Staying Put: Residential Stability in Opportunity Neighborhoods

• In Event: 20216 - Housing Insecurity Among Low-Income Households

Abstract

Research and housing policy are coalescing around the idea that moving to low-poverty, opportunity-rich neighborhoods can be beneficial for low-income adults and children. However, we know much less about the specific challenges low-income families face in staying in these neighborhoods, where they are often a racial minority or from a different social class background. This paper explores the attitudes and experiences that make low-income households more likely to stay in or move away from an opportunity neighborhood. We draw on in-depth interviews with 53 adults in the Housing Choice Voucher program across Chicago and Cook County, IL. We find that attitudes toward staying in an opportunity neighborhood were shaped by three key dimensions of neighborhood: perceptions of safety, particularly compared to previous experiences, feelings of belonging, predominantly as they relate to neighbors, landlords, and children’s schools, and appraisal of neighborhood amenities. Staying put in an opportunity neighborhood was a challenge for several respondents, some who were forced to move because of circumstances beyond their control, such as landlords selling their building, and others who experienced racist or classist treatment from their neighbors. However, we also find that respondents facing prejudice and microaggressions may stay in their neighborhoods if they either find sustained support from other sources in the community, such as different neighbors, or if they have experienced a large change in school quality for their children because of moving to the opportunity neighborhood. We also explore the kinds of policy interventions and supports that help facilitate stays in these kinds of neighborhoods. Our analysis emphasizes the importance of addressing community issues when supporting housing voucher users in opportunity areas. Mobility counseling can help households facing forced moves, while supportive local organizations can make the community more responsive to discrimination and microaggressions and increase feelings of belonging for low-income residents.

Author

• Peter Rosenblatt, Loyola University-Chicago