Leveraging a Housing Experiment to Understand Preferences and Social Networks in Low-Income Families' Neighborhood Choices

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 14: Urban Mobility and Migration

Abstract

It is not clear how low-income households balance social ties with other needs and preferences in their housing searches. To explore the role of social networks, we leverage the Creating Moves to Opportunity intervention, where resources given to low-income households receiving housing choice vouchers can expand their residential options. We ask: What are low-income families’ housing preferences when financial constraints are lifted? What is the role of social networks in their housing considerations? Interviews with 161 households show that when financial constraints are lifted, low-income families in the control group prioritize finding anywhere to live, while the treatment group prioritizes neighborhoods, schools and networks. Yet the role of networks in the housing search varies: some focus their move around networks, but fewer than 30% consider their social networks amid their top search preferences. Some families did not have local social networks or they wanted to distance themselves from their networks.

Authors

• Stefanie Ann DeLuca, Johns Hopkins University

• Kaylee T. Matheny, Georgetown University

• Elizabeth Tong