Wayne State University
Public concerns over the personal and social costs of concentrating low-income households in neighborhoods with high proportions of similarly disadvantaged households has prompted several types of programmatic responses in the U.S. over the last quarter-century. These programs have included: (1) mobility counseling for recipients of tenant-based rental vouchers (such as the Gautreaux public housing desegregation case and Moving To Opportunity demonstration); (2) scattered-site assisted housing (including public housing and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit developments); (3) mixed-income redevelopment of former public housing estates (HOPE VI); (4) inclusionary zoning requirements for new, private housing developments; and (5) gentrification "circuit-breakers" that provide sustained housing affordability in revitalizing neighborhoods. This paper will describe these various programmatic responses and the extent to which they have been employed. It will synthesize the evidence about the degree to which these programs have succeeded in deconcentrating low-income households and, alternatively, providing them with opportunities to live in mixed-income communities. It will then suggest the degree to which these strategic options may be applicable in other national contexts.
NeighbourhoodEffects.org is a Centre for Housing Research project hosting a collaborative ESRC Seminar Series run by:
Centre for Housing Research, The Observatory, Buchanan Gardens, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9LZ. Email: mail@neighbourhoodeffects.org
