
tion is accounted for, homeownership has no effect on community engagement (Engelhardt et al.,
2010) or on child cognitive achievement, behavior, or health (Holupka and Newman, 2012).
Model Specification
The third column of the exhibit lists the covariates included in the models. Although substantial
overlap exists in demographic and socioeconomic background variables, substantial differences
also exist across studies, which could account for discrepant results. Noteworthy for this brief
commentary are the treatment of assets and wealth, neighborhood characteristics, and community
characteristics. Key issues are whether controls for any of these indicators should be included,
1
Some of the IVs used to date do not appear to meet the exclusion principle. For example, state homeownership rates
could plausibly affect children’s cognitive achievement through their effect on property taxes, which are the main source
of revenue for public schools.
2
DiPasquale and Glaeser rely on their uninstrumented ordinary least squares model because they describe the homeowner-
ship coefficient in the outcome model with the instrument as “implausibly large.”
3
Although Aaronson reports large F-test results, the partial R
2
for each model is small.

244
Newman and Holupka
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
given endogeneity concerns, how they should be accounted for, and, if included, which measures
should be used. Another issue is the inclusion of mediator variables in reduced form models,
which will lessen the estimated effect of homeownership.
Treatment of Income, Race, and Ethnicity
Most homeownership research includes income, race, and ethnicity among the array of independent
variables in the first-stage homeownership prediction model and the second-stage outcome models.
This approach assumes that the effects of all other covariates on the outcomes are the same for higher
and lower income households and households in different racial and ethnic groups. Yet, Chow tests
confirm the substantial heterogeneity by income, race, and ethnicity and indicate that subgroups
by income, by race, and by ethnicity should not be pooled.
4
Pooling heterogeneous income, race,
and ethnic groups into a single sample is problematic in any regression analysis but more so in IV
models, because the first-stage model assumes linear effects (Murray, 2006; Terza et al., 2008).
Addressing Residential Stability
On average, homeowners are more residentially stable than renters. Because child development
and educational research suggests that residential stability is beneficial for developmental and
academic outcomes, the role of homeownership in fostering stability has broad policy significance.
The analytic challenge is, again, a selection issue: disentangling the possible selection of stable
households into homeownership from the effects of homeownership itself. Including a measure of
residential stability as a righthand-side covariate in outcome models (for example, DiPasquale and
Glaeser, 1999; Green et al., 2012) does not address the selection issue. Aaronson (2000) tests an
IV measuring the family’s mobility before the child turned 5 along with a righthand-side control
for mobility at older ages. Using this approach results in statistically insignificant effects of home-
ownership on remaining in school until age 17. This finding suggests that after residential stability
is properly accounted for, the effects of homeownership disappear. The interpretation of this find-
ing is that it is stability, not homeownership, that plays an important role. Holupka and Newman
(2012) test the role of stability as mediating the effects of homeownership on child outcomes.
Although they find that homeownership has a significant positive effect on residential stability, no
evidence confirms that the role of homeownership on outcomes is mediated by stability.
Discussion
The invitation from Cityscape to write this commentary forced us to take a colder and harder look
at the body of research on the effects of homeownership on children than we have before. Existing
research has produced contradictory results. This research relies on the IV method to address selection;
typically pools all income, race, and ethnic groups in a single analysis; and varies in its approach to
covariate controls, including those that are arguably endogenous. If future research continues on
4
Results are available from authors on request.

Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research
245Cityscape
this same path, there is no reason to expect different results or, importantly, clearer insights into
homeownership effects. Instead of doing more of the same, we advocate digging into the existing
body of homeownership research to develop a clearer understanding of the sources of these dif-
ferences. This approach should enable us to interpret existing results and to establish a stronger
foundation for future research. More direct replications could also be illuminating (Satel, 2013).
Based on our admittedly cursory review, it seems clear that identifying even a single IV that meets
the theoretical criteria and empirical standards of a strong instrument has proved elusive. Therefore,
it is time to consider other methods that also support causal inference. Noteworthy in this regard
are the two studies that use two other methods—an experiment (Engelhardt et al., 2010) and
propensity score matching (Holupka and Newman, 2012). Both of these studies report no effects
of homeownership on outcomes. Beyond the selection issue, we also recommend that the next
generation of homeownership research recognize and address the heterogeneity of income, race,
and ethnic groups and the confounding of homeownership and residential stability.
Authors
Sandra J. Newman is a professor of policy studies in the graduate program in public policy and
Director of the Center on Housing, Neighborhoods, and Communities at the Institute for Policy
Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
C. Scott Holupka is a senior research associate in the Center on Housing, Neighborhoods, and
Communities at the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
References
Aaronson, Daniel. 2000. “A Note on the Benefits of Homeownership,” Journal of Urban Economics
47: 356–369.
DiPasquale, Denise, and Edward Glaeser. 1999. “Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners
Better Citizens?” Journal of Urban Economics 45: 345–384.
Engelhardt, Gary, Michael Eriksen, William Gale, and Gregory Mills. 2010. “What Are the Social
Benefits of Homeownership? Experimental Evidence for Low-Income Households,” Journal of
Urban Economics 67: 249–258.
Galster, George, Dave Marcotte, Marvin Mandell, Hal Wolman, and Nancy Augustine. 2007. “The
Impact of Parental Homeownership on Children’s Outcomes During Early Adulthood,” Housing
Policy Debate 18 (4): 785–827.
Green, Richard K., Gary D. Painter, and Michelle J. White. 2012. Measuring the Benefits of
Homeowning: Effects on Children Redux. Research Institute for Housing America Special Report.
Washington, DC: Mortgage Bankers Association.
Green, Richard, and Michelle White. 1997. “Measuring the Benefits of Homeowning: Effects on
Children,” Journal of Urban Economics 41: 441–461.

246
Newman and Holupka
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Harkness, Joseph, and Sandra Newman. 2003. “Differential Effects of Homeownership on Children
From Higher- and Lower-Income Families,” Journal of Housing Research 14 (1): 1–19.
Haurin, Donald, Toby Parcel, and R. Jean Haurin. 2002. “Does Homeownership Affect Child
Outcomes?” Real Estate Economics 30 (4): 635–666.
Hilber, Christian. 2010. “New Housing Supply and the Dilution of Social Capital,” Journal of Urban
Economics 67: 419–437.
Holupka, Scott, and Sandra Newman. 2012. “The Effects of Homeownership on Children’s
Outcomes: Real Effects or Self-Selection?” Real Estate Economics 40 (3): 566–602.
Murray, Michael. 2006. “Avoiding Invalid Instruments and Coping With Weak Instruments,”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 20 (4): 111–132.
Satel, Sally. 2013. “Primed for Controversy,” New York Times, February 24.
Terza, Joseph, Anirban Basu, and Paul Rathouz. 2008. “Two-Stage Residual Inclusion Estimation:
Addressing Endogeneity in Health Econometric Modeling,” Journal of Health Economics 27:
531–543.

247Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
The Federal Housing
Administration and
Long-Term Affordable
Homeownership Programs
Edwin Stromberg
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Brian Stromberg
Rutgers University
Policy Briefs
The Policy Briefs department summarizes a change or trend in national policy that may
have escaped the attention of researchers. The purpose is to stimulate the analysis of
policy in the field while the policy is being implemented and thereafter.
Abstract
This policy brief presents the results of a limited survey of housing and mortgage financ -
ing practitioners regarding the usage of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home-
buyer mortgage insurance in long-term affordable housing (LTAH) programs (which
can also be called shared-equity homeownership). In so doing, the brief presents a
description of (1) the various types of LTAH, (2) the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development’s (HUD’s) involvement in LTAH initiatives, (3) the major obstacles
to greater involvement of LTAH in FHA and other HUD affordable homeownership pro-
grams, (4) arguments for and against changing FHA’s current policies, and (5) research
that would address core issues regarding HUD’s general lack of knowledge about and
en gagement with LTAH models.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the official positions or
policies of the Office of Policy Development and Research or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.

248
Stromberg and Stromberg
Policy Briefs
Introduction
Long-term affordable homeownership (LTAH)
1
programs, as defined in this article, are designed
to provide homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income households and keep those
units affordable in perpetuity. As discussed below, these programs have been successful both in
preserving affordability and in developing household wealth. Despite their success and stability,
however, most LTAH programs have been unable to access mortgage products insured by the
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) for their lower income homebuyers. This lack of access
is largely because of several FHA regulations that conflict with the basic structure and mission of
LTAH programs.
This article addresses the central issues around the FHA regulations, describes solutions suggested
by LTAH sector advocates, and proposes several avenues of research that will improve the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) and the general public’s understanding
of this particular form of affordable housing. The first section of this article discusses the basic
characteristics, the scope, and the performance of these programs. The second section describes
the limited engagement HUD has had with LTAH. The third section describes approval issues with
FHA policies when underwriting LTAH mortgages. The fourth section reports on the small field
research project we conducted, which was a survey of LTAH program staff, FHA administrators,
and lenders. The article concludes with some thoughts about future policy research in this area.
The LTAH Sector: Basic Characteristics
The LTAH
2
sector is composed of three models of affordable housing that provide resale-restricted,
owner-occupied housing for low- and moderate-income households. These three models are
limited-equity housing cooperatives (LEHCs), community land trusts (CLTs), and deed-restricted
houses and condominiums (Davis, 2006). In each model, a government agency or nonprofit
organization subsidizes homeownership for low- and moderate-income homebuyers, investing
public funds (or sometimes private donations) to reduce the purchase price of a house, townhouse,
or condominium to an affordable level. In return for the assistance, homebuyers agree to certain
limitations to preserve the affordability to future income-qualified families. Most often, these
limitations are a restriction on the price for which they can sell the property (usually a certain
percentage of any increase in value, plus the original cost of the property and any additions they
have made) and a requirement to sell the property to certain households (usually other low- or
1
Because of confusion about the term “shared-equity homeownership,” we decided to use the term “long-term affordable
housing.” Shared-equity homeownership may be confused with “shared-appreciation mortgages” (SAMs), which are a first
mortgage product used by private lenders or investors in which the homebuyer gives up a share of future price appreciation
in return for a lowered or deferred interest rate. Homes encumbered with a SAM are resold at their fair market value. Unlike
resale-restricted LTAH homes, homes financed with a SAM are not subject to any sort of contractual ceiling on the price for
which they resell. The concept is being promoted as a way to address the postbubble problem of so-called “underwater”
mortgages.
2
Other names for the concept are “durable homeownership,” “permanent homeownership,” “perpetual homeownership,”
“homeownership in perpetuity,” and “permanently affordable homeownership.”

The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable Homeownership Programs
249Cityscape
moderate-income households). Although the upper income limits may be about 120 percent of
Area Median Income (AMI), LTAH programs typically serve households with between 50 and
80 percent of AMI.
3
The LTAH sector in its various forms has received support from the Ford
Foundation, Habitat for Humanity International, NeighborWorks
®
America, the National Housing
Conference+Center for Housing Policy, Fannie Mae, and others.
4
LEHCs have a traditional cooperative (co-op) ownership structure but with a similar restriction
placed on resale. The CLT model involves siting resale-restricted housing on land owned by the
CLT, with resale restrictions enforced through a ground lease signed by the homeowner with the
trust. The deed-restricted housing model typically involves resale-restricted homes developed
through various local mandates or initiatives, such as inclusionary zoning. All these models have
a commitment to balancing the dual goals of preserving housing affordability while offering low-
and moderate-income households the opportunity to build equity through homeownership.
LTAH programs all involve some form of public investment. In many communities, this investment
comes in the form of inclusionary housing or inclusionary zoning, in which communities mandate
that developers of market-rate housing build a certain number of affordable housing units as part
of the locality’s approval of the market-rate development; the public investment in this case is in
the form of a reduced, affordable price for income-eligible homebuyers (Schwartz et al., 2012).
The rights, responsibilities, risks, and rewards of ownership are shared between an income-eligible
household that buys the home for a below-market price and an organizational steward that protects
the affordability, quality, and security of that home to ensure the home remains a lasting commu-
nity asset (Davis, 2010a). In other instances, the public investment is more direct, such as the use
of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds for downpayment assistance, or the
sponsoring organization provides a “silent second” mortgage to reduce the cost of the unit.
The steward, which is a government agency or nonprofit organization, acts as a coinvestor with a
low- to moderate-income homebuyer by providing public funds that reduce the purchase price
of a home to make it affordable for the household. The steward also provides prepurchase and
postpurchase education, financial counseling, and additional services to promote the success of the
homeowners. In return for this assistance and to preserve affordability for future income-qualified
homebuyers, homeowners agree to limit their financial returns when they sell their homes.
While some parts of the LTAH sector developed during the first half of the 20th century (most
notably, LEHCs), the sector saw its most significant growth during the latter part of the 20th
century with the emergence of CLTs and governmental deed-restricted and inclusionary housing
programs (Davis, 2006; Sazama, 1996). The number of LTAH programs has grown markedly
since the 1990s, greatly increasing the number of permanently affordable homeownership units.
Rough estimates of the different LTAH models include 450,000 LEHC housing units; 10,000 units
3
One major goal of LTAH is to provide “workforce” housing for people in occupations such as teaching or firefighting, who
often cannot afford to live in the neighborhoods in which they work.
4
See http://www.affordableownership.org for a description of the Cornerstone Partnership’s mission and activities. See
http://www.cltnetwork.org for a description of the National Community Land Trust Network’s mission and activities.

250
Stromberg and Stromberg
Policy Briefs
spread across 260 CLTs; and between 250,000 and 450,000 long-term-affordable, deed-restricted,
homeownership units created and overseen by state and local governments (Davis, 2012, 2006).
5
Two significant studies of LTAH performance and outcomes have recently been conducted. A study
by the Urban Institute analyzed seven large LTAH programs across the country and found that
homeowners built wealth, sustained homeownership successfully, rarely became delinquent or
entered foreclosure proceedings, and frequently moved into market-rate homes after selling their
resale-restricted homes. The study also found that these programs were achieving the durable af-
fordability part of their mission by preserving the ongoing affordability of homes resale after resale
(Temkin, Theodos, and Price, 2010).
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy has also published multiyear, national survey results showing
that mortgages held by owners of CLT homes outperformed mortgages held by homeowners in the
conventional market during the peak years of the foreclosure crisis. The most recent study found
that conventional homeowners were 6.6 times more likely to be at least 90 days delinquent and 10
times more likely to be in foreclosure proceedings than CLT homeowners. At the end of 2010, the
90-or-more day delinquency rate for CLT homeowners was 1.30 percent versus the 8.57 percent
for loans in the conventional market reported by Mortgage Bankers Association. Notably, the rate
for FHA loans was 8.46 percent (Thaden, 2011).
In addition to these studies, a number of analyses by leading shared-equity authorities estimate
that long-term affordable homeownership programs can assist 2.0 to 3.5 times as many households
during a 30-year period compared with conventional downpayment or other subsidy approaches
(Jacobus, 2011).
6
HUD and the Long-Term Affordable Housing Sector:
LTAH “Under the Radar”
The LTAH sector has not been the focus of significant support from HUD, despite its continued
growth and its close relationship to HUD’s mission, with four exceptions.
The first exception is the Section 213 co-op mortgage financing program and later HUD subsidized
multifamily programs. This program provided support for LEHCs, but it was not intended as a
program for lower income families and did not include any affordability terms.
The second exception arose through an amendment in the National Affordable Housing Act of 1992,
which adapted some core aspects of the CLT model as the basis for the HOME program’s Com-
munity Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs). Under the HOME program, local program
5
Although LEHCs are promoted as a vehicle for homeownership and asset building for lower income families, it is not
known how many of the estimated units in existence are actually owned by lower income families; many such co-ops are
not intended for this income group. The Section 213 program, described in the following section, provides no subsidies and
imposes no income limitations on families.
6
See also Jacobus and Sheriff (2009) and Jacobus and Lubell (2007).

The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable Homeownership Programs
251Cityscape
grantees must set aside at least 15 percent of its funding for local nonprofit housing organizations
meeting certain requirements regarding board structure and capacity. This legislative mandate—
enabling CLTs to qualify as CHDOs—came about largely through the efforts of then-Representative
Bernie Sanders of Vermont (Davis, 2012). HUD issued provisional guidance in 1993 and more
extensive guidance in 1999 to implement this legislative requirement (HUD, 1999, 1993).
The third exception to HUD’s lack of engagement with the LTAH sector comes in its community
development programs—Community Development Block Grants, the Neighborhood Stabilization
Program (NSP), and the HOME program. The decentralized nature of these programs has enabled
local governments to use these funds largely without HUD’s taking policy cognizance of them in
program policy or administration. NSP regulations do state that “shared equity” is an eligible use of
funds, and some communities have used CLTs as an integral part of their neighborhood stabiliza-
tion plans. HUD does not track the number of CLTs involved in NSP-funded activity, however, so
the extent of NSP-supported activity is not known.
The fourth exception occurred in 1994 in Mortgagee Letter 94-2 from the FHA. This letter issued
guidance on how LTAH programs and organizations could access FHA single-family mortgage
financing.
7
Mortgagee Letter 94-2 did allow for some exceptions to FHA’s policy of prohibiting
restrictions on the transferability of FHA mortgages.
8
This guidance set out requirements for resale
price restrictions, sales to income-qualified buyers, fair return on investment, and maintaining the
housing unit as a principal residence.
Mortgagee Letter 94-2 has served as FHA’s only policy guidance on the subject since it was pub-
lished. Advocates for LTAH were not happy with the guidance, with one such advocate calling the
guidance “too narrow, incomplete, and fussy to allow [LTAH] programs to utilize FHA without
compromising the integrity and workability of the local programs” (Institute for Community
Economics, personal communication, 2012).
The FHA guidance did not open up FHA financing for LTAH programs on a major scale, and the
restrictiveness of the policy may have been a major impediment.
9
Local LTAH programs continued
to rely on banks and state housing finance agencies to provide the bulk of mortgage financing for
LTAH housing during this period. This situation changed dramatically with the housing crash of
2008. At that time, conventional mortgage lending withered. The mortgage market retrenchment
made FHA much more relevant for the entire housing market, including the LTAH sector, which
in turn affected (1) lenders’ comfort with FHA’s guidance on the deed-restricted sector and (2) the
vigilance with which FHA interpreted the guidance found in Mortgagee Letter 94-2.
7
As defined in 24 CFR Section 203.41. This guidance came about as a result of efforts from the predecessor to the National
Community Land Trust Network—the Institute for Community Economics—to strengthen land trusts’ abilities to preserve
the affordability of moderately priced housing into the future for income-qualified families.
8
Technically, the modifications created exceptions to FHA’s normal policy against restraints on free alienability or transfer of
a property.
9
FHA does not maintain records on mortgages made with LTAH programs, but the evidence from local programs is that the
use of FHA mortgages is quite limited.

252
Stromberg and Stromberg
Policy Briefs
Issues With FHA Policy on Long-Term Affordable
Homeownership
Given this increased reliance on FHA as it became virtually “the only game in town,” lenders work-
ing with various LTAH programs around the country began to more closely scrutinize what was
allowed and what was not. This new reality of closer scrutiny and limited access to credit exposed
the inadequacies and uncertainties underlying Mortgagee Letter 94-2 as the FHA framework for
supporting the LTAH sector.
The following FHA policy issues are key for the LTAH movement.
10
1. The requirement for a fair return to the homeowner on his or her investment. The FHA
requirement calls for homesellers to receive at least 50 percent of the home’s increase in value.
The CLTs and local programs use a variety of resale formulas to achieve the dual objectives of
protecting homeowner equity and preserving affordability for the next income-qualified family.
2. Prohibition on enforcement of local program requirements. Local LTAH programs want the
right to enforce such requirements as (1) forcing the homebuyer to use the home as the principal
residence (that is, not renting it out), (2) limiting refinancing, (3) limiting resale to income-
qualified buyers, (4) preserving the program’s right to repurchase the house in the event of
foreclosure, (5) requiring a lender to notify the program of homeowner default, and (6) taking
any excess proceeds if the home is sold for more than the restricted resale price. FHA has been
concerned that such requirements would undermine a lender’s security interest.
3. Misalignment of income eligibility. Mortgagee Letter 94-2 includes in its requirements that
eligible programs have an income limit of 115 percent of AMI, which is less than the widely
accepted 120-percent AMI cap used in other programs. Local programs suggest raising the cap
to 120 percent of AMI to align it with other commonly used income caps.
4. Cumbersome program certification requirements. FHA does not allow communitywide efforts
to be certified, or approved, to access FHA financing. Approval can be granted only for specific
housing developments rather than for communitywide programs. The problem is that many local
programs may consist of many separate developments. Thus, every new development containing
long-term affordable homeownership units must be authorized case by case. Lenders are also
required to certify that local program documents meet FHA requirements, but they may fear
that FHA may later determine, after the loan has been made, that the lender misinterpreted the
regulations.
5. Allow program affordability restrictions to survive foreclosure. Some local programs have
the discretion to have program requirements (for example, owner occupation, income restrictions,
and so on) to survive foreclosure. Fannie Mae permits the use of program requirements, but
FHA does not. FHA strongly opposes the survival of any program restrictions and considers
them a risk to FHA’s ability to recoup its investment in the event of foreclosure. This issue is
10
See NCLTN (2012) for the National Community Land Trust Network and the Cornerstone Partnership’s enumeration of
these issues.

The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable Homeownership Programs
253Cityscape
distinct from the second issue listed here in that it specifically refers to the enforcement of
program requirements after foreclosure, not before. This issue is of particular importance for
communities in high-income areas, where the removal of affordability requirements upon
foreclosure will practically guarantee a loss of the unit.
FHA officials agreed to address these concerns and issue new guidance to replace Mortgagee Letter
94-2.
11
FHA’s commitment to issue new guidance was reiterated by (then) Acting FHA Commis-
sioner Carole Galante at the FHA-sponsored Affordable Homeownership Roundtable on May 8,
2012, in Washington, D.C.
12
The Research Project
In the summer of 2012, we interviewed LTAH practitioners and local government officials to
learn how FHA mortgage insurance was used in this sector. In the 2011 National Community
Land Trust Network (NCLTN) survey, 10 out of the 96 CLTs reported using FHA as a source of
mortgage financing for program participants. We identified FHA lenders from local officials, other
lenders, and other knowledgeable informants. In addition, we interviewed officials from HUD’s
Home Ownership Centers (HOCs) who are responsible for reviewing and approving requests from
communities to use FHA mortgages. In total, we conducted 26 interviews with local program staff,
including both CLT and local government program officials (N=18) and HOC officials (N=8).
From these interviews, we have six major findings.
1. LTAH programs have difficulty gaining access to mortgage credit for their homebuyers.
Obtaining mortgage financing is a constant challenge for LTAH programs, and it became even
more difficult with the collapse of the mortgage market, the effects of which continue. LTAH
program access to financing seems to depend on establishing personal relationships with local
banks or local representatives of lending institutions. There also appears to be wide variability in
the number of banks working with local LTAH programs. Some may have only 1 or 2 lenders,
but others may work with up to 10 lenders. Most program officials consider their current
financing situation to be uncertain or unstable.
2. Inconsistent application of rules has significantly affected local programs. With no stated
change in rules or regulation, several large LTAH programs in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan
area suddenly lost access to FHA-insured loans. Both Montgomery County, Maryland’s Moderately
Priced Dwelling Unit program and the District of Columbia’s Affordable Dwelling Units program
lost access to FHA-insured loans after many years of unquestioned operation.
3. Local programs with access to FHA financing are operating under varying kinds of approvals
or certifications. We identified only 10 programs that have ever had approval to use FHA financing.
Of the 10 programs, 6 had a current approval, but 4 had lost their status as an appropriate re-
cipient of FHA insurance because of presumed noncompliance with FHA policy as contained
11
See the National Community Land Trust Network (NCLTN) and Cornerstone statement on FHA rules on the NCLTN
website at http://www.cltnetwork.org/Policy-Action.
12
See http://affordableownership.org/2012/05/30/policy-update-fha-may-2012/.

254
Stromberg and Stromberg
Policy Briefs
in Mortgagee Letter 94-2. Of the 10 programs, 4 had legacy authority (that is, authority that had
been granted 10 to 15 years earlier). The other two communities had received approval within
the past 2 years. The remaining 4 were operating, or had been operating, under no identified
authority or waiver from HUD. That is, they assumed that FHA had given them permission at
some point in the past, but no documentation of that approval was available in their records.
We labeled approval where no documentation was available as phantom legacy approval.
4. Under the current process, local program officials are actively discouraged from seeking
approval because of the impediments that exist. Our respondents indicated that the difficulty
they face in working with FHA keeps them from even attempting to gain program approval.
This difficulty reinforces the position of the Cornerstone Partnership (NCLTN, 2012). In our
conversations, we heard strong assertions that HUD is arbitrary, inconsistent, unhelpful, unre-
sponsive, and not knowledgeable.
5. The consensus of practitioners is that access to FHA financing is desirable, if not crucial,
to the viability of these local programs. Almost all the local program staff stated that their
programs have been hurt by the withdrawal of conventional lending. Continued uncertainty
about the availability of FHA financing and impediments to accessing it have also seriously im-
paired their ability to implement their programs.
6. An odd geographic disparity exists in the requests for FHA underwriting of LTAH mort-
gages. The four HUD HOC field offices that manage FHA’s home mortgage financing programs
are the first point of contact for practitioners. They are located in Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; and Santa Ana, California. These offices do not maintain a
centralized database on local applications for LTAH programs, and they do not track activity
of such local programs. During the 2 years before our research, the Denver and Santa Ana of-
fices received the most requests—28 and 22 requests, respectively; the Denver HOC approved
one-half of the requests received. The Philadelphia and Atlanta offices received “few” and no
requests, respectively. No obvious explanation exists for the disparities between the east and
west offices (the jurisdictions of the respective offices relate more to the east and west of the
Mississippi River than to the east and west coasts), unless they are attributable to the geographic
distribution of LTAH activity. In any event, more research is necessary to explain these dispari-
ties. Nearly all the requests have come from the states of California and Colorado, which have
active and robust state and local inclusionary housing mandates.
13
Implications for Policy and Research
Currently no clear, expeditious path exists for LTAH programs to follow in obtaining FHA-insured
loans. The current process represents a major obstacle to access to FHA mortgages for large num-
bers of LTAH programs. We see two major arguments for bringing FHA’s rules more in line with
the LTAH sector’s needs and one argument against it.
13
This assertion is according to interviews with local officials from the four respective jurisdictions.

The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable Homeownership Programs
255Cityscape
Arguments for—
1. A large and growing number of communities have embraced the concept of LTAH as an integral
part of their commitment to and strategy for implementing affordable housing.
2. In this era of budget stringency and the need for conserving valuable public resources, a key
strength of the LTAH approach is that it appears to allow the public subsidy dollars to go farther
and achieve multiple socially worthy objectives—namely, successful homeownership, support
for social and economic integration, and asset building and upward mobility.
Argument against—
1. FHA currently has a major concern about the long-term health and viability of its home mortgage
insurance fund (that is, the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund). A recent audit forecasts substantial
losses in future years. This projection may bring about a more cautious approach to expanding
FHA’s affordability initiatives. In such a risk-averse environment, FHA could conclude that in-
sufficient and inadequate performance data exist to justify extending FHA benefits to this sector.
The documentation of LTAH performance (particularly regarding defaults and foreclosures of
FHA-backed shared-equity mortgages) has been extremely limited. As a consequence, until and
unless more robust data become available, FHA may conclude that a change in policy is neither
prudent nor protective of the FHA mortgage insurance fund.
Although LTAH has gained increased attention and apparent increased relevance at the local level,
little is known about the size and scope of this sector, the soundness and cost-effectiveness of the
shared-equity approach, or any additional obstacles to its increased use in HUD-promoted afford-
able housing strategies. The following research proposals address the core issues with FHA policy
and LTAH discussed in this brief.
1. Survey of LTAH programs. This project would be the first comprehensive survey of state, local,
and community long-term affordable homeownership programs across the country.
2. Survey of lender policies and practices regarding LTAH programs. The lack of mortgage
financing opportunities is restricting the growth of LTAH. The effectiveness of any changes in
FHA policy would depend on the home mortgage industry’s response to and perspective on
such changes. This project would survey the extent of lenders’ involvement in such programs
and explore the obstacles and potential incentives of such involvement.
3. Demonstration to promote LTAH best practices. Significant diversity in LTAH programs ranges
from purely governmental to public-private partnership to community and nonprofit initiatives.
Because of the disparate and decentralized nature of these efforts, they have not been the subject
of focus of federal programs or oversight. A demonstration would identify at least 5 to 10 com-
munitywide, regionwide, or statewide initiatives to produce an understanding of best practices
in the field. Such a demonstration would include the promotion of (1) greater integration of local
efforts, (2) sharing knowledge and expertise, (3) implementing improved management practices
(including stewardship and administrative practices), (4) improving alignment with and access
to federal resources, and (5) strategies to expand access to sustainable mortgage financing.

256
Stromberg and Stromberg
Policy Briefs
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Elizabeth Cocke, director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban De-
velopment (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research, Housing Technology Division, for
providing the support to carry out such research in a bureaucratic environment, and they thank
Mark Shroder, managing editor of Cityscape, for his sharp virtual pencil in making this brief more
comprehensible. Emily Thaden, Rick Jacobus, and John Emmeus Davis were generous with their
time and expertise in providing information and knowledge about shared-equity homeownership
and in commenting on the research concept and drafts of this policy brief. Most importantly, they
thank the many people with whom they spoke at the various programs around the country and the
HUD staff at the Home Ownership Center offices who spoke with them. The research would not
have been possible without their participation.
Authors
Edwin Stromberg was program manager (now retired) at the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.
Brian Stromberg is a doctoral candidate at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public
Policy at Rutgers University.
References
Davis, John. 2012. Personal communication (telephone). Recognized expert in community land
trusts and cofounder of Burlington Associates.
Davis, John Emmeus. 2010a. “More Than Money: What Is Shared in Shared Equity Homeowner-
ship?” Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law 19 (3&4): 259–277.
———. 2010b. The Community Land Trust Reader. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land
Policy.
———. 2006. Shared Equity Homeownership: The Changing Landscape of Resale-Restricted, Owner-
Occupied Housing. Montclair, NJ: National Housing Institute.
Institute for Community Economics. 2012. Personal communication (telephone and e-mail) with
former staff.
Jacobus, Rick. 2011. Cumulative Number of Owners Served Under Shared Equity Homeownership.
Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy. Also available at http://www.nhc.org/media/files/
Shared_Equity_Cumulative_numbers.pdf.
Jacobus, Rick, and Jeff Lubell. 2007. Preservation of Affordable Homeownership: A Continuum of
Strategies. Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy.
Jacobus, Rick, and Ryan Sheriff. 2009. Balancing Durable Affordability and Wealth Creation: Respond-
ing to Concerns About Shared Equity Homeownership. Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy.

The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable Homeownership Programs
257Cityscape
National Community Land Trusts Network (NCLTN). 2012. Updating FHA’s Policy Regarding
Affordable Housing Restrictions and Community Land Trusts. In collaboration with NCB Capital
Impact. Available at http://www.cltnetwork.org/userfiles/FHA%Summary%2011%2007%20
2011%20final.pdf (accessed May 1, 2013).
Sazama, Gerald. 1996. A Brief History of Affordable Housing Cooperatives in the United States.
Working Paper 1996-09. Storrs-Mansfield, CT: University of Connecticut, Department of
Economics. Also available at http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/econ_wpapers/199609/.
Schwartz, Heather L., Liisa Ecola, Kristin J. Leuschner, and Aaron Kofner. 2012. Is Inclusionary
Zoning Inclusionary? A Guide for Practitioners. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Temkin, Kenneth, Brett Theodos, and David Price. 2010. Balancing Affordability and Opportunity:
An Evaluation of Affordable Homeownership Programs With Long-Term Affordability Controls. Wash-
ington, DC: Urban Institute.
Thaden, Emily. 2011. Stable Homeownership in a Turbulent Economy. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln
Institute of Land Policy.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 1999. Homeownership Options Under
the HOME Program: A Model for Publicly Held Properties and Land Trusts. HOME Model Series,
Chapter 3. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
——&mdash;. 1993. Community Land Trusts and the HOME Program. CPD Notice 94-42. Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Additional Reading
Haughey, Rick, and Ryan Sherriff. 2010. Challenges and Policy Options for Creating and Preserving
Affordable Housing Near Transit and Other Location-Efficient Areas. Washington, DC: Center for
Housing Policy.
National Housing Conference. 2010. Options for Better Supporting Long-Term Affordability in the
HOME Program. Letter to Office of Community Planning and Development.

258
Stromberg and Stromberg
Policy Briefs

259Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
New Data on Local Vacant
Property Registration Ordinances
Yun Sang Lee
Patrick Terranova
Dan Immergluck
Georgia Institute of Technology
Data Shop
Data Shop, a department of Cityscape, presents short articles or notes on the uses of
data in housing and urban research. Through this department, the Office of Policy Devel -
opment and Research introduces readers to new and overlooked data sources and to
improved techniques in using well-known data. The emphasis is on sources and methods
that analysts can use in their own work. Researchers often run into knotty data problems
involving data interpretation or manipulation that must be solved before a project can
proceed, but they seldom get to focus in detail on the solutions to such problems. If you
have an idea for an applied, data-centric note of no more than 3,000 words, please send
a one-paragraph abstract to david.a.vandenbroucke@hud.gov for consideration.
Abstract
This article describes the Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database, a new
database of local vacant property registration ordinances (VPROs) in the United States.
Beginning with an industry list, 550 ordinances were acquired, read, and coded on
more than 30 characteristics. VPROs grew dramatically in 2008 and 2009, during the
climax of the national foreclosure crisis, and the number of ordinances continued to
grow after 2009, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. The database provides details on
the coverage, requirements, and penalties specified in VPROs across the country.
Introduction
Because of the growth in vacant properties that stemmed from the foreclosure crisis, the United
States has seen a major increase since the mid-2000s in the number of local governments enacting
vacant property registration ordinances (VPROs). VPROs require property owners to register vacant

260
Lee, Terranova, and Immergluck
Data Shop
and foreclosed properties with local government. VPROs often require owners of the registered
properties to pay a periodic registration fee (which may increase as a property remains vacant for
an extended period) and to maintain and secure properties in specified ways. They may also oblige
property owners to carry a minimum amount of insurance or, in some cases, to provide a minimum
bond or deposit. If requirements are not met, most VPROs specify fines and, in some cases, potential
criminal penalties. As of May 2012, there were more than 550 local VPROs in the United States,
increases from fewer than 20 VPROs in 2000 and fewer than 100 at the end of 2007.
The proximate objectives of VPROs typically include providing better data on the extent and nature
of vacant and foreclosed properties, having detailed and reliable contact information for property
owners and managers, and reducing the harms and costs such properties pose to neighborhoods
and local governments. Ultimately, proponents of VPROs may hope to discourage irresponsible
investment by internalizing some of the social costs of vacant properties and holding owners account-
able for not maintaining properties in a responsible manner.
Before the development of the Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database, limited informa-
tion on VPROs had been available. Little comprehensive data had been compiled on the coverage
of the ordinances, their requirements, and the penalties for noncompliance. The Vacant Property
Registration Ordinance Database provides the sort of information necessary to examine how
ordinances vary. Ultimately, the database could be used to evaluate the effects of different types of
ordinances on local housing market conditions.
Three fundamental types of VPROs exist: the Vacancy and Abandonment Model, the Foreclosure
Model, and the Hybrid Model. The key difference among these models is the event that triggers the
requirement to register properties and comply with the ordinance’s other requirements. Vacancy
and Abandonment-Model ordinances require property owners to register properties after a certain
length of vacancy. Foreclosure-Model ordinances are ordinances in which registration is triggered
by a formal, state-required notice of default or intent to foreclose that is filed as a part of a judicial
proceeding or advertised by the mortgagee or servicer as a part of a nonjudicial foreclosure pro-
cess. One reason that this model was developed was that localities were finding that some proper-
ties where foreclosures had been initiated were being vacated well before the foreclosure sale was
complete and the property became owned by the mortgagee or another new owner (Martin, 2010;
Schilling, 2009). Many more recently enacted ordinances share characteristics of the Vacancy and
Abandonment Model and the Foreclosure Model, in that they can be triggered either by vacancy or
by foreclosure-related actions. We classify such ordinances as following the Hybrid Model.
Within these three ordinance types (the Vacancy and Abandonment, Foreclosure, and Hybrid
Models), the specific terms and requirements vary greatly. Coverage and exemptions vary, as do
requirements for securing, maintaining, and insuring the property. Enforcement tools, although
somewhat uniform in fundamental structure (the use of fines is the primary tool), also vary, with
some localities specifying at least some violations as criminal (misdemeanor) offenses and other
localities not. Maximum fine amounts also differ significantly. Another feature of some VPROs is
the exemption of properties that are registered with industry databases.

New Data on Local Vacant Property Registration Ordinances
261Cityscape
Developing the Vacant Property Registration Ordinance
Database
The initial list of VPROs came from the firm Safeguard Properties, Inc. (Safeguard), which has
provided a frequently updated list of ordinances for several years. Safeguard is nationally recog-
nized as a leading provider of asset management services for loan servicers and lenders. Using the
Safeguard list, we identified 552 ordinances.
1
Each ordinance—or, in a few instances, a summary
of the ordinance—was then read and coded into more than 30 variables, described in exhibit 1.
An example of a typical database record is provided in the appendix.
Exhibit 2 describes the number of local VPROs enacted in different periods, including before 2000,
from 2000 to 2007, from 2008 to 2009 (at the climax of the national subprime foreclosure crisis),
and from January 2010 to April 2012. The ordinances are broken out into four types, including
the Vacancy and Abandonment Model, the Foreclosure Model, the Hybrid Model, and a small,
fourth category of ordinances covering occupied and vacant properties or all properties owned by
an absentee owner. The Vacancy and Abandonment Model was the dominant model before 2008,
with substantial growth during the 2000-to-2007 period. In 2008 and 2009, Foreclosure- and
1
We began with a list of 587 mandatory VPROs published by Safeguard, which we downloaded from http://www.
safeguardproperties.com/Resources/Vacant_Property_Registration.aspx on May 1, 2012. For a few ordinances in the
Safeguard list, however, we were unable to find documentation of the ordinance (either a copy of the ordinance itself or,
in a few cases, a summary of the ordinance). For 14 of the ordinances, the date of enactment was unclear, so they are not
included in the time-on-enactment analysis. A significant undercount of ordinances adopted in the last few months of this
period is likely, because we expect some (varying) lag between the date of enactment and the entry of the ordinance in the
Safeguard database. The Safeguard list will likely expand somewhat to include ordinances enacted before May 2012 but not
included in the list as of May 1, 2012.
Exhibit 1
Fields in the Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database
1. Special note 18. Range of escalating fee
2. ID number 19. Differing fee amount
3. Locality 20. Differing fee amount by what
4. State 21. Bond requirement
5. Enacted date 22. Minimum bond required per property
6. Updated date 23. Unit of maximum fine amount
7. Title 24. Maximum fine amount
8. Target properties (types) 25. Fine amount for maintenance violation
9. Trigger to register 26. Maximum fine amount for maintenance violation
10. Triggered by locality’s evaluation 27. Lien on the property
11. Definition of vacancy/abandoned 28. Criminal penalty
12. Exemption(s) 29. Security requirement
13. Registration deadline from trigger in days 30. Maintenance requirement
14. Registration term 31. Plan requirement
15. Escalating fee 32. Plan coverage
16. Registration fee for the first year 33. Insurance requirement
17. Registration fee for the second year 34. MERS or FPRC registration waiver
FPRC = Federal Property Registration Corporation. MERS = Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems.
Source: Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database

262
Lee, Terranova, and Immergluck
Data Shop
Hybrid-Model ordinances mushroomed, although major growth was still occurring in Vacancy
and Abandonment-Model ordinances. After 2009, the number of new ordinances slowed a bit,
but more than 200 ordinances were adopted from January 2010 to April 2012. The number of
new Hybrid-Model ordinances slowed somewhat after 2009, the number of new Vacancy and
Abandonment-Model ordinances held roughly constant, and the number of new Foreclosure-
Model ordinances increased.
Exhibit 3 shows the growth of local VPROs for the nine states with the most local VPROs adopted
through April 2012. These nine states account for 77 percent of VPROs, led by Florida and Califor-
nia, which each account for 17 percent (94 and 93 ordinances, respectively) of the VPROs.
2
Illinois
(61 ordinances, or 11 percent), Michigan (54 ordinances, or 9 percent), Ohio (37 ordinances, or
7 percent), Massachusetts (30 ordinances, or 5 percent), Minnesota, Georgia, and Missouri com-
prise the rest of the list. Many of these states have been among the leaders in foreclosure statistics
during the prolonged U.S. housing crisis.
Exhibit 2
Ordinance Type
Before
2000
2000–2007 2008–2009
January 2010–
April 2012
Total
Number of Local Vacant Property Registration Ordinances Enacted, by Type
Vacancy and Abandonment 15 62 83 88 248
Foreclosure 0 4 20 33 57
Hybrid 0 3 136 88 227
All properties or absentee owner 2 1 1 2 6
All types 17 70 240 211 538
Note: Does not include ordinances in Connecticut.
Source: Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database
Exhibit 3
State
Before
2005
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
January–
April 2012
Total
Growth of Vacant Property Registration Ordinances in Leading States
Florida 0 0 0 0 15 31 33 14 1 94
California 3 1 0 4 44 25 11 5 0 93
Illinois 3 2 3 2 13 12 15 9 2 61
Michigan 6 1 1 1 5 15 17 7 1 54
Ohio 5 1 2 3 5 6 3 10 2 37
Massachusetts 3 0 0 1 10 9 4 3 0 30
Minnesota 6 0 1 0 0 5 3 5 0 20
Georgia 0 1 1 0 2 2 3 10 0 19
Missouri 5 3 0 0 4 5 1 1 0 19
Source: Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database
2
Connecticut passed a statewide vacant property registration statute in 2009, essentially imposing a vacant property regis-
tration requirement for properties across the state, although the statute allows for property owners to avoid registration with
local governments if they register with a prescribed industry registration system. Connecticut localities are not included in
any descriptive statistics here. For more discussion, see Immergluck, Lee, and Terranova (2012).

New Data on Local Vacant Property Registration Ordinances
263Cityscape
When the national foreclosure crisis took hold in 2007, California was clearly the early leader in
VPRO adoption, with 4 localities enacting ordinances in 2007 and another 44 localities enacting
them in 2008. Ohio had seen a steady, if slower, increase in VPROs, with 3 new ordinances in
2007 and 5 in 2008. Other states saw a substantial increase in ordinances enacted in 2008, in -
cluding Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and, to a lesser extent, Michigan and Missouri. Two states—
Ohio and Georgia—saw the rate of VPRO adoption pick up markedly in 2011. Ohio localities had
already been somewhat active in adopting VPROs, enacting 14 ordinances from 2008 to 2010. In
2011, 10 additional ordinances were enacted in the state. Before 2011, Georgia had seen a slow
rate of VPRO adoption, with only 9 local laws enacted up through 2010. In 2011, 10 new ordinances
were enacted throughout the state. In response to the surge in such ordinances, however, by the
spring of 2012, opponents of local VPROs had gotten a state law passed essentially preempting all
but relatively weak ordinances.
3
The Foreclosure Crisis and VPRO Growth
Examining the relationship between foreclosures and the adoption of VPROs, exhibit 4 plots the
number of new VPROs in each state after 2007 against the increase in the quarterly foreclosure
start rate at the beginning of the national foreclosure crisis. It shows a general positive association
between these two variables, so that states with greater increases in foreclosure starts in 2006 and
3
State of Georgia. House Bill 110. May 1, 2012. Available at http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/display/20112012/
HB/110 (accessed March 8, 2013).
Exhibit 4
New Local VPROs (January 2008 to April 2012) Versus Increase in Quarterly
Foreclosure Start Rate (Fourth Quarter of 2005 to Fourth Quarter of 2007)
VPROs = vacant property registration ordinances.
Sources: Mortgage Bankers Association National Delinquency Survey; Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database
100
80
60
40
20
0
0.00 0.25 0.50
Increase in quarterly foreclosure start rate (percentage points),
fourth quarter of 2005 to fourth quarter of 2007
0.75 1.00 1.25
New VPROs after 2007

264
Lee, Terranova, and Immergluck
Data Shop
2007 tended to experience more new, local VPROs after 2007. Exhibit 4 also shows that states
with greater increases in foreclosure starts had substantial variation in the adoption of local VPROs,
however. Indeed, many other factors are at play. For one thing, the sheer number of localities varies
greatly across states. Beyond such very basic differences, another factor in determining local VPRO
adoption is the authority that localities within a state possess to enact and implement VPROs. Some
states, such as Nevada, are strong Dillon’s rule states, in which the authority to pass laws such as
VPROs must be expressly granted by state statute. In other states, laws that limit vacant property
registration practices at the local level or that require statewide registration may, in effect, actually
discourage or prevent states from enacting their own ordinances. Differences in state property law,
housing market and broader vacancy conditions, and local political environments are also likely to
come into play in the extent to which local governments are likely to adopt VPROs.
Of particular note are the states in the lower right-hand portion of exhibit 4. These states, includ-
ing Arizona and Nevada (two perennial leaders in foreclosure statistics during the crisis), saw very
few VPROs adopted after 2007. Arizona had only one known VPRO (enacted in 2009), and Ne-
vada had only three (enacted in 2006, 2010, and 2012). Again, state home-rule laws, state political
climate, and the number of local governments are likely to be key factors here.
Potential Indicators of Ordinance Strength
The complexity of VPROs makes it difficult to develop a simple measure of the strength or rigor of
an ordinance. In fact, any concept of strength is likely to be somewhat subjective and to depend
on a combination of a variety of characteristics, including coverage (which types of properties are
covered or excluded), requirements (including registration fees, maintenance, security, insurance,
and rehabilitation plans), and sanctions or penalties (fines, criminal penalties, liens, and so on).
Moreover, tradeoffs may exist between characteristics. As an example, localities may specify higher
maximum fines, but this increase may be partly related to their exclusion of more property types.
Although no one variable in the database will provide a comprehensive measure of ordinance strength,
one might expect a set of indicators to be closely associated with overall ordinance strength. The
database will enable researchers to develop their own measures of ordinance strength or, potentially,
to test the effect of a particular ordinance characteristic on housing market outcomes.
Conclusion
More than 5 years after the beginning of the foreclosure crisis, localities continue to adopt VPROs
at a substantial pace, but the rate of growth has slowed somewhat since the peak of the crisis. The
Vacant Property Registration Ordinance Database can be updated to reflect this growth. The data-
base is expected to help researchers and practitioners understand the nature and variation of these
ordinances across many characteristics. For a fuller description of the database and a detailed data
dictionary, see Immergluck, Lee, and Terranova (2012). To obtain a copy of the database, contact
Dan Immergluck at dan.immergluck@coa.gatech.edu.

New Data on Local Vacant Property Registration Ordinances
265Cityscape
Appendix. Example of Vacant Property Registration
Ordinance Database Record (excluding note fields)
Field Name Field Entry
Meaning of Field Entry
(from data dictionary)
Special note Explains unusual circumstances/
nature of ordinance
ID number 28 A simple identification number in the
database
Locality Battle Creek City or county
State MI State
Enacted date 09/20/2005 Date of enactment
Updated date Date of revision, if any
Title Ordinance 22-05 Formal title of ordinance
Target properties (types) 2 2 = residential properties
Trigger to register 2 2 = becoming abandoned
Triggered by locality’s evaluation 2 2 = no
Definition of vacancy/abandoned 5, 6, 7, 22, 29, 34,
9998
5 = boarded; 6 = not properly
maintained; 7= unsafe;
22 = utilities off; 29 = condemned;
34= code violation; 9998 = others
Exemption(s) 9999 9999 = not specified
Registration deadline from trigger in days 9999 9999 = not specified
Registration term 2 2 = one time
Escalating fee 2 2 = no
Registration fee for the first year 25 In dollars
Registration fee for the second year 0 0 = no fee
Range of escalating fee 9 9 = not applicable
Differing fee amount 2 2 = no
Differing fee amount by what 99 99 = not applicable
Bond requirement 9 9 = no
Minimum bond required per property 9 9 = not applicable
Unit of maximum fine amount 2 2 = per violation
Maximum fine amount 2 2 = $250 < max fine amount < $500
Fine amount for maintenance violation 2 2 = no
Maximum fine amount for maintenance
violation
98 98 = not applicable
Lien on the property 1 1 = yes, can be applied
Criminal penalty 1 1 = misdemeanor
Security requirement 2 2 = secure building against
unauthorized entry
Maintenance requirement 999 999 = not specified
Plan requirement 3 3 = no
Plan coverage 9 9 = not applicable
Insurance requirement 9 9 = no
MERS or FPRC registration waiver 4 4 = no
FPRC = Federal Property Registration Corporation. MERS = Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems.

266
Lee, Terranova, and Immergluck
Data Shop
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Center for Real Estate Analytics for sup-
porting this research.
Authors
Yun Sang Lee is a recent Ph.D. graduate of the School of City and Regional Planning at Georgia
Institute of Technology.
Patrick Terranova is a master’s degree student in the School of City and Regional Planning at
Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dan Immergluck is a professor in the School of City and Regional Planning at Georgia Institute of
Technology.
References
Immergluck, Dan, Yun Sang Lee, and Patrick Terranova. 2012. “Local Vacant Property Registration
Ordinances in the U.S.: An Analysis of Growth, Regional Trends, and Some Key Characteristics.”
Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2130775 (accessed October 20, 2012).
Martin, Benton. 2010. “Vacant Property Registration Ordinances,” Real Estate Law Journal 39 (1):
6–43.
Schilling, Joseph. 2009. “Code Enforcement and Community Stabilization: The Forgotten First
Responders to Vacant and Foreclosed Homes,” Albany Government Law Review 2 (1): 101–162.

267Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Visualizing Same-Sex
Couple Household Data
With Linked Micromaps
Brent D. Mast
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Graphic Detail
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) organize and clarify the patterns of human activ -
ities on the Earth’s surface and their interaction with each other. GIS data, in the form
of maps, can quickly and powerfully convey relationships to policymakers and the public.
This department of Cityscape includes maps that convey important housing or community
development policy issues or solutions. If you have made such a map and are willing to
share it in a future issue of Cityscape, please contact ronald.e.wilson@hud.gov.
In this article, I demonstrate how using linked micromaps (Carr and Pickle, 2010) can improve
mapping of same-sex couple (SSC) household data. Micromaps display multiple maps on the same
exhibit and highlight different geographic units in each map. Linked micromaps display columns
of data next to micromaps.
I improve on typical census data mapping (for example, Lofquist, 2011) in several ways, most
importantly by providing context for interpretation.
1
Typical choropleth maps provide no context
to help the reader understand why, for example, Washington, D.C. (hereafter, D.C.), has such a
high percentage of same-sex couples compared with the SSC percentage of the 50 states. Linked
micromaps allow for state total estimates to be reported along with estimates by metropolitan
status. When areas within states with the same metropolitan status are compared, D.C. is no longer
such a significant outlier. I also improve on typical census mapping by presenting SSC estimates in
descending order, which puts similar states into smaller perceptual subgroups for easier compre-
hension. I also report confidence limits, which help the reader gauge the relative precision of the
mean estimates.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the official positions or
policies of the Office of Policy Development and Research or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
1
For Census Bureau data on SSC households, see http://www.census.gov/hhes/samesex/.

268
Mast
Graphic Detail
To compute custom estimates by state and metropolitan status, I used American Community
Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data. To increase precision, I analyzed 5 years
of PUMS data (2006 through 2010), which I downloaded from the University of Minnesota’s
IPUMS-USA database (Ruggles et al., 2010).
Of U.S. couple households, from 2006 through 2010, an estimated 1 percent (652,791) were
SSC households; the 95-percent confidence interval is 1.0 to 1.1 percent. The SSC percentage is
much higher in metropolitan areas than in nonmetropolitan areas. Of nonmetropolitan couple
households, only 0.7 percent were estimated to be SSC households. Of metropolitan couples, an
estimated 1.2 percent were SSC households. An estimated 2.0 percent of couple households in
central cities of metropolitan areas were SSC households compared with 0.9 percent of couple
households in metropolitan areas outside of central cities.
The possible preferences of same-sex couples for cultural and other amenities available in more
metropolitan areas might play a significant role in these differences. Another possible factor is that
there might be more tolerance and less discrimination in metropolitan areas.
Exhibit 1 reports estimates of same-sex couples as a percentage of all couple households by state
and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas within states, and it includes 95-percent confi-
dence intervals. Estimates are reported in descending order of state total estimates. The total SSC
percentage varies from 0.5 percent in Mississippi to 5.7 percent in D.C., the median is 0.9 percent
in North Carolina, and the mean is 1.1 percent. Four of the five highest percentage observations
(D.C., Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont) are in the eastern United States; the exception is
Oregon. The five lowest percentage states are in the Midwest (North Dakota, Nebraska, and South
Dakota) and South (Mississippi and West Virginia) census regions.
Nonmetropolitan estimates vary from 0.4 percent in Mississippi to 2.3 percent in Delaware, with
a median of 0.6 percent in Michigan and a mean of 0.8 percent. Metropolitan estimates vary from
0.5 percent in North Dakota to 5.7 percent in D.C., with a median of 1.0 percent in Missouri and
a mean of 1.2 percent. Note that some states’ estimates are missing from one column. For instance,
New Jersey has no nonmetropolitan areas, whereas Wyoming has no metropolitan areas.
Although exhibit 1 is more informative than typical maps, D.C. remains an outlier. In exhibit 2,
I replace the column of metropolitan estimates in exhibit 1 with estimates for metropolitan areas
outside central cities and for central cities of metropolitan areas.
2
Compared with exhibit 1, exhibit 2 better explains why D.C. is an outlier from the 50 states. D.C.
is the only observation for which the total population resides in a central city of a metropolitan
area. When compared with central-city areas within states, D.C. is not such a significant outlier. In
fact, Oregon central cities have a higher estimated SSC percentage—6.2 percent. Although Georgia
ranks 17th overall, its central-city estimate of 5.2 percent ranks 3rd. The median for central-city
areas within states is 1.6 percent in Texas, and the mean is 2.0 percent.
2
The ACS PUMS does not disclose central-city status for all households in metropolitan areas or for any metropolitan areas
in Delaware, Montana, and North Dakota.

Visualizing Same-Sex Couple Household Data With Linked Micromaps
269Cityscape
Exhibit 1
Same-Sex Couple Households As a Percentage of Couple Households
(by metropolitan status)

270
Mast
Graphic Detail
Exhibit 2
Same-Sex Couple Households As a Percentage of Couple Households
(by metropolitan and central-city status)

Visualizing Same-Sex Couple Household Data With Linked Micromaps
271Cityscape
Linked micromaps are powerful data-visualization tools, allowing for multiple columns of data to
be reported next to maps. Geographic areas can be sorted and arranged in subgroups to facilitate
visual comprehension.
Linked micromaps make clear that part of the state variation in the SSC percentage is because of
differences in the proportion of the state population living in metropolitan areas, particularly in
central cities. Compared with estimates for central cities within other states, the SSC percentage in
Washington, D.C., is not so large.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Daniel Carr for helpful comments and R code for creating linked micromaps
and thanks Ron Wilson for helpful comments.
Author
Brent D. Mast is a social science analyst in the Office of Policy Development and Research at the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
References
Carr, Daniel B., and Linda Williams Pickle. 2010. Visualizing Data Patterns With Micromaps. New
York: Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Lofquist, Daphne. 2011. “Same-Sex Couple Households: American Community Survey Briefs.”
U.S. Census Bureau Report ACBSR/10-03. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/
acsbr10-03.pdf.
Ruggles, Steven, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and
Matthew Sobek. 2010. “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0.” Machine-readable
database. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. Available at http://usa.ipums.org/usa/.
Additional Reading
O’Connell, Martin, and Daphne Lofquist. 2009. “Changes to the American Community Survey
Between 2007 and 2008 and Their Potential Effect on the Estimates of Same-Sex Couple House-
holds.” Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Available at http://www.census.gov/hhes/samesex/
files/changes-to-acs-2007-to-2008.pdf.

272
Mast
Graphic Detail

273Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Refinancing Hospital Loans
Alastair McFarlane
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Impact
A regulatory impact analysis must accompany every economically significant federal rule
or regulation. The Office of Policy Development and Research performs this analysis for all
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rules. An impact analysis is a fore -
cast of the annual benefits and costs accruing to all parties, including the taxpayers, from
a given regulation. Modeling these benefits and costs involves use of past research findings,
application of economic principles, empirical investigation, and professional judgment.
Summary of Impact Analysis
When the credit crisis developed, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) allowed non-FHA-
insured hospitals to refinance capital debt. FHA permitted the refinancing of non-FHA-insured
loans under notices issued on July 1, 2009, and February 22, 2010. This final rule revised the
regulations governing FHA’s Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program to codify the
refinancing of non-FHA-insured loans.
In offering this new insurance product, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) took an approach intended to attract hospital applicants with a higher degree of financial
strength than many Section 242 applicants have had historically. The minimum operating margin
and debt-service coverage ratio were set at the median values prevailing in the Section 242-insured
portfolio (excluding hospitals on credit watch). The rule will not address the financing needs of
all healthcare facilities: its goal is to assist those hospitals saddled with unexpectedly high interest
rates and those in which refinancing is urgently needed for the hospital to continue operations and
adequately serve its community.
HUD expects the rule to result in a $1.26 million transfer per year per healthcare facility. Among
10 facilities, the aggregate annual impact is $12.59 million. A multiyear scenario, in which the
number of participants increases to 17, yields an aggregate annualized transfer to hospitals of
$17.63 million by the third year of the program. HUD estimates that this program will raise net
receipts of the federal government by $79 million (from $79 million to $158 million). Costs of
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the official positions or
policies of the Office of Policy Development and Research or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.

274 Impact
McFarlane
the rule include upfront application costs, which may be as high as $870,000 per applicant but
are likely to be much lower, given that non-FHA-insured lenders impose transaction costs as well.
HUD does not have enough information to quantify or evaluate the opportunity costs or distor-
tionary effects of the program. A benefit of reducing the probability of default includes reducing
the expected social welfare loss from hospital foreclosures.
Motivation for the Rule
The rule was promulgated to provide relief for those hospitals that are paying high penalty rates
on auction-rate debt and variable-rate bonds and that are unable to obtain affordable refinancing
from the private market, thereby placing in jeopardy the continued existence of the hospital and its
ability to adequately serve the surrounding community. Auction-rate debt was a standard means
for financing loans used by quasi-utilities, such as hospitals. The interest rates on auction securities
are reset by auction periodically.
1
The auction-rate securities are an alternative to more familiar types
of bonds, such as fixed-rate bonds or variable-rate bonds, for which the rate is based on an index
such as LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate). Hospitals issued auction-rate securities because,
before 2008, they provided low-cost financing. Investors purchased auction-rate securities because,
before 2009, they were perceived as offering an advantageous balance between risk and expected return.
An auction for adjustable-rate securities fails when the offer of securities for sale exceeds the orders
to purchase securities (demand exceeds supply).
2
Before 2008, broker-dealers had managed to pre-
vent most auction failures by putting in bids when demand for auction-rate securities threatened to
be insufficient. In 2008, however, broker-dealers retreated and the auction-rate securities market
was paralyzed.
3
When an auction fails, the investor’s account is frozen until the next auction and
the borrower is required to pay an interest penalty, which can be significant. The penalty is de-
signed to compensate investors who bear the opportunity costs of illiquidity during volatile times.
Until the recent financial crisis, liquidity in the auction-rate securities market had been adequate
for hospitals. In February 2008, the auction-rate securities market froze and many borrowers
were subject to increases in interest payments during an economic period in which any increase
in cost imposed a substantial burden on the borrower. In worst case scenarios, some borrowers
experienced interest payment increases as great as 10 percentage points.
4
Other debt-service costs exist, in addition to the interest-rate penalties. Variable-rate debt is typi-
cally collateralized by letters of credit issued by banks to the borrowers. During a financial crisis, a
reduction in the liquidity and creditworthiness of banks adversely affects their ability to extend or
reissue letters of credit. The consequences of nonrenewal of letters of credit can be the acceleration
of outstanding debt balance.
1
Auctions occur at intervals of 7, 14, 28, or 35 days.
2
Lee (2008) provides an excellent description of auction-rate securities and setting interest rates via the Dutch auction.
3
The failure rate rose from 2.0 to 87.0 percent during February 2008.
4
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a legal brief in 2011 supporting claims that investment banks failed
to adequately warn investors of the risks of auction-rate securities (Preston and Gallu, 2011).

Refinancing Hospital Loans
275Cityscape
If a hospital finds itself in a disadvantageous position because of failed auctions, then refinancing is
critical to its ability to repay its loan. Allowing for refinancing also leads to benefits by reducing the
probability of default and reduces the expected social cost of a hospital foreclosure.
Transfers Resulting From the Rule
The hospitals that are able to refinance into a lower cost loan because of FHA insurance are the
primary beneficiaries of this rule. The objective of the healthcare facility to minimize financing
costs among a variety of alternatives can be expressed as—
min
i
[m
ARS
, (m
FHA
+ T
FHA
), (m
M
+ T
M
)], (1)
where m is the annual mortgage payment, T is the annualized closing cost, ARS indicates the
auction-rate security financing cost or status quo, FHA indicates the mortgage payment and closing
costs of an FHA-insured loan, and M indicates the lowest cost market alternative to the FHA loan.
If the FHA-insured loan is the least cost loan and the status quo (ARS) is the second best option,
5

then the annual savings would be expressed as—
m
ARS
– (m
FHA
+ T
FHA
). (2)
If the FHA-insured loan is the least cost loan and the alternative market refinancing (M) is the
second best option,
6
then the gain from refinancing is—
(m
M
+ T
M
) – (m
FHA
+ T
FHA
). (3)
Before the liquidity crisis, the former scenario (2) was the norm for healthcare facilities. Since
2008, however, the latter scenario (3) has been more common. For healthcare facilities operated by
local governments, the reduction of interest payments constitutes a transfer to the taxpayers.
The segment of the market served by FHA is composed of facilities with credit ratings of BBB (lower
medium grade) or less or are not rated. By raising the hospital’s credit rating to AA (high grade),
the FHA insurance enables considerable debt-service savings for the hospital. FHA is able to facili-
tate a transfer of (m
M
+ T
M
) – (m
FHA
+ T
FHA
) to hospitals through prudent risk pooling by FHA.
The estimate of the benefit of the FHA refinancing rule needs to account for the benefit to hospitals
relative to other refinancing opportunities. In the former scenario, in which auction-rate security
financing is the least expensive alternative to an FHA loan, the net annual gain of FHA refinancing
for the hospitals is equal to the sum of the average market rate plus interest-rate penalties less the
sum of the FHA annual fixed rate plus its insurance premium and other closing costs. For example,
if the average annual rate that hospitals pay on auction-rate debt is 15.0 percentage points and the
FHA-insured loan offers refinancing at 4.5 percentage points, then the benefit of the refinancing,
accounting for the 0.5-percent premium, would be 15.0 percentage points annually for participants.
If private alternatives exist, however, such as the restructuring of debt that would reduce capital
5
m
M
+ T
M
> m
ARS
> m
FHA
+ T
FHA
.
6
m
ARS
> m
M
+ T
M
> m
FHA
+ T
FHA
.

276 Impact
McFarlane
costs to an interest rate of 7.0 percent (Franklin, 2009), then the net benefit of the rule relative to
other opportunities would be 2.0 percentage points (7.0 percent–4.5 percent–0.5 percent),
7
where
0.5 percent represents the annual FHA premium.
HUD’s estimate of saving throughout the analysis is based on the difference between FHA-insured
refinancing and an alternative. Further, HUD assumes that the FHA closing cost is equivalent to the
non-FHA alternative. Commercial mortgage rates vary by loan type and size but, in general, rates
range from 4.0 to 6.0 percent (CFA, Inc., 2012). Healthcare facility loans vary from 5.5 to 7.5 per-
cent (CLD, 2012).

Despite the eligibility criteria, HUD expects weaker hospitals to apply for loans
so that the competing rates may be as high as 8.5 percent. This pattern is supported by data on the
interest rates obtained through FHA insurance compared with the higher interest rate that would
have applied to a loan to the same borrower without FHA insurance. For each loan insured, FHA
obtains from the mortgage lender an estimate of the rate the hospital would pay without FHA. The
results are summarized in exhibit 1 for the last 25 hospital loans that were insured.
8
7
Note that these figures are not official estimates and are meant only for illustrative purposes. The exact difference in the
cost of capital will be slightly different (and is calculated subsequently).
8
One outlier, a hospital with unique circumstances, was excluded.
Exhibit 1
Interest Rate
Obtained Without
FHA Insurance (%)
Interest Rate
Obtained With
FHA Insurance (%)
Difference (%)
Comparison of Interest Rates
Highest 12.00 6.78 5.22
Median 8.47 5.65 2.82
Lowest 6.95 3.88 3.07
FHA = Federal Housing Administration.
HUD uses a wide range of estimates of the change in interest rate from a reduction of 1.0 percent-
age point (6.5 to 5.5 percent) to a reduction of 3.0 percentage points (8.5 to 5.5 percent). HUD’s
base case is a reduction of 2.0 percentage points (from 7.5 to 5.5 percent). For all these cases,
HUD assumes that the FHA loan is characterized by an additional annual financing cost of 0.5
percent of the loan balance.
Using an average loan size of $108 million amortized over 25 years, the reduction in the annual
mortgage payment will range from $0.80 million (a 1.0-percentage-point decline in the interest
rate, from 6.5 to 5.5 percent) to $2.50 million (a 3.0-percentage-point decline, from 8.5 to 5.5
percent). HUD’s base case is a 2.0-percentage-point decline, from 7.5 to 5.5 percent, which yields
a $1.64 million annual reduction in mortgage payment, from $9.69 million to $8.05 million.
HUD assumes that all other financing costs of the two loans are identical except for the periodic
FHA insurance premium (other transaction costs associated with an FHA loan are addressed in a
subsequent section). The average annual financing cost (mortgage plus premium) over the life of
an FHA loan is $8.37 million. The interest rate, which yields a present value equal to the original
balance of $108 million, given the stream of payments over 25 years, is approximately 6.0 percent

Refinancing Hospital Loans
277Cityscape
(5.97 percent). In other words, the annual percentage rate (APR) of the FHA loan, which is the
true cost of capital, is 6.0 percent. The annualized payment on an FHA loan would increase from
$8.05 million to $8.43 million. The annualized net savings of an FHA loan is correspondingly
lower, ranging from $0.42 million for a 6.5-percent non-FHA alternative loan to $2.12 million for
an 8.5-percent non-FHA alternative loan. The net annual gain to the borrower in HUD’s base case
of a 7.5-percent non-FHA alternative loan is $1.26 million ($9.69 million - $8.43 million).
The program is not designed for the entire industry of 5,000 hospitals. The pool of applicants is
limited by eligibility restrictions. At the time the proposed rule (75 FR 4964) was published on
January 29, 2010, and the first draft of the regulatory analysis was written in June 2009, industry
experts estimated that FHA would receive from 25 to 40 applications during the first year that Sec-
tion 242 refinancing was offered. In fact, FHA received only 15 preliminary stage applications, and
most of those were eliminated based on a failure of the hospital to meet the threshold requirements
in Section 242.
HUD noted in the analysis of the proposed rule that low participation was a distinct possibility,
despite the financial incentives offered by the rule. A major unknown was an eligible hospital’s
desire to refinance through FHA. The primary incentive of a hospital to participate is to escape
the adjustable rates or penalties in the auction-rate securities market. If the auction-rate securities
market is healthy, however, then the FHA is not likely to have as many, if any, customers for its
Section 242 program. The auction-rate securities market has not rebounded, however, because of a
continuing lack of liquidity.
The single application that was approved illustrates the potential benefit of Section 242/223(f)
refinancing. Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside, California, a state-designated safety net
hospital, plays a vital role in its community by providing for 19.6 percent of the inpatient market
share. Parkview was paying a 20.0-percent interest rate on its capital debt. Its high debt-service
payments put a financial strain on the hospital and cast doubt on its future viability. After refinanc-
ing with a loan of $29 million at a rate of 5.0 percent, however, the hospital is able to save a sub-
stantial amount in financing costs over the 25-year life of the loan and to better serve the medical
needs of the Riverside community.
A potential explanation for the low level of participation is that hospitals have found alternative
means for refinancing other than Section 242. The private market is likely to search for solutions to
resolve some of these crises. For example, when the interest rate on Trinity Health’s $600 million
of auction-rate securities rose from 3.0 to 12.0 percent, the company restructured the securities
with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., to bring down the rate to an average of 2.25 percent (Greene, 2008).
Trinity Health had the advantage of a AA long-term rating. Other healthcare facilities, however,
may not have the same opportunities.
Based on input from lenders and on FHA’s review of market conditions, FHA expects to insure
approximately 8 loans during the first year the final rule is in effect.
9
HUD uses 10 loans as its
baseline estimate and does not expect the number to surpass 15 new entrants in any single year.
9
The expected number of participants is less in the final rule than in the proposed rule.

278 Impact
McFarlane
The 2.0-percentage-point interest rate decline (a 1.5-percentage-point decline in APR) scenario
ranges from net savings of $1.26 million with 1 participant to $18.88 million with 15 participants
(exhibit 2). Given the past experience of overestimating the number of participants in refinancing
programs, it is likely that the number will be closer to 5 participants, in which case, the net savings
will range from $2.12 million to $10.62 million, depending on the alternative cost of capital.
Exhibit 2
Number of
Participants
Interest Rate on Alternative Non-FHA Loan
6.5% 7.0% 7.5% 8.0%
Aggregate Annual Net Savings (in million $) by Hospitals From Refinancing
(from a $108 million, 25-year loan)
1 0.42 0.84 1.26 2.12
5 2.12 4.19 6.29 10.62
10 4.24 8.38 12.59 21.23
15 6.36 12.57 18.88 31.85
FHA = Federal Housing Administration.
Dynamic Considerations
Healthcare facilities will apply to and participate in the program only as long as doing so provides
benefits. Consider the scenario of a pool of 100 potential applicants and the base case of a
1.5-percentage-point net benefit of the FHA as a refinancing alternative. If 10 participants enroll
in the first year, potentially 90 new entrants could enroll in the second year. It is reasonable to
assume that successive years will bring new entrants but that the number of new entrants will
decrease over time. If markets recover slightly (auction-rate market interest rates decline to 7.0
percent), then perhaps only 5 hospitals out of those remaining 90 would find it beneficial to pay
an insurance premium to participate in Section 242. Under such an assumption, the total number
of participants would increase to 15 (10 + 5) in the second year. The effects of a recovery, even if
mild, would also be to reduce the potential net saving per loan. Fluctuations in the credit market
would alter the benefit of the FHA loan over time. For example, suppose that participation is
characterized by the pattern displayed in exhibit 3.
The aggregate annual transfers would reach $17.63 million by the third year. As soon as the alter-
native interest rate is close to 6.0 percent, the FHA loan would no longer be advantageous.
Exhibit 3
Year
Auction-Rate
Market
Interest Rate
(%)
New
Participants
Total
Participants
Net Annual
Saving
to New
Participant
(million $)
Average
Net Annual
Saving per
Participant
(million $)
Total Annual
Saving
(million $)
Aggregate Annual Net Savings Over Time (assuming declining new participants)
1 7.5 10 10 1.26 1.26 12.59
2 7.0 5 15 0.84 1.12 16.78
3 6.5 2 17 0.42 1.04 17.63
4 6.0 0 17 0.00 1.04 17.63

Refinancing Hospital Loans
279Cityscape
Budget
HUD estimated that this program would add $1 billion to the fiscal year 2013 estimate, nearly
doubling insurance endorsements. Net receipts are projected to increase by $79 million (from $79
million to $158 million). The marginal credit subsidy rate of these loans would be -7.93 percent
(indicating a negative credit subsidy). The $79 million increase represents the net present value
of the cash flow from the negative credit subsidy if 9.25 loans are expected at $108 million apiece
(-0.079 x 9.25 x $108 million). The negative subsidy is equal to the present value of the expected
cost of the claim less the expected present value of premium insurance (upfront and periodic). In
this case, revenue is expected to exceed costs so that the subsidy is negative.
A government agency’s increase in net revenue is usually treated as a transfer; the increase in FHA
revenue occurs as the result of offering a product that raises expected net revenue. In the short run,
the gain in revenue will enable the FHA to rebuild its mandated reserve. In the long run, a gain to
the FHA is an eventual transfer to other parties, either enabling FHA to insure more loans at the
same cost or return excess revenues to the U.S. Treasury.
Benefits of the Rule
Aside from the economic impacts such as transfers to healthcare facilities, other benefits have been
alluded to, such as the benefit to the community of the provision of healthcare services.
Preventing Hospital Closures
If the closure of a hospital were to occur, the negative economic impacts would be drastic. In
addition to providing needed healthcare services, hospitals are among the largest employers in
their communities. In the absence of this program, some hospitals saddled with high debt-service
payments could default on their debt and experience foreclosure. In such an event, the hospital
could be forced to close (unless the holders of the debt had a buyer willing and able to continue
hospital operations at the facility, or the city had the means to refinance the hospital).
10
With this
program in place, however, some otherwise financially viable hospitals could refinance their high
debt-service payments down to a level that would enable them to avoid default and continue to
serve their communities.
The benefit, per hospital, is equal to the change in the expected damage from foreclosure, where
the change in the expected value is the result of the decline in the probability of foreclosure. Avoided
costs would include all transaction costs, time costs, and costs to current patients that must relocate
or travel farther for services. FHA’s research shows that, of the 19 healthcare facilities in financial
difficulties since 1990, only 4 have resulted in a claim. Thus, it would be safe to assume that, of
the 8 to 10 hospitals that are expected to apply to the program, a similar proportion (1 to 2) would
have gone into claim. It is difficult to quantify the deadweight costs resulting from the foreclosure
of a hospital. Similar estimates for residential real estate, which is very different, find the benefit
of avoiding a foreclosure to be approximately one-fifth of the value of the loan (McFarlane, 2012).
10
As more local governments face budget pressures, rescue by a local government is less likely.

280 Impact
McFarlane
Nonetheless, healthcare facilities are often considered important anchor institutions that produce
positive economic externalities for the surrounding community. Thus, if the refinancing program
prevents only one of the expected foreclosures, the benefits could be substantial (for example, 20
percent of $108 million is $22 million).
Capital Markets
The public injection of liquidity by FHA may contribute in a small way to stimulating the auction-
rate securities markets. Classifying this effect is not straightforward, however, because it consists
of a variety of effects: redistribution and efficiency gains. A redistribution, or transfer, from lenders
to borrowers will occur with the decrease in the real interest rate. Stabilization of the economy
is associated with efficiency gains such as the avoidance of the costs of foreclosure and the costs
of long-run economic inactivity. The government, by assisting the refinancing of hospital loans,
reduces both default and liquidity risk in the U.S. economy.
The public supply of liquidity, when prudently managed, has the potential of raising economic
welfare in a number of situations. Most relevant to the collapsed auction-rate securities market
is the argument that the provision of public liquidity can “buy the time needed to proceed to
an orderly reallocation of liquidity” (Tirole, 2008: 62). Tirole explained that this reallocation is
necessary because the asymmetry of information concerning assets increases during recessions. The
injection of liquidity will keep markets afloat, preserving asset values. Using this particular policy,
FHA reduced the competitors for auction-rate securities financing.
Costs of the Rule: Paperwork and Transaction
Other costs, besides the mortgage insurance premium, are associated with an FHA-insured
loan. To apply for insurance of a mortgage, the applicant must include a number of supporting
documents: a description of the project; the business plan of the hospital, and how the project
will further that plan; a study of market need and financial feasibility; and architectural plans and
specifications in sufficient detail to enable a reasonable estimate of cost. The preparation of an
application is beyond what is demanded of non-FHA alternatives and so can be regarded as an
incremental cost. Highly paid professionals, such as accountants, bankers, and attorneys, are re-
quired to invest a substantial amount of effort. In addition, government bureaucrats must carefully
review the applications.
Preapplication meetings at HUD typically involve 5 to 10 people representing the lender and the
hospital. Preparing the preliminary review submission and preparing for the preapplication meet-
ing require the lender and the hospital’s consultants to travel to and from the hospital. Application
development involves considerable time from consultants, who are sometimes in the field for 2 to
3 weeks, plus return trips to present reports. The total cost to the applicant is estimated to be
$879,000.
In an FHA-insured refinancing transaction, some transaction costs are not present in a private-
market (uninsured) refinancing. More intense upfront examination of the deal is one of those costs.
To what extent the estimated $879,000 in upfront costs represents an incremental cost over a

Refinancing Hospital Loans
281Cityscape
noninsured loan is not known with precision, however. Supposing that all these upfront costs are
incremental, the increase in the annual capital cost amounts to only a few basis points (an increase
from 5.97 to 6.05 percent). The incremental cost is likely to be lower, given that a non-FHA insured
lender will also require a significant level of information before lending $108 million.
Summary of Regulatory Impact
HUD expects the rule to result in a transfer of $1.26 million per year per hospital. Among 10 hos-
pitals, the aggregate annual impact is $12.59 million. A multiyear scenario, in which the number of
participants increases to 17, yields an aggregate annualized net saving to hospitals of $17.63 million
by the third year of the program. HUD estimates that this program will raise the net receipts of the
federal government by $79 million (from $79 million to $158 million).
Costs of the rule include upfront application costs, which may be as high as $870,000 per applicant
but are likely to be much lower, given that non-FHA-insured lenders impose transaction costs as
well. These transaction costs add little to the cost of capital, however, and are more than offset by
the lower interest rate obtained through the FHA insurance. HUD does not have enough information
to quantify or evaluate the opportunity costs or distortionary effects of the program.
A benefit of reducing the probability of default includes reducing the expected social welfare loss
from hospital foreclosures.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Michael Hayes for his capable research assistance and Roger Miller and John
Whitehead for sharing their data and insights.
Author
Alastair McFarlane is Director of the Division of Economic Development and Public Finance in
the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
References
Capital Funding of America (CFA), Inc. 2012. “Commercial Mortgage Rates.” Available at
http://www.capitalfunders.com/CommercialMortgageRates.htm (accessed March 1, 2012).
Commercial Loan Direct. 2012. “Commercial Mortgage Interest Rates—Nationwide Lending.”
Available at http://www.commercialloandirect.com/commercial-rates.php#Large_Loans_Interest_
Rates (accessed March 1, 2012).
Franklin, John. 2009. “Tight Capital Market’s Impact on Hospitals,” North Carolina Medical Journal
70 (4): 339.

282 Impact
McFarlane
Greene, Jay. 2008. “Local Hospitals Flee Auction-Rate Bond Market,” Crain’s Detroit Business
24 (17): 15.
Lee, Stephanie. 2008. “Auction-Rate Securities: Bidder’s Remorse? A Primer.” NERA Economic
Consulting. Available at http://www.mmc.com/knowledgecenter/NERA_PUB_Auction_Rate_
Securities.pdf (accessed February 19, 2013).
McFarlane, Alastair. 2012. “The Impact of Limiting Sellers Concessions to Closing Costs,” Cityscape
14 (3): 211–224.
Preston, Darrell, and Joshua Gallu. 2011. “SEC May Help Auction-Rate Investor Lawsuits,” Bloomberg
News, August 1.
Tirole, Jean. 2008. “Liquidity Shortages: Theoretical Underpinnings,” Banque de France Financial
Stability Review: Special Issue on Liquidity 11: 53–63.

283Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Smart-Grid Technologies
in Housing
M.G. Matt Syal
Kweku Ofei-Amoh
Michigan State University
Industrial Revolution
Every home makes compromises among different and often competing goals: comfort,
convenience, durability, energy consumption, maintenance, construction costs, appear -
ance, strength, community acceptance, and resale value. Often, consumers and developers
making the tradeoffs among these goals do so with incomplete information, increasing the
risks and slowing the adoption of innovative products and processes. This slow diffusion
negatively affects productivity, quality, performance, and value. This department of City -
scape presents, in graphic form, a few promising technological improvements to the U.S.
housing stock. If you have an idea for a future department feature, please send your dia -
gram or photograph, along with a few, well-chosen words, to elizabeth.a.cocke@hud.gov.
Abstract
The implementation of smart grid has led to a number of technologies for the housing
industry. Two of these technologies, Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Home Area
Networks, have a direct effect on the operations of a home. These technologies have
influenced many new products and applications for homes; examples include smart
meters, car-charging stations, smart thermostats, renewable-energy installations, and
smart appliances.
The material in this article is part of a report completed by the authors and commissioned by ELECTRI Inter -
national, the research foundation of the National Electrical Contractors Association. The report, “Smart
Grid: Installation and Construction Management Aspects for Electrical Contractors,” is available at http://
www.electri.org/research/smart-grid-installation-and-construction-management-aspects-electrical-contractors.

284
Syal and Ofei-Amoh
Industrial Revolution
The Status Quo
The electrical consumption in a typical American home is growing steadily, mainly because of the
adoption of consumer electronic equipment. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts
a 30-percent increase in demand for electricity by the year 2030 compared with current demand
rates (EIA, 2010). For example, if every home in the United States adopted the use of a digital
photo frame, five 250-MW power plants will have to be built to accommodate the demand on the
grid (EPRI, 2009).
This increase in electricity demand is making the electric grid more liable to power outages and
load variations. The government, utility companies, and several stakeholders have proposed
modernizing the electrical grid to make it efficient to meet predicted power demands. This mod-
ernized grid is generally termed the smart grid. A smart grid can be described as the integration
of the electrical grid and the information technology and communication systems so as to be able
to monitor and manage the generation, storage, transmission, distribution, and consumption of
electricity (Austin Energy, 2010).
As part of the smart-grid upgrades, a number of technologies have emerged. The five major smart-
grid technologies responsible for successfully implementing a smart grid follow.
1. Energy storage devices.
2. Advanced superconducting transmission cables.
3. Smart Substations and Smart Transformers.
4. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).
5. Home Area Networks (HANs).
Two of these technologies, AMI and HANs, have a direct effect on the operations of a home or
building, but all the other smart-grid technologies have some level of indirect effect on the housing
or communities. An example of the indirect effect is the location and zoning considerations for
new transmission lines.
The following sections describe the two smart-grid technologies directly related to housing. These
technologies have influenced many new products and applications for homes; for example, smart
meters, car-charging stations, smart thermostats, renewable-energy installations, and smart appliances.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure
AMI represents fully integrated, two-way communication technologies that will make the grid a
dynamic interactive system for power and real-time data exchange (NETL, 2007; Roncero, 2008).
A variety of communication technologies is used in today’s grid, but most of these technologies
lack full high-speed communication integration. To be most effective, the integrated communica-
tion protocol will have to achieve universality, integrity, ease of use, cost effectiveness, standards,
openness, and security (NETL, 2007). Although no universal standards exist for AMI and demand
response, several committees and trade groups are currently collaborating to determine standards
for integrated communications systems.

Smart-Grid Technologies in Housing
285Cityscape
AMI is an integration of several technologies; it consists of three main components (exhibit 1): (1) a
smart meter at the customers’ location, (2) a communications network between the utility company
and the smart meter, and (3) the HAN to connect the house with the smart meter. These compo-
nents provide the infrastructure to establish the communication between the house and the utility
company. This communication can enable consumer-demand response through consumer-level
decisions on power supply prices. Utilities can also receive consumer usage data in real time that
can enable the utilities to manage electricity demand and supply effectively (EPRI, 2007; Hart, 2008).
Exhibit 1
AMI Including Smart Meter and Link With HAN
AMI = Advanced Metering Infrastructure. HAN = Home Area Network.
HAN
Home
automation
system
Home gateway
Lighting
controls
Thermostat
Smart
appliances
Gas meter
Water meter
Utility company
Smart meter
Utility AMI
communication
network
A smart meter is the latest version of electric meter installed at the customers’ premises. According
to Van Gerwen, Jaarsma, and Wilhite (2006), the meter is deemed “smart” because it enables utility
companies to perform three main functions: (1) track the electricity used, (2) remotely control appliances
on the HAN, and, therefore, (3) remotely control electricity consumption. This control is especially
important in the event of demand exceeding supply, which may threaten the disruption of service.
Smart meters are similar in size and installation features to the existing electric meters. The only
visible difference between the two is the digital panel as opposed to the dials and needles (exhibit 2).
Therefore, the smart meters can easily be installed by popping out the existing electric meters and
popping in the smart meters in the same socket (exhibit 3).
Smart-meter installations are growing at a fast pace nationwide. The Institute for Electrical Efficiency
(IEE) found that, as of May 2012, 36 million smart meters have been installed compared with 13
million meters installed as of December 2009. IEE has also projected that approximately 65 million
smart meters will be deployed by December 2015 (IEE, 2012).

286
Syal and Ofei-Amoh
Industrial Revolution
Exhibit 2
Exhibit 3
Smart Meter (left) and Older Electromechanical Meter (right)
Installation of Smart Meters

Smart-Grid Technologies in Housing
287Cityscape
Home Area Networks
The HAN forms an inhome network of smart appliances, water heater, air-conditioner, cable box,
and so on, via a home gateway to link to the smart meter, as shown in exhibit 1 (NETL, 2008). It
can also link residential renewable energy-generating sources; a home charging battery to store ex-
cess generated energy; an inverter; a programmable communicating thermostat (smart thermostat);
various equipment and appliances, including lighting and security systems; and a plugin hybrid or
electric vehicle charging station. HANs are commercially available and use existing communication
technologies such as WiFi and Bluetooth (EPRI, 2005; Sharma, 2008).
The HAN makes it easy to implement home automation systems and, therefore, makes it possible
for the consumer to respond to price signals in the event of dynamic electricity pricing. For example,
customers can schedule the dishwasher or the clothes washer to operate at the time of lowest pricing.
Smart appliances are fitted with the grid-friendly appliance controller that can sense grid condi-
tions by monitoring the frequency of the system and can provide automatic demand response in
times of disruption. If the imbalance between supply and demand goes unchecked, it can lead
to many grid-related problems, even a blackout. In such an event, smart appliances will turn off
automatically for a few minutes or even a few seconds to allow for the grid to stabilize. For another
example, the utility would be able to adjust the cooling temperature of homes in a neighborhood
for a few minutes to manage the peak demand and avoid disruption (PNNL, 2009).
Benefits
AMI technologies will allow for consumer-demand response through consumer-level decisions
on power-supply prices. In addition, with fully operational HAN systems, utility companies will
receive consumer usage data in real time for managing supply and demand effectively. This access
to real-time data will enable the utility company to have a more efficient planning protocol for its
generation, transmission, and distribution assets.
Availability
All the technologies described in this article are commercially available. The References section that
follows provides additional information for the technologies described.
Authors
M.G. Matt Syal is a professor of construction management in the School of Planning, Design and
Construction at Michigan State University.
Kweku Ofei-Amoh, a former graduate student in the School of Planning, Design and Construction
at Michigan State University, is a consultant at Pyramid Consulting International, Columbus, Ohio.

288
Syal and Ofei-Amoh
Industrial Revolution
References
Austin Energy. 2010. “Austin Energy Smart Grid Program.” Available at http://www.austinenergy.
com/About%20Us/Company%20Profile/smartGrid/index.htm (accessed March 2013).
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). 2009. “Sensor Technologies for a Smart Transmission
System.” Available at http://www.remotemagazine.com/images/EPRI-WP.pdf (accessed May 2012).
———. 2007. “Advanced Metering Infrastructure.” Available at http://www.ferc.gov/eventcalendar/
Files/20070423091846-EPRI%20-%20Advanced%20Metering.pdf (accessed May 2012).
———. 2005. “Consumers Portal Stakeholder Frequently Asked Questions and Survey.” Available
at http://sites.energetics.com/MADRI/toolbox/pdfs/standards/faq.pdf (accessed May 2012).
Energy Information Administration (EIA). 2010. “Electric Power Industry 2008: Year in Review.”
Available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html (accessed May 2012).
Hart, David G. 2008. “Using AMI To Realize the Smart Grid.” Paper presented at the Power
and Energy Society General Meeting—Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st
Century, July 20–24.
Institute for Electrical Efficiency (IEE). 2012. “Utility-Scale Smart Meters Deployments, Plans, and
Proposals.” Available at http://www.edisonfoundation.net/iee/Documents/IEE_SmartMeterRollouts_
0512.pdf (accessed May 2012).
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). 2008. “Advanced Metering Infrastructure.” U.S.
Department of Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability White Paper. Available
at http://www.netl.doe.gov/smartgrid/referenceshelf/whitepapers/AMI%20White%20paper%20
final%20021108%20%282%29%20APPROVED_2008_02_12.pdf (accessed May 2012).
———. 2007. “A Systems View of the Modern Grid.” Available at http://www.netl.doe.gov/
smartgrid/referenceshelf/whitepapers/ASystemsViewoftheModernGrid_Final_v2_0.pdf (accessed
May 2012).
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). 2009. “Grid Friendly Controller Helps Balance
Energy Supply and Demand.” Available at http://readthis.pnl.gov/MarketSource/ReadThis/B3099_
not_print_quality.pdf (accessed May 2012).
Roncero, Javier Rodríguez. 2008. “Integration Is Key to Smart Grid Management.” Paper presented
at CIRED Seminar, Institute of Engineering and Technology CIRED, June 23–24. Available at
http://webpages.uncc.edu/~jmconrad/ECGR6185-2010-01/readings/Jebasingh_Integration%20
is%20key%20to%20smart%20grid%20management.pdf (accessed May 2012).
Sharma, Ravi. 2008. “Home Automation Comes of Age,” Information Quarterly 7 (3): 48–49.
Van Gerwen, Rob, Saskia Jaarsma, and Rob Wilhite. 2006. “Smart Metering, KEMA.” Available
at http://www.leonardo-energy.org/sites/leonardo-energy/files/root/pdf/2006/SmartMetering.pdf
(accessed March 2013).

289Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Changing Geographic
Units and the Analytical
Consequences: An Example
of Simpson’s Paradox
Ron Wilson
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
SpAM
SpAM (Spatial Analysis and Methods) presents short articles on the use of spatial sta-
tistical techniques for housing or urban development research. Through this department
of Cityscape, the Office of Policy Development and Research introduces readers to the
use of emerging spatial data analysis methods or techniques for measuring geographic
relationships in research data. Researchers increasingly use these new techniques to
enhance their understanding of urban patterns but often do not have access to short
demonstration articles for applied guidance. If you have an idea for an article of no
more than 3,000 words presenting an applied spatial data analysis method or technique,
please send a one-paragraph abstract to ronald.e.wilson@hud.gov for review.
Foreclosures and Crime
The rapidly degrading housing market of the mid-2000s caused local governments to be concerned
about the multitude of problems foreclosures could wreak on their jurisdictions (Wilson and Paul -
sen, 2008). One concern was the escalation of crime and disorder in neighborhoods with concen-
trated foreclosures. Several researchers who examined the relationship between foreclosure and
crime had conflicting results (Arnio and Baumer, 2012; Arnio, Baumer, and Wolff, 2012; Baumer,
Wolff, and Arnio, 2012; Cui, 2010; Ellen, Lacoe, and Sharygin, 2011; Goodstein and Lee, 2010;
Immergluck and Smith, 2006; Jones and Pridemore, 2012; Katz, Wallace, and Hedberg, 2011;
Kirk and Hyra, 2012; Stucky, Ottensmann, and Payton, 2012; Wallace, Hedberg, and Katz, 2012).
The assortment of geographic units used in these studies is extensive, consisting of property loca-
tions, block faces, census block groups, census tracts, customized local geographies, grid cells,
cities, counties, and metropolitan statistical areas. The variety of factors, constructs, and variables
the researchers used in these studies certainly contributed to their conflicting results, but the range
of geographies likely played a role in the outcome differences, because the underlying data were
aggregated to different geographic scales.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the official positions or policies
of the Office of Policy Development and Research or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

290
Wilson
SpAM
Conflicting results are common in social science research from the use of different geographic
units of analysis (Coulton et al., 2001; Hipp, 2007; Macintyre, Ellaway, and Cummins, 2002;
Rengert and Lockwood, 2009; Taylor, 2012). None of the cited studies, though, included tests
of the foreclosure and crime relationship with multiple geographic units to gauge the effect on
results. I illustrate in this article how changing geographic units can produce converse results with
an example of foreclosure and crime modeling drawn from Wilson and Behlendorf (2013). I also
conduct a spatial analysis to identify which geographic unit is best for modeling foreclosures and
crime in the Wilson and Behlendorf (2013) example, using several spatial analysis techniques.
Modeling Foreclosures and Neighborhood Crime in
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
Wilson and Behlendorf (2013) analyzed the relationship between foreclosures and neighborhood
crime in the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, with four crime constructs
1

for the years 2006 and 2007. Point-level crime
2
and single-family foreclosure
3
locations were ag -
gregated to census block group and tract geographies to compare results. Several demographic,
economic, and environmental variables were included to form a set of explanatory factors (con-
centrated disadvantage, neighborhood quality, residential stability, and immigration concentration)
known to be associated with neighborhood crime. The spatial proximity of other foreclosures and
the temporal occurrence of crime were also included as controls to account for concurrent events
in nearby places and time that may have an influence on the outcome. A negative binomial regres-
sion count model was used:
∑∑
∑∑
∑
==
==
=
−−
++
++
++=
k
k
ikk
k
k
ikk
k
k
ikk
k
k
ikk
k
k
ikkforeclosureeforeclosurriskatpopcrimetype
CONTROLSxCONCENTRATIONIMMIGRATIONx
INSTABILITYRESIDENTIALxQUALITYNEIGHBORHOODx
DISADVANTAGECONCENTRATEDxxn
00
00
0
][][
][][
][)ln(
ββ
ββ
ββλ

(1)
The central finding from Wilson and Behlendorf (2013) was that the rate of foreclosures had a
positive and significant association with crime increases in 2006 and 2007, but results differed
between geographic units. The full output for the two geographies is shown in exhibits 1 (tracts)
and 2 (block groups), but I focus on the residential instability factor and the spatial lag variable for
the remainder of this analysis.
1
Crimes of (1) violence, (2) property, (3) residential burglary, and (4) minor property damage.
2
Crime data were supplied by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department; followed the Uniform Crime Report, or UCR,
classifications; and were geocoded to the specific street of occurrence.
3
The Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte provided parcel data.
I identified foreclosed properties where the title transfer date indicated bank repossession ending in involuntary vacancy.

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
291Cityscape
Exhibit 1
2006
2007
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Negative Binomial Regr
ession: Crime on Single-Family For
eclosur
es, Census T
racts, 2006 and 2007 (1 of 2)
For
eclosur
e rate
Pr
evious year’
s for
eclosur
e rate per

100 housing units
0.148
(0.116)
0.161
(0.104)
0.294
(0.108)
***
0.006
(0.095)
0.145
(0.116)
0.246
(0.099)
**
0.351
(0.107)
***
0.118
(0.098)
Interaction between neighborhoods with
high disadvantage (+1 sd) and the pr
evious year’
s for
eclosur
e rate
– 0.258
(0.183)
– 0.322
(0.155)
**
– 0.321
(0.172)
*
– 0.207
(0.153)
– 0.218
(0.148)
– 0.274
(0.118)
**
– 0.244
(0.130)
*
– 0.190
(0.120)
Social disorganization Concentrated disadvantage
0.293
(0.136)
**
0.400
(0.121)
***
0.285
(0.130)
**
0.410
(0.115)
***
0.313
(0.120)
***
0.479
(0.104)
***
0.244
(0.110)
**
0.289
(0.106)
***
Residential stability
– 0.137
(0.091)
– 0.306
(0.084)
***
– 0.153
(0.080)
*
– 0.113
(0.073)
– 0.082
(0.095)
– 0.273
(0.079)
***
– 0.080
(0.077)
– 0.074
(0.078)
Per
cent Hispanic
– 0.983
(1.206)
– 0.005
(1.110)
– 1.971
(1.114)
*
– 1.168
(1.025)
– 0.084
(1.228)
0.944
(1.144)
– 1.325
(1.057)
0.297
(1.070)
Per
cent for
eign bor
n
7.659
(9.866)
– 0.298
(8.959)
– 0.544
(9.323)
7.770
(8.098)
9.594
(10.190)
1.506
(8.602)
13.654 (9.383)
8.336
(8.656)
Neighborhood construction and quality Population density
– 0.000
(0.000)
– 0.000
(0.000)
0.000
(0.000)
– 0.000
(0.000)
– 0.000
(0.000)
– 0.000
(0.000)
0.000
(0.000)
– 0.000
(0.000)
Median age of neighborhood
– 0.022
(0.005)
***
– 0.014
(0.005)
***
– 0.016
(0.005)
***
– 0.012
(0.004)
***
– 0.021
(0.005)
***
– 0.013
(0.004)
***
– 0.018
(0.004)
***
– 0.013
(0.004)
***
Per
cent of neighborhood built after 1999
1.977
(0.507)
***
1.936
(0.475)
***
1.418
(0.484)
***
1.724
(0.415)
***
1.660
(0.518)
***
1.772
(0.473)
***
1.500
(0.454)
***
1.131
(0.458)
Per
cent of units coded as good or better
construction
0.543
(0.329)
*
– 0.256
(0.314)
– 0.115
(0.323)
0.397
(0.285)
0.845
(0.343)
**
– 0.000
(0.317)
0.175
(0.326)
0.761
(0.300)
**

292
Wilson
SpAM
Exhibit 1
2006
2007
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Negative Binomial Regr
ession: Crime on Single-Family For
eclosur
es, Census T
racts, 2006 and 2007 (2 of 2)
Other contr
ol variables
Adults-to-childr
en ratio
0.002
(0.002)
– 0.001
(0.002)
– 0.004
(0.003)
0.002
(0.002)
0.002
(0.002)
0.001
(0.002)
– 0.003
(0.003)
0.001
(0.002)
Per
cent of population that ar
e males

ages 14–24
1.402
(1.638)
3.558
(1.563)
***
0.823
(1.600)
– 0.284
(1.414)
1.387
(1.711)
1.153
(1.538)
– 0.350
(1.554)
1.857
(1.510)
Per
cent curr
ently divor
ced
4.718
*
8.982
***
2.848
2.979
5.191
**
8.701
***
2.602
5.198
**
(2.441)
(2.330)
(2.270)
(2.046)
(2.503)
(2.207)
(2.179)
(2.161)
Spatial lag
0.001
0.004
0.003
0.005
*
0.000
0.004
– 0.000
0.004
(0.001)
(0.003)
(0.003)
(0.003)
(0.001)
(0.003)
(0.003)
(0.003)
T
wo-year crime lag
0.002
***
0.010
***
0.008
***
0.013
0.002
***
0.009
***
0.009
***
0.011
***
(0.000)
(0.002)
(0.002)
(0.002)
(0.000)
(0.002)
(0.002)
(0.002)
_cons
37.753
***
19.961
**
25.664
***
18.372
**
35.925
***
19.125
**
29.729
***
18.264
**
(9.354)
(8.983)
(9.286)
(7.950)
(9.611)
(8.897)
(8.651)
(8.501)
/lnalpha
– 0.773
***
– 1.129
***
– 0.998
***
– 1.226
***
– 0.719
***
– 1.182
***
– 1.099
***
– 1.067
***
(0.123)
(0.156)
(0.145)
(0.146)
(0.124)
(0.155)
(0.147)
(0.143)
Number of observations
143
143
143
143
143
143
143
143
Adjusted R
2
0.070
0.140
0.083
0.097
0.069
0.148
0.086
0.088
Log-likelihood
– 917.96
– 594.67
– 662.69
– 665.03
– 926.53
– 584.05
– 657.57
– 686.14
aic
1,869.926
1,223.334
1,359.375
1,364.054
1,887.062
1,202.095
1,349.143
1,406.276
bic
1,920.295
1,273.702
1,409.744
1,414.422
1,937.430
1,252.463
1,399.511
1,456.645
aic = Akaike Information Criterion. bic = Bayesian Information Criterion. sd = standard
deviation.
* p < .10. ** p < .05. *** p < .01. Note: Bold values are the most statistically significant coefficients.

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
293Cityscape
2006
2007
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Exhibit 2 Negative Binomial Regr
ession: Crime on Single-Family For
eclosur
es, Block Gr
oups, 2006 and 2007 (1 of 2)
For
eclosur
e rate
Pr
evious year’
s for
eclosur
e rate per

100 housing units
0.073
(0.057)
0.153
(0.051)
***
0.157
(0.053)
***
0.049
(0.049)
0.156
(0.055)
***
0.255
(0.045)
***
0.259
(0.050)
***
0.165
(0.047)
***
Interaction between neighborhoods with
high disadvantage (+1 sd) and the pr
evious year’
s for
eclosur
e rate
– 0.183
(0.103)
*
– 0.192
(0.069)
***
– 0.160
(0.075)
**
– 0.103
(0.070)
– 0.115
(0.076)
– 0.183
(0.058)
***
– 0.128
(0.068)
*
– 0.133
(0.063)
**
Social disorganization Concentrated disadvantage
0.198
(0.069)
***
0.379
(0.065)
***
0.202
(0.065)
***
0.287
(0.060)
***
0.179
(0.069)
***
0.443
(0.062)
***
0.145
(0.066)
**
0.269
(0.061)
***
Residential stability
0.203
(0.057)
***
0.315
(0.052)
***
0.117
(0.048)
**
0.162
(0.048)
***
0.208
(0.059)
***
0.314
(0.049)
***
0.114
(0.051)
**
0.226
(0.049)
***
Immigration concentration
0.005
(0.053)
0.056
(0.048)
– 0.093
(0.049)
*
0.000
(0.047)
0.047
(0.054)
0.140
(0.045)
***
– 0.070
(0.050)
0.064
(0.047)
Neighborhood construction and quality Population density
– 0.000
(0.000)
*
– 0.000
(0.000)
**
0.000
(0.000)
*
– 0.000
(0.000)
*
– 0.000
(0.000)
***
– 0.000
(0.000)
**
0.000
(0.000)
– 0.000
(0.000)
***
Median age of neighborhood
– 0.026
(0.003)
***
– 0.020
(0.003)
***
– 0.017
(0.003)
***
– 0.014
(0.003)
***
– 0.027
(0.003)
***
– 0.021
(0.003)
***
– 0.017
(0.003)
***
– 0.017
(0.003)
***
Per
cent of neighborhood built after 1999
2.265
(0.326)
***
1.681
(0.298)
***
1.816
(0.303)
***
1.685
(0.279)
***
2.151
(0.334)
***
1.617
(0.290)
***
1.906
(0.310)
***
1.342
(0.285)
***
Per
cent of units coded as good or better
construction
– 0.114
(0.178)
– 0.926
(0.182)
***
– 0.452
(0.176)
**
– 0.413
(0.166)
**
0.035
(0.186)
– 0.605
(0.179)
***
– 0.263
(0.177)
– 0.132
(0.168)

294
Wilson
SpAM
2006
2007
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Pr
operty
Crimes
V
iolent

Crimes
Residential
Burglary
Minor
Pr
operty
Crimes
Exhibit 2 Negative Binomial Regr
ession: Crime on Single-Family For
eclosur
es, Block Gr
oups, 2006 and 2007 (2 of 2)
aic = Akaike Information Criterion. bic = Bayesian Information Criterion. sd = standard
deviation.
* p < .10. ** p < .05. *** p < .01. Note: Bold values are the most statistically significant coefficients.Other contr
ol variables
Adults-to-childr
en ratio
0.001
(0.002)
0.000
(0.002)
– 0.003
(0.003)
0.001
(0.002)
0.003
(0.002)
0.002
(0.002)
– 0.001
(0.003)
0.002
(0.002)
Per
cent of population that ar
e males

ages 14–24
– 0.533
(1.285)
0.968
(1.091)
– 0.480
(1.122)
– 1.112
(1.072)
– 0.876
(1.295)
– 1.815
(1.015)
*
– 2.231
(1.096)
**
– 1.559
(1.023)
Per
cent curr
ently divor
ced
4.345
(1.153)
***
5.647
(1.085)
***
1.567
(1.119)
3.386
(0.995)
***
3.754
(1.176)
***
4.848
(1.024)
***
0.623
(1.087)
3.059
(1.017)
***
Spatial lag
0.001
(0.001)
*
0.015
(0.004)
***
0.009
(0.004)
**
0.011
(0.003)
***
0.001
(0.001)
0.015
(0.003)
***
0.006
(0.004)
*
0.008
(0.003)
**
T
wo-year crime lag
0.004
(0.000)
***
0.020
(0.002)
***
0.016
(0.003)
***
0.018
(0.002)
***
0.004
(0.001)
***
0.018
(0.002)
***
0.016
(0.003)
***
0.018
(0.002)
***
_cons
46.582 (6.329)
***
34.037 (5.806)
***
27.077 (6.087)
***
22.780 (5.419)
***
48.807 (6.276)
***
35.697 (5.489)
***
27.829 (5.931)
***
27.981 (5.475)
***
/lnalpha
– 0.518
(0.077)
***
– 1.022
(0.108)
***
– 0.837
(0.095)
***
– 0.959
(0.096)
***
– 0.475
(0.077)
***
– 1.155
(0.114)
***
– 0.827
(0.096)
***
– 0.892
(0.095)
***
Number of observations
372
372
372
372
372
372
372
372
Adjusted R
2
0.067
0.163
0.080
0.094
0.066
0.174
0.081
0.093
Log-likelihood
– 2,046.04
– 1,196.89
– 1,403.63
– 1,404.95
– 2,062.29
– 1,158.82
– 1,397.64
– 1,435.57
aic
4,126.079
2,425.785
2,839.258
2,841.893
4,156.588
2,349.649
2,827.285
2,903.130
bic
4,192.700
2,488.487
2,901.960
2,904.595
4,219.290
2,412.352
2,889.987
2,965.833

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
295Cityscape
The residential stability coefficients changed dramatically between tracts and block groups. Resi-
dential stability represents the level of social connections between neighborhood residents. Stable
neighborhoods have a constancy of residents who remain in their homes over long periods of time
and they know, trust, like, and communicate with their neighbors. Residential stability degrades
when residents leave and new ones move into a neighborhood—that is, turnover—and social bonds
are broken. Crime can increase if residential turnover is frequent, because social connections are
strained and neighbors do not trust or know each other (Garcia, Taylor, and Lawton, 2007; Shaw
and McKay, 1942). The residential stability factor was constructed as a scale centered on 0 and in -
cludes the percentage of (1) residents who are 5 years of age and older who lived in the same house
5 years earlier, (2) owner-occupied homes, and (3) single-family and multifamily housing units.
The scale was reverse coded to represent instability with positive numbers and stability with nega-
tive numbers.
Exhibit 1 shows that residential instability is significantly associated with all crime constructs in
both 2006 and 2007 for block groups, but only for violence with tracts (exhibit 2). Not only did
the signs change from negative to positive between geographies, but also the coefficients remained
statistically significant with large effects. With tracts, the interpretation is that crime decreased
as residential instability increased, but, with block groups, the converse was true in that crime
increased in less residentially stable neighborhoods; the latter scenario is theoretically expected.
This sign switching between geographies is indicative of local spatial patterns being lost with the
use of larger geographic units—the significance change of the spatial lag coefficient between the
two geographies highlights this point.
The spatial lag variable represents measures of similarity and dissimilarity with nearby geographic
units for a foreclosure contagion effect. The significance level of the spatial lag variable means a
spatial effect is present in the relationship and should be modeled. Ignoring the spatial effect can
bias parameter estimates and significance levels (Anselin et al., 2000), because existence of a spatial
effect is an artifact of the measured relationships. The spatial lag coefficient is significant for block
groups for most crime constructs across both years, but it is not significant for tracts. Tract results
suggest no spatial contagion effect exists for foreclosures in relation to crime. This finding indicates
the inability of census tracts to capture an existing spatial relationship between foreclosures and crime.
Conflicting Results and Simpson’s Paradox
Coefficient sign reversals, especially when they remain statistically significant, can indicate model
misspecification. Sign reversals can also occur when different geographic units are used, however,
because the change alters data distribution patterns. Known as Simpson’s Paradox, the repartitioning
of the underlying data from smaller to larger geographic units can cancel out or reverse patterns
in smaller units. The paradox is a consequence of the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP)
4
in
which statistical results are affected by modifications to the geographic unit’s boundary size and/or
shape. Aggregated data are uniquely partitioned by their geography and, when geographic units are
4
For an indepth technical discussion of MAUP, see Openshaw (1994).

296
Wilson
SpAM
changed, the new boundary sizes and shapes are repartitioned. Exhibit 3 depicts how Simpson’s
Paradox occurs between census block groups and tracts for residential stability and 2006 violent
crime counts for Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
Exhibit 3
Residential Stability and Violent Crime Scatter Plots for Charlotte and Mecklenburg
County, (a) Census Block Groups, (b) Census Tracts
R
2
Linear = 0.070
R
2
Linear = 0.072
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
200
150
100
50
0
– 2.00
– 2.00
– 1.00
– 1.00
0.00
0.00
Residential instability
Residential instability
V
iolent crime in 2006 (count)
V
iolent crime in 2006 (count)
1.00
1.00
2.00
2.00
3.00
3.00– 3.00
(a)
(b)

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
297Cityscape
5
Violent crime and residential instability values both have positive or negative z-scores.
6
Violent crime and residential instability values have conflicting positive and negative z-scores.
Exhibit 3 shows Simpson’s Paradox with the trend lines in the two scatter plots being the inverse of
each other with the data clouds practically being mirror images of each other. Exhibit 3a shows the
block group data pattern and is interpreted as—when residential instability increases, crime also
increases. The opposite pattern occurs for tracts (exhibit 3b) and is interpreted as—when crime
decreases, residential instability increases.
To show Simpson’s Paradox geographically, I converted the violent crime and residential instability
values into z-scores to categorize their relationship as similar
5
and dissimilar.
6
Exhibits 4 (block
groups) and 5 (tracts) exemplify Simpson’s Paradox more visually by displaying the similar and
dissimilar categories. Stark geographic pattern changes occur for the violent crime and residential
instability relationship between the geographic units.
The exhibits show several areas across the county that change from similar levels of violent crime
and residential instability to dissimilar levels when switching from block groups to tracts. For ex-
ample, the Providence and Independence Divisions (patrol divisions of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Department jurisdiction) south of city center, show near complete reversal patterns. The
County divisions
High VC–High RI
Low VC–Low RI
Low VC–High RI
High VC–Low RI
Similar
Dissimilar
Violent crime (VC) and residential
instability (RI) combinations
Exhibit 4
Violent Crime and Residential Instability Combinations at Block Group Geography

298
Wilson
SpAM
Providence Division primarily contained low levels of violent crime with high residential instability
at the block group level, indicating dissimilarity between the two variables. With census tracts, the
violent crime and residential instability relationship changed from similarity to dissimilarity. In the
Independence Division, the opposite was true, in that a similarity existed between high and low
levels of violent crime and residential instability within block groups, but changed to a dissimilar
relationship within tracts.
Exhibit 6 shows the violent crime and residential instability scatter plots for the Independence and
Providence Divisions. The scatter plots show the same overall trends of violence and residential
instability as exhibit 3 shows for the county, but they help explain the pattern changes between
exhibits 4 and 5. For example, 30 of the 43 (69 percent) block groups within the Providence
Division have high residential instability with low violent crime, but 12 of 15 tracts (80 percent)
now have low violence and low residential instability categories. The similarity and dissimilarity
categories were altered as the x and y axes in the scatter plots shifted significantly to contain dif-
ferent observations. Exhibits 4 and 5 also show that category changes significantly alter the trends
across the county.
Simpson’s Paradox prompts a dilemma in deciding which geographic unit to use for further analy-
sis. Theoretical or expected results could guide the selection of geography, but they may not solve
County divisions
High VC–High RI
Low VC–Low RI
Low VC–High RI
High VC–Low RI
Similar
Dissimilar
Violent crime (VC) and residential
instability (RI) combinations
Exhibit 5
Violent Crime and Residential Instability Combinations at Tract Geography

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
299Cityscape
the paradox. In the next section, I demonstrate how to identify which geographic unit is more ap -
propriate for measuring the relationship of foreclosures and crime in Wilson and Behlendorf (2013).
Examining Local Data To Identify the Spatial Extent of
Foreclosures
An important aspect in Wilson and Behlendorf (2013) was the inclusion of the spatial lag (auto-
correlation) measure of foreclosures to test for a contagion effect. The spatial lag coefficient in
Division: Independence
Division: Providence
Residential instability (z-scores) Residential instability (z-scores)
Division: Independence
Division: Providence
Exhibit 6
Violent Crime and Residential Instability Scatter Plots for the Independence and
Providence Divisions of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, (a and b) Census Block
Groups, (c and d) Census Tracts
R
2
Linear = 0.389
Low RI–High VC
Low RI–
High VC
Low RI–High VC
Low RI–High VC
4.00
2.00
3.00
1.50
1.50
2.00
1.00
1.00
2.00
1.00
0.50
0.50
1.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
– 1.00
– 0.50
– 0.50
– 1.00 – 1.00
– 1.00
– 2.00
– 2.00 – 2.000.00
0.00 – 0.50
0.001.00
1.00 0.00
1.002.00
2.00 0.50
2.003.00
3.00 1.00
– 1.00
– 1.00 – 2.00 – 1.00– 1.50
– 1.00
High RI–High VC
High RI–High VC High RI–High VC
High RI–High VC
High RI–Low VC
High RI–Low VC
High RI–Low VC
High RI–Low VC
Low RI–Low VC
Low RI–
Low VC
Low RI–Low VC
Low RI–Low VC
R
2
Linear = 0.140
R
2
Linear = 0.494
R
2
Linear = 0.178
V
iolent crime in 2006 (z-scor
es)
V
iolent crime in 2006 (z-scor
es)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
RI = residential instability. VC = violent crime.
Note: The upper right quadrant is a similarity between high VC and high RI. The lower left quadrant is a similarity between
low VC and low RI. The upper left quadrant is a dissimilarity between low VC and high RI. The lower right quadrant is a
dissimilarity between high VC and low RI.

300
Wilson
SpAM
exhibits 1 and 2 was significant for block groups, but not for tracts. If a spatial contagion effect
exits amongst foreclosures, then it is important to identify which geographic unit would best
capture the effect, because crimes related to those properties would occur at a similar scale. I used
several spatial analysis techniques to measure foreclosure concentration and to determine which
geographic unit would be better to model with crime-related factors.
I first conducted a nearest neighbor analysis on foreclosed parcels from 2003 to 2008
7
to obtain
the average distance between the properties. The nearest neighbor index was 0.3835 (z = -136.92),
which indicates a strong clustering pattern. The average distance between foreclosed properties is
264.3 feet, with a standard distance of 374.8 feet. These two results indicate that foreclosures were
very close to each other and often on the same or adjacent streets.
Next, to provide a measure of the contagion effect, I conducted a near repeat analysis
8
on fore-
closures to identify how far and fast foreclosures were spreading (see exhibit 7). The near repeat
0 to 30
Days
31 to 60
Days
61 to 90
Days
91 to 120
Days
121 to 150
Days
151 to 180
Days
More Than
180 Days
Observed over mean expected frequencies table
Same location 13.69 0.88 0.96 0.83 0.77 0.74 0.56
1 to 660 feet 1.54 1.22 1.29 1.15 1.13 1.16 0.95
661 to 1,320 feet 1.31 1.12 1.12 1.08 1.07 1.08 0.97
1,321 to 1,980 feet 1.04 1.05 1.02 1.05 1.04 1.01 0.99
1,981 to 2,640 feet 0.98 1.00 0.98 1.04 0.98 1.00 1.00
2,641 to 3,300 feet 1.02 1.03 1.00 1.06 1.01 1.05 0.99
3,301 to 3,960 feet 1.00 1.04 1.02 1.01 1.10 1.05 0.99
3,961 to 4,620 feet 1.01 1.03 1.02 1.03 1.02 1.05 0.99
4,621 to 5,280 feet 1.02 1.02 1.01 1.04 1.02 1.02 1.00
More than 5,280 feet 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Statistical significance table
Same location 0.05 0.95 0.85 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
1 to 660 feet 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 1.00
661 to 1,320 feet 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 1.00
1,321 to 1,980 feet 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.25 1.00
1,981 to 2,640 feet 0.85 0.60 0.85 0.05 0.90 0.55 0.30
2,641 to 3,300 feet 0.05 0.05 0.45 0.05 0.30 0.05 1.00
3,301 to 3,960 feet 0.45 0.05 0.10 0.45 0.05 0.05 1.00
3,961 to 4,620 feet 0.20 0.05 0.15 0.05 0.05 0.05 1.00
4,621 to 5,280 feet 0.25 0.05 0.20 0.05 0.15 0.20 1.00
More than 5,280 feet 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.05
Exhibit 7
Observed Over Mean Expected Values for Near Repeat Foreclosures
7
I used date ranges beyond our focus years to ensure capture of the long-term distribution patterns and reduce the
likelihood of any anomalous cluster patterns that might have occurred at the peak of the housing crisis.
8
The concept of near repeats extends to housing research because several documented problems—such as voucher reloca-
tions, property-code violations, price shocks, or foreclosures—have been shown to have patterns of spatial and temporal
proximity. The theoretical underpinnings of near repeat research in criminology are geographic in nature, rooted in the first
law of geography (Miller, 2004) that everything is related, but closer things are more related because they share common
characteristics. I used the near repeat calculator, which can be found at http://www.temple.edu/cj/misc/nr/.
Note: Bold values are statistically significant at the p ≤ .01 level.

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
301Cityscape
concept posits that events geographically concentrate by spreading from one location to another in
a systematic manner. The near repeat analysis shows that properties within short distance intervals—
up to 1,320 feet (0.25 miles)—are likely to go into foreclosure within 90 days. These results sup-
port the nearest neighbor analysis results in that foreclosures are occurring at the street block level.
Finally, I conducted a kernel density estimation (KDE) analysis to visualize the foreclosure cluster
patterns across Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
9
I overlaid the block group boundaries with
the KDE output surface to examine how well foreclosure clusters aligned with the geographic
units. Exhibit 8 shows foreclosed properties are highly concentrated within and across the block
groups and that even units as small as block groups can still be too large and mask or dissect true
local patterns. Nevertheless, the block groups generally capture the spatial extents of foreclosure
concentration better than tracts.
The spatial analysis results show foreclosures to be highly concentrated at the micro scale and a
contagion effect is more accurately measured with the block group geography.
9
I used parameters from a distance analysis that revealed that 8 miles is the threshold at which clustering of foreclosures
dissipated. I used a negative exponential function to model the distribution, because construction patterns often have
houses that are tightly grouped within small neighborhoods. I used the geometric interval classification scheme to
thematically map the density patterns to reveal the core areas of the clusters.
Exhibit 8
Single-Family Foreclosure Relative Densities, 2003 to 2008 (geometrical interval
classification)
County divisions
Block groups
0.5156–9.1937
9.1938–163.5176
163.5177–2,907.8264
Single-family
foreclosures (2003–08),
relative densities
(per square mile)

302
Wilson
SpAM
Analytical and Policy Considerations
The examples and results in this article demonstrate the impact Simpson’s Paradox has on analysis.
My analysis revealed that using a geographic unit larger than a block group in Wilson and
Behlendorf (2013) would have compromised the analysis. My findings substantiate the concerns
of several authors from the cited research who acknowledged that their results could change using
smaller geographic units. Baumer, Wolff, and Arnio (2012), for example, thought that results from
using large geographic units were speculative about local conditions and suggested more detailed
analyses be conducted within cities. In another example, Kirk and Hyra (2012) recognized that
increased crime from foreclosures might exhibit stronger relationships in select neighborhoods
because of localized effects. Simpson’s Paradox can be mitigated through a number of methods to
meet these concerns, such as data normalization, transformation (Wilson, 2011), or optimization
(Mu and Wang, 2008), as long as the data are reliable (Sperling, 2012). When these methods can-
not be employed, however, identifying the geography that captures an existing spatial effect is the
best approach.
The policy consequences of Simpson’s Paradox are equally as important. Urban policy often targets
places, and as such, the spatial extent of those policies should match the geographic coverage area
of the problem to be effective in mitigation. Using the wrong geographic unit could lead to policies
that do not fully address the problem. In Wilson and Behlendorf (2013) the use of census tracts
would have led to a conclusion of no spatial contagion between foreclosures and that any crime
associated with those properties also did not spread into adjacent neighborhoods. The tract model
results, then, might have prompted the formulation of ineffective, or less than optimal, policy in
containing the spread of foreclosures and any associated crime.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Brent Mast and Jon Sperling from the Office of Policy Development and
Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for providing valuable
comments toward improving this article. The author also thanks Brandon Behlendorf from the
University of Maryland for his work on the original foreclosure and crime working paper.
Author
Ron Wilson is a social science analyst in the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development and an adjunct faculty member of the Geographic
Information Systems program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
References
Anselin, Luc, Jacqueline Cohen, David Cook, Wilpen Gorr, and George Tita. 2000. “Spatial Analy-
ses of Crime.” In Criminal Justice 2000, vol. 4, Measurement and Analysis of Crime and Justice, edited
by David Duffee. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice: 213–262.

Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences:
An Example of Simpson’s Paradox
303Cityscape
Arnio, Ashley N., and Eric P. Baumer. 2012. “Demography, Foreclosure, and Crime: Assessing Spa-
tial Heterogeneity in Contemporary Models of Neighborhood Crime Rates,” Demographic Research
26 (18): 449–488.
Arnio, Ashley N., Eric P. Baumer, and Kevin T. Wolff. 2012. “The Contemporary Foreclosure Crisis
and U.S. Crime Rates,” Social Science Research 41 (6): 1598–1614.
Baumer, Eric P., Kevin T. Wolff, and Ashley N. Arnio. 2012. “A Multicity Neighborhood Analysis of
Foreclosure and Crime,” Social Science Quarterly 93 (3): 577–601.
Coulton, Claudia J., Jill Korbin, Tsui Chan, and Marilyn Su. 2001. “Mapping Residents’ Perceptions
of Neighborhood Boundaries: A Methodological Note,” American Journal of Community Psychology
29 (2): 371–383.
Cui, Lin. 2010. Foreclosure, Vacancy and Crime. Working paper. Available at http://papers.ssrn.
com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1773706 (accessed May 1, 2013).
Ellen, I.G., J. Lacoe, and C.A. Sharygin. 2011. Do Foreclosures Cause Crime? Unpublished manu-
script. New York University.
Garcia, Ruth M., Ralph B. Taylor, and Brian A. Lawton. 2007. “The Impacts of Violent Crime and
Neighborhood Structure on Trusting Your Neighbors,” Justice Quarterly 24 (4): 679–704.
Goodstein, Ryan M., and Yan Y. Lee. 2010. Do Foreclosures Increase Crime? Working paper. Avail-
able at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1670842 (accessed May 1, 2013).
Hipp, John R. 2007. “Block, Tract, and Levels of Aggregation: Neighborhood Structure and Crime
and Disorder As a Case in Point,” American Sociological Review 72 (5): 659–680.
Immergluck, Daniel, and Geoff Smith. 2006. “The Impact of Single-Family Mortgage Foreclosures
on Neighborhood Crime,” Housing Studies 21: 851–866.
Jones, Roderick W., and William A. Pridemore. 2012. “The Foreclosure Crisis and Crime: Is
Housing-Mortgage Stress Associated With Violent and Property Crime in U.S. Metropolitan Areas?”
Social Science Quarterly 93 (3): 671–691.
Katz, Charles M., Danielle Wallace, and E.C. Hedberg. 2011. “A Longitudinal Assessment of the
Impact of Foreclosure on Neighborhood Crime,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. DOI:
10.1177/0022427811431155.
Kirk, David S., and Derek S. Hyra. 2012. “Home Foreclosures and Community Crime: Causal or
Spurious Association,” Social Science Quarterly 93 (3): 648–670.
Macintyre, Sally, Anne Ellaway, and Steven Cummins. 2002. “Place Effects on Health: How Can We
Conceptualise, Operationalise and Measure Them?” Social Science & Medicine 55: 125–139.
Miller, Henry. 2004. “Tobler’s First Law and Spatial Analysis,” Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 94: 284–289.
Mu, Lan, and Fahui Wang. 2008. “A Scale-Space Clustering Method: Mitigating the Effect of Scale in
the Analysis of Zone-Based Data,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 98 (1): 85–101.

304
Wilson
SpAM
Openshaw, Stan. 1994. The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem. London, United Kingdom: Geo Books.
Also available at http://qmrg.org.uk/files/2008/11/38-maup-openshaw.pdf.
Rengert, George F., and Brian Lockwood. 2009. “Geographical Units of Analysis and the Analysis
of Crime.” In Putting Crime in Its Place: Units of Analysis in Geographic Criminology, edited by David
Weisburd, Wim Bernasco, and Gerben J.N. Bruinsma. New York: Springer-Verlag: 109–122.
Shaw, Clifford, and Henry D. McKay. 1942. Juvenile Delinquency in Urban Areas. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
Sperling, Jon. 2012. “The Tyranny of Census Geography: Small-Area Data and Neighborhood
Statistics,” Cityscape 14 (2): 219–224.
Stucky, Thomas D., John R. Ottensmann, and Seth B. Payton. 2012. “The Effect of Foreclosures on
Crime in Indianapolis,” Social Science Quarterly 93 (3): 602–624.
Taylor, Ralph B. 2012. “Defining Neighborhood in Space and Time,” Cityscape 14 (2): 225–230.
Wallace, Danielle, E.C. Hedberg, and Charles M. Katz. 2012. “The Impact of Foreclosures on
Neighborhood Disorder Before and During the Housing Crisis: Testing the Spiral of Decay,” Social
Science Quarterly 93 (3): 625–647.
Wilson, Ronald E. 2011. “Visualizing Racial Segregation Differently: Exploring the Changing Patterns
From the Effect of Underlying Geographic Distributions,” Cityscape 13 (2): 163–174.
Wilson, Ronald E., and Brandon P. Behlendorf. 2013. The Neighborhood Context of Foreclosures
and Crime. Working paper. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Wilson, Ronald E., and Derek J. Paulsen. 2008. “Foreclosures and Crime: A Geographic Perspective,”
Geography & Public Safety 1 (3): 1–2.

305Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Calls for Papers
Form Follows Families: The Evolution of U.S. Affordable
Hous ing Design and Construction
(Summer 2014 issue of Cityscape)
The design, construction, and physical maintenance of U.S. low-income housing—both assisted
and market-rate inventories—have undergone both remarkable innovation and astounding decay
during the past century. If well designed, constructed, and maintained, affordable housing is a vital
economic and social asset. If not, it is a symbol of modern urban blight, a contributor to precarious
living situations, and a symptom of bureaucratic inefficiency and market disregard. The new and
existing housing stock occupied by low-income Americans are mirrors of our policy and our markets.
Past historical surveys of America housing have shed light on how the bricks and mortar of our
nation’s housing are inscribed with social, economic, and political meaning. This symposium seeks
submissions that broaden this field by applying historical or social-science analysis to the form,
materials, means, and methods of low-income housing. In this symposium we will be equally inter -
ested in both the market-rate housing stock occupied by low-income households and the assisted
housing stock. The topics of interest are wide and include, but are not limited to, (1) gender, race,
or physical mobility and housing design; (2) municipal “incivilities” ordinances and building codes;
(3) measures of inadequate or distressed housing; (4) vernacular design and occupant preferences;
and (5) homebuyer and occupant maintenance and repair behaviors. Submit proposals via cityscape@
hud.gov; full drafts are expected by November 30, 2013.
Inclusion and Exclusion in American Neighborhoods
(Fall 2014 issue of Cityscape)
The articles in this symposium may be either theoretical or empirical, and they may use either qual -
itative or quantitative methods. Among the topics of interest are (1) ethnographic examinations of
mixed-race and mixed-income communities, particularly focusing on how different strategies and
contexts facilitate racial and economic integration; (2) analyses of local government policies that
advance or hinder the development of mixed-race and mixed-income communities; and (3) analyses
of how specific programs (either mobility programs or place-based investment programs) advance
the development of mixed-race and mixed-income communities. If interested in submitting an
article or serving as a peer reviewer, contact Paul Joice (paul.a.joice@hud.gov) or Meena Bavan
(meena.s.bavan@hud.gov) by October 1, 2013. Individuals invited to submit articles must provide
a full draft by February 1, 2014.

306 Mixed Messages on Mixed IncomesCalls for Papers

307Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research • Volume 15, Number 2 • 2013 Cityscape 83
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research
Pam Blumenthal
Thomas Boehm
Art Carden
Jennifer Comey
Anthony Grubesic
John Haltiwanger
Christopher Herbert
Lori Hughes
Julia Koschinsky
Jeremy Mennis
Mai Thi Nguyen
Padma Raman
Jordan Rappaport
Gregory Squires
William Tate
Richard Tewksbury
David Varady
Margaret Walls
Ron Wilson
Fang Yang
Referees 2012–13
The Office of Policy Development and Research gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of the following referees and their efforts toward making Cityscape worth reading.

Cityscape
Office of Policy Development and Research
U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development
Contents
Symposium
Mixed Messages on Mixed Incomes
Guest Editors: James C. Fraser, Deirdre Oakley, and Diane K. Levy
Guest Editors’ Introduction: Policy Assumptions and Lived Realities of Mixed-Income Housing
on Both Sides of the Atlantic ................................................................................................1
Mixed-Income Living: Anticipated and Realized Benefits for Low-Income Households
by Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen ........................................................15
Ethnically Diverse HOPE VI Redevelopments: A Community Case Study From the Pacific
Northwest by JoDee Keller, Janice Laakso, Christine Stevens, and Cathy Tashiro ......................29
Mixed-Tenure Orthodoxy: Practitioner Reflections on Policy Effects by Ade Kearns,
Martin McKee, Elena Sautkina, George Weeks, and Lyndal Bond ..........................................47
Commentaries
On Spatial Solutions to Social Problems by James DeFilippis..........................................69
Mixing Policies: Expectations and Achievements by Hilary Silver ....................................73
Making Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Work for Low-Income Households
by James C. Fraser, Robert J. Chaskin, and Joshua Theodore Bazuin ......................................83
Lessons Learned From the Largest Tenure-Mix Operation in the World: Right to Buy in the
United Kingdom by Reinout Kleinhans and Maarten van Ham .............................................101
Commentaries
Housing Policy Possibilities in the Prison of Property Relations: A Commentary
by Katherine Hankins ..............................................................................................119
Mixed-Income Housing: Where Have We Been and Where Do We Go From Here?
by Derek Hyra .......................................................................................................123
Examining Mobility Outcomes in the Housing Choice Voucher Program: Neighborhood
Poverty, Employment, and Public School Quality by Victoria Basolo .....................................135
Mobility Decisions of Very Low-Income Households by Kimberly Skobba and
Edward G. Goetz ..........................................................................................................155
“It was really hard. ... It was alright. ... It was easy.” Public Housing Relocation Experiences
and Destination Satisfaction in Atlanta by Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, and Lesley Reid .............173
Commentaries
Market-Driven Public Housing Reforms: Inadequacy for Poverty Alleviation by Amy T. Khare . 193
False Assumptions About Poverty Dispersal Policies by Rachel Garshick Kleit .................205
Acknowledging the Structural Features of Choice by Sudhir Venkatesh ..........................211
Cityscape Mixed-Income Symposium Summary and Response: Implications for Antipoverty
Policy by Mark L. Joseph .................................................................................................215
Point of Contention: Homeownership and Child Well-Being
Do Kids of Homeowners Do Better Than Kids of Renters? by Richard K. Green ......................223
The Relationship of Homeownership, House Prices, and Child Well-Being by Donald Haurin ...227
The Evidence Does Not Show That Homeownership Benefits Children by David R. Barker .......231
Looking Back To Move Forward in Homeownership Research by Sandra J. Newman and
C. Scott Holupka ............................................................................................................235
Departments
Policy Briefs The Federal Housing Administration and Long-Term Affordable
Homeownership Programs by Edwin Stromberg and Brian Stromberg...................................247
Data Shop New Data on Local Vacant Property Registration Ordinances
by Yun Sang Lee, Patrick Terranova, and Dan Immergluck ...................................................259
Graphic Detail Visualizing Same-Sex Couple Household Data With Linked Micromaps
by Brent D. Mast ............................................................................................................267
Impact Refinancing Hospital Loans by Alastair McFarlane ..................................................273
Industrial Revolution Smart-Grid Technologies in Housing by M.G. Matt Syal and
Kweku Ofei-Amoh ..........................................................................................................283
SpAM Changing Geographic Units and the Analytical Consequences: An Example of
Simpson’s Paradox by Ron Wilson ...................................................................................289
Calls for Papers ....................................................................................