Poster #52 - Decreasing Racial Residential Segregation while Increasing Affordable Housing using Targeted Policy

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

Introduction/Background

Racial residential segregation has been said to be the “linchpin” (Massey 2020) of all social inequality in the United States. It has been found repeatedly that racial residential segregation contributes negatively to health outcomes as a crucial social determinant of health, that racial residential segregation and poverty are correlated, that environmental racism is connected with racial residential segregation, and that school segregation is connected to racial residential segregation. It has also been found that neighborhoods are sites of social inequality because white people police the color line by policing neighborhood boundaries. This policing of neighborhood boundaries has contributed to white flight from central cities, unequal tax policies, disproportionate tax bills in communities of color, higher foreclosure rates in communities of color, food deserts, healthcare deserts, and amenity deserts in communities of color. These things occur alongside lower property tax and millage rates in predominantly white communities, higher property values in predominantly white communities, lower foreclosure rates, and better neighborhood amenities in predominantly white communities, and groups like neighborhood watch acting as a quasi-police force for predominantly white communities.

Taylor (2019) has developed the concept of predatory inclusion, linking unaffordable housing due to guaranteed speculation in predominantly Black communities with racial residential segregation. However, the two literatures of racial residential segregation and affordable housing development do not normally speak to each other. As such, the goal of this project is to connect the literatures together to propose new policy strategies to reduce racial residential segregation while increasing affordable housing development.

Purpose/Research Question

This paper asks two questions: 1) What is the relationship between racial residential segregation and unaffordable housing, and 2) can the same strategies used to decrease racial residential segregation be used to increase affordable housing development? I argue that properly measuring racial residential segregation in communities large and small helps us properly understand the magnitude of the problem. After understanding the proper magnitude of the problem of racial residential segregation, we can begin to implement intentional policies to decrease segregation and increase affordable housing, as the two social problems are intricately linked.

Methods

To properly understand the magnitude of the problem of racial residential segregation in cities large and small, this project will measure racial residential segregation in different cities across Michigan while looking at the housing cost burden in the same cities. Geospatial analysis will be conducted to illustrate the relationship between different strategies to promote affordable housing development and racial residential segregation, to propose new policy strategies moving forward.

Results/Findings

Preliminary findings have shown that targeted interventions to increase affordable housing development can have impacts on the levels of racial residential segregation that communities experience.

Conclusion/Implication

As the affordable housing crisis worsens across the United States, and as consequences of racial residential segregation become more widely understood, it is imperative to create a housing solution that tackles both social problems at the same time. This paper makes contributions to this dual-problem policy solution.

Author

• Deanna Hughes, Western Michigan University
  Presenting Author