Mobilizing social capital: Which informal and formal supports affect employment outcomes for HOPE VI residents?

Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines the relationship between informal social support and formal support services and employment outcomes among residents of a public housing development relocated as part of a HOPE VI project in Charlotte, North Carolina. Informal social supports are resources accessible through family and friends within a neighborhood and formal support services are provided by case managers and service providers. We find that when former public housing residents are enrolled in case management longer and have high satisfaction with their case manager, this leads to better employment outcomes. In addition, having strong bonding ties among public housing neighbors has a negative influence on employment. This study sheds light on how case managers play a role in promoting economic mobility by mitigating social and economic crises and providing bridging capital for poor families.     

NEIGHBORHOOD‐BASED NETWORKS,SOCIAL RESOURCES,AND LABOR MARKET PARTICIPATION IN TWO DUTCH NEIGHBORHOODS

ABSTRACT: Numerous neighborhood effect studies have reported on the negative consequences of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods for various employment outcomes, such as the duration of welfare dependence and level of income. One hypothesis for explaining this relationship is the social isolation hypothesis, which assumes that low‐income residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods are worse off than their counterparts in mixed neighborhoods because they rely on other disadvantaged neighbors to find work. These ideas are addressed by comparing survey data on social resources in the social networks of residents in a low‐income neighborhood and a socioeconomically mixed neighborhood in the Dutch city of The Hague. Findings show that living in a low‐income neighborhood influences labor market participation indirectly by limiting residents' access to job information. However, differences in access to job information cannot be explained by the high degree of neighborhood orientation in the social networks of residents in the low‐income neighborhood.     

Patterns of Section 8 Relocation in the Hope VI Program

Abstract: In HUD's HOPE VI program, deteriorated structures housing some of the poorest families in our society are being demolished and replaced by low‐rise, mixed‐income developments. Some of the most serious concerns about the program relate to how it is handling the relocation of original residents. This article is the first to look at the outcomes nationally. It uses data from a HUD information system, showing the spatial pattern of Section 8 recipients relocated from 73 HOPE VI developments in 48 cities through May 2000. The research finds that the majority of relocatees do move to neighborhoods that have lower poverty rates than those they left behind, although the impacts in reducing racial concentration have not been dramatic. Most relocatees tend to be spread across many different neighborhoods rather than being clustered in just a few, but significant clustering was found in a few neighborhoods in most cities.     

THE LOCATION CHOICES OF PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS DISPLACED BY REDEVELOPMENT: MARKET CONSTRAINTS,PERSONAL PREFERENCES,OR SOCIAL INFORMATION?

ABSTRACT: Since the early 1990s, federal housing policy in the U.S. has become increasingly concerned with the confluence of the neighborhood quality and location of assisted housing residents, and the HOPE VI program is one within this family of programs. Yet a lack of dispersal has characterized HOPE VI and other efforts to relocate public housing residents. Using one HOPE VI site in Seattle, Washington, as a case study, this article fits a conditional multinomial logit model to examine how ethnically diverse relocatees make relocation decisions. The postrelocation neighborhood's minority composition, poverty concentration, and distance from the original public housing site interact with market characteristics, personal preferences, individual characteristics, language proficiency and information based in social networks to influence eventual location outcomes. Results suggest that personal preferences and information available through close social relationships may play an important role in determining location outcomes, and that some social network contacts may enable moves to neighborhoods of lower poverty. Once these factors are taken into account, the housing market conditions do not determine location decisions of relocatees. Implications for HOPE VI and other similar relocation programs are discussed.     

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS: HOMEOWNERSHIP AND SOCIAL CAPITAL AMONG LOW‐ TO MODERATE‐INCOME FAMILIES

ABSTRACT: This research explores whether homeownership leads to increased individual social capital among low‐ to moderate‐income families. Social capital refers to social resources a person can access through contacts with others in his or her social networks. We theorize that homeownership can motivate interactions with others in one's neighborhood and therefore build social capital. Using a sample of low‐ and moderate‐income homeowners and a matched sample of renters, we collect data on overall social resources and neighborhood‐specific social resources. We find that homeowners have more total social capital resources and more neighborhood social capital resources than renters. Neighborhood group involvement has an indirect effect on social capital, but explains only a small amount of the influence of homeownership. These findings hold when controlling for household‐level and neighborhood‐level sociodemographic variables, as well as when using statistical models that account for endogeneity. Based on this evidence, we conclude that homeownership gives people access to social capital via increased social ties to others. We discuss the implications of this finding for housing policy and suggest new directions for research on social capital.     

CHANGES IN RELIGIOUS ECOLOGY AND SOCIOECONOMIC CORRELATES FOR NEIGHBORHOODS IN A METROPOLITAN REGION

Economic and social forces have altered the landscape for religious institutions in many postindustrial cities, with potentially serious implications for communities that ostensibly stand to benefit from their presence. In recent decades, changes in neighborhood racial composition and out‐migration to distant suburbs have divested many urban communities of once‐vibrant social institutions, among them places of worship. This article undertakes an empirical approach to examine the socioeconomic correlates of church closures in neighborhoods in a Midwestern U.S. metropolitan area. Utilizing an index of nine measures of social and economic viability, the study found that the type of congregational closure is significantly related to viability outcomes. In particular, the closure of geographically based congregations and those characterized by bridging social capital were significantly related to declines in neighborhood viability. Theoretical concepts from religious ecology, place attachment, and social capital/civic engagement structure the analysis.     

Information sharing and human capital efficiency in poor neighborhoods: some graph theoretic applications

This paper develops an analysis of human capital development that explores the relationships between information sharing and human capital efficiency in poor neighborhoods. In deriving the results, a relative connectivity (gamma) index, borrowed from the geography literature, is integrated into a model of neighborhood human capital growth. It is argued in this paper that increases in the sharing efficiency of economic information among individuals in a given neighborhood may have positive impacts on neighborhood human capital efficiency rates. These positive impacts on neighborhood human capital efficiency may likewise help to reduce the poverty rate in that neighborhood. The results established in this paper indicate that not only is the sharing of economic information in urban neighborhoods important for neighborhood human capital development but also that neighborhood income sharing, the sharing of neighborhood social capital, and the diversity of neighborhood social capital may all have a beneficial influence on both the human capital efficiency rate and the rates of neighborhood poverty.     

DESIGNING HOPE: RATIONALES OF MIXED‐INCOME HOUSING POLICY

Rationales used to legitimize forced dispersal and mixed‐income housing policies are socially constructed based on assumptions about concentrated poverty. This study evaluates qualitative data on public housing residents who were in the process of being dispersed as part of a HOPE VI program in order to examine their thoughts about their original home and neighborhood. Residents’ thoughts about their neighborhood are compared to policy rationales. Results indicate that current policy rationales are mostly in line with the goals and motivation of the city but are largely incongruent with the perceptions residents have of their pre‐relocation home and neighborhood. The article concludes with policy recommendations for increasing and incorporating residents’ views into policy design.     

THE EFFECTS OF INFORMAL NEIGHBORHOOD BONDING SOCIAL CAPITAL AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT ON HOMEOWNERSHIP FOR FAMILIES LIVING IN POVERTY

ABSTRACT: The concept of social capital has been embedded ubiquitously into the strategies and goals of community‐based development programs for families living in low‐income neighborhoods; yet, scholars continue to debate social capital's empirical support. The present study defines a specific type of social capital—informal neighborhood bonding social capital—and tests its relationship with homeownership while controlling for effects of neighborhood context. Findings reveal informal neighborhood bonding social capital is associated with homeownership above and beyond the effects of neighborhood context. Findings are discussed in relation to future research and the implications for community‐based practitioners working with families in low‐income neighborhoods.     

OUT OF THE PROJECTS,STILL IN THE HOOD: THE SPATIAL CONSTRAINTS ON PUBLIC‐HOUSING RESIDENTS' RELOCATION IN CHICAGO

ABSTRACT: Public housing, usually located in predominantly poor, minority neighborhoods, has long been associated with concentrated poverty and spatially constraining opportunities for upward mobility. The federal government created HOPE VI in 1992 to transform the physical and social shape of public housing, demolishing existing projects and replacing them with mixed‐income developments. To accomplish this public‐housing residents are relocated with housing voucher subsidies to the private market and only a small portion will be able to return to the new mixed income developments. To what extent do these voucher subsidies simply reinforce a stratified housing market by limiting the types of neighborhoods available to former public‐housing residents? Using spatial analytic techniques, this study examines the spatial patterns and neighborhood conditions of voucher housing and how these patterns link to public‐housing relocatees’ destinations. Findings indicate that voucher housing tends to be clustered in poor African‐American neighborhoods where the majority of relocated public‐housing residents settle. Thus, there appear to be spatial constraints on relocatees’ residential options.     

WHAT'S THE 'HOOD GOT TO DO WITH IT? PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS ABOUT HOW NEIGHBORHOOD MECHANISMS AFFECT THEIR CHILDREN

ABSTRACT: During the past decade, a rapidly expanding body of empirical research has emerged that statistically links disadvantaged neighborhood environments with social and economic outcomes of low‐income, minority children. Nonetheless, the mechanisms by which neighborhoods putatively affect children remain poorly understood. This article examines the perceptions of low‐income parents regarding how their neighborhood might affect their children. We examine quantitative and qualitative data gathered from phone interviews with 246 parents who live in subsidized housing scattered across a wide variety of neighborhoods in Denver, Colorado. We supplement this information with data obtained through a series of focus group interviews with a subset of these parents. Our findings indicate that low‐income parents perceive the following primary neighborhood mechanisms: (1) the degree (or lack) of social norms and collective efficacy (24%); (2) influence of children's peers (12%); (3) exposure to crime and violence (11%); and (4) the presence and quality of institutional resources (3%). Approximately one‐third of all parents reported that their neighborhood had no impact at all on their children, citing that their children were either “too young” to be affected by these mechanisms or that parents had sufficient resources to buffer any deleterious effects of the neighborhood. Parents residing in high‐poverty neighborhoods were much more likely to perceive a neighborhood effect, however. Binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the extent to which an array of demographic characteristics and neighborhood type correlated with parents' perceptions. Latino parents were significantly less likely than other low‐income parents to report a neighborhood impact mechanism. Relative to those who reported no particular neighborhood impact mechanism, those who identified: (1) safety issues were more likely to have a spouse or parent present, and have low self‐esteem; (2) peer influences were more likely to have higher levels of education and live in a high‐poverty but low‐crime area.     

Geographies of whiteness and wealth: White,middle class discourses on segregation and social mix in Flanders,Belgium

While policy makers in different parts of the world are worried about the supposedly negative consequences of spatial concentrations of ethnic minorities and/or disadvantaged people, researchers continue the debate about the desirability and feasibility of social mix. In this article, we add to this literature by focusing on the often neglected, but crucial practices and discourses of the privileged in urban and suburban neighborhoods. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with 74 white, middle class residents of eight different neighborhoods of the Ghent urban region in Belgium, we demonstrate that few middle class whites actually want to live in a mixed neighborhood. We also make it clear that those living in diversity do not necessarily take up the roles they are expected to take up by the advocates of social mix policies. Drawing on these findings, we propose to broaden the research agenda of studies on segregation and social mix.     

LIMITED EXPOSURE: CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES AND NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS IN THE GAUTREAUX TWO HOUSING MOBILITY PROGRAM

ABSTRACT: Housing mobility programs intend to improve the well‐being of low‐income families by changing the neighborhood environment in which they live, and thereby creating access to a new set of opportunities and resources. Using data collected in a study of the Gautreaux Two (G2) Housing Mobility program, which offered housing vouchers to public housing residents in Chicago to move to lower‐poverty and less segregated “opportunity” neighborhoods, this article explores families’ access to programs and services for their children in the neighborhoods where they move. The analysis is based on a sample of 46 families who moved through the G2 program. Qualitative in‐depth interviews were conducted with mothers in four waves, which started when the family still lived in public housing. The results show that almost three‐quarters of the families utilized activities for their children in the baseline neighborhoods, but mothers also expressed concerns about the safety and lack of program variety available in these disadvantaged neighborhoods. After moving through the G2 program, only one‐third of the children in these families are using activities. The decline in activity participation is especially steep for children in families that move to areas outside of the city. Although few mothers are concerned with safety or the variety of programs available, several report barriers to activities for children in the new neighborhood, including fewer programs for low‐income children, high cost, transportation difficulties, and issues finding daycare or preschool for younger children. Some children continue to use activities in the old neighborhood and some families end up making subsequent moves to nonqualifying neighborhoods. These findings suggest that activity participation is important for many low‐income families, and losing access to these activities upon moving through the G2 program may limit children's exposure to the new neighborhood and contribute to subsequent moves.     

The Effects of Revitalization on Public Housing Residents: A Case Study of the Atlanta Housing Authority

This research uses administrative data to examine the long-term socioeconomic status of households that relocated from public housing projects in Atlanta as a result of mixed-income revitalization. The research spans 7 years, covering the period before relocation and demolition had begun and ending after mixed-income redevelopment was completed. Residents who lived in three public housing projects that were revitalized are compared to a control group of residents who lived in three projects that were not revitalized, showing that mixed-income revitalization greatly accelerated the residential mobility of public housing residents and that households displaced by revitalization did not experience a statistically significant loss of housing assistance. Households that relocated by using vouchers or by moving to mixed-income revitalized communities experienced significant improvements in their socioeconomic status, and they moved to higher quality neighborhoods. Additionally, their long-run socioeconomic status was similar to the status of households who moved from housing projects voluntarily, i.e., not in response to a planned demolition. This is one of few empirical studies of the effects of HOPE VI revitalization on public housing residents, and its conclusions argue against the elimination of funding for HOPE VI as called for in the president's budget for 2006.     

NEIGHBORHOOD HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Neighborhood and homeowners associations represent two forms of neighborhood governance in the United States, and these residential community associations (RCAs) aid in neighborhood development. In this article, I make the case that RCAs address a hierarchy of needs in the development of the neighborhood. I use a mixed methods approach with surveys and elite interviews of neighborhood and homeowners association presidents in Tallahassee, Florida, to understand what issues and activities are important for their neighborhoods and organizations. With this information, I create a neighborhood hierarchy of needs of issues and organizational needs neighborhoods address in their existence and development. Lower order needs of neighborhoods and neighborhood organizations include addressing crime, engaging in community‐building activities, improving aesthetics, and becoming more formally organized. Higher order needs include providing public goods and commons goods, working with local government on planning projects, hiring a professional staff, and enforcing neighborhood rules and regulations. Pursuing these needs leads to the highest order need in the hierarchy—improving property values. I find that homeowners associations operate at higher levels in the hierarchy of needs due to their legally defined structures and responsibilities established at their inception.     

A PLACE FOR AREA‐BASED POLICY? THE SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF LOCAL FIRMS IN DUTCH RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS

ABSTRACT: Although their market scope often exceeds the neighborhood level, for most entrepreneurs of small‐scale firms the neighborhood is the relevant arena for both their professional activities and their personal affairs. Dutch local economic policy aims to stimulate new firm formation and firm survival in (disadvantaged) neighborhoods by conditioning economic, social, and physical aspects of the neighborhood such as economic zoning and clustering, livability, and the quality of the built‐up area. Although substantial differences in firm success exist across neighborhoods, it is not clear whether area‐level factors contribute to these differences, suggesting that area‐level policies are useful, or whether differences are due to either urban effects or to microlevel entrepreneurial and firm composition effects. This article distinguishes neighborhood effects from composition effects on local firm survival and firm growth, thereby also taking into account spatial dependence across neighborhoods. Our results suggest that aspects of the local livability of neighborhoods and of economic agglomeration are significantly related to individual firm survival and firm growth. The models provide proof for spillover effects of livability problems and market potential between adjacent neighborhoods. Neighborhoods and cities are therefore potentially places for area‐based policies, aiming at the survival and growth of local firms.     

Beyond bodegas: affordable groceries through an innovative store format

Low‐income areas often face a “grocery gap” whereby residents lack accessible grocery stores and must spend disproportionate resources to shop outside their neighborhood or purchase food at less desirable stores. Traditional grocery stores will not locate in these neighborhoods for market‐based reasons. An alternative model appears feasible based on a literature review of current grocery industry practices and their theoretical application on a study neighborhood. The alternative store could be a satellite of a larger chain, stock a select product mix, and combine technology and customer service to provide groceries and community development. This model is promising: each part works profitably under market conditions, and planners are beginning to understand the need to work creatively with industry and communities to bring stores to underserved areas.     

NEIGHBORHOOD ATTACHMENT,SOCIAL CAPITAL BUILDING,AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: A CASE STUDY OF LOW‐ AND MODERATE‐INCOME RESIDENTS OF WATERLOO,IOWA

ABSTRACT: This case study examines the importance of neighborhood identity and engagement in place‐based social networks within the neighborhood in fostering and stimulating neighborhood‐based participation in the urban political process. Scholars concerned with civic engagement have argued that there is a strong link between the informal ties known as “social capital” and citizen engagement in the larger community. If this linkage can be shown to exist in the neighborhood setting, then it can provide guidance to both scholars and practitioners in utilizing informal, place‐based networks to empower disadvantaged neighborhoods. Evidence presented in this essay, based on interviews with a representative sample of neighborhood residents in the small industrial city of Waterloo, Iowa, suggests that strong informal networks of social capital exist within neighborhoods, but that persons who are more strongly engaged in these networks are not necessarily more involved in the efforts of formal neighborhood associations. However, individuals who are involved in these formal associations are much more likely to be connected to the local and national political systems through voting and other forms of participation.     

“GOOD” NEIGHBORHOODS IN PORTLAND,OREGON: FOCUS ON BOTH SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS

ABSTRACT: We conduct an empirical investigation of the social environment of “good” neighborhoods in physical form in a model of the “compact city,” Portland, Oregon and discuss the implications for design and evaluation of policies inspired by smart growth and new urbanist movements that focus on the urban form and transportation dimensions of neighborhoods, and of housing assistance policies designed to change the economic mix in neighborhoods. We conceptualize the physical and social dimensions of the “good” neighborhood environment and develop an approach to operationalization that uses publicly available data. Our findings indicate that for the most part, Portland has been successful in creating neighborhoods at several economic scales that feature not only the connectivity, accessibility, mixed land use, and access to public transit that characterize “good” neighborhoods from a physical perspective, but also a “good” social environment indicative of strong ties and collective efficacy. However, there are signs that in the process, Portland may be creating poverty areas that lack connectivity, accessibility, and access to public transit and a mix of destinations.     

Neighborhoods of Affinity

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Planners have traditionally focused on how the physical characteristics of neighborhoods influence people's activity and travel -patterns, overlooking an equally important factor: the social nature of neighborhoods. We focus on one kind of neighborhood characterized by strong social ties: gay and lesbian -neighborhoods of affinity. Gay men living in a neighborhood of affinity—those with a high percentage of coupled gays and lesbians—take shorter work and non-work trips. The mix of local activity sites and social connections results in some gay men conducting a substantial share of their lives within these neighborhoods and nearby. These results are independent of the design or density of the neighborhood. We do not, however, find similar results for lesbians, perhaps because they have less residential mobility.

Takeaway for practice: Gay and lesbian neighborhoods of affinity represent the kinds of supportive communities where local travel is possible for many activities, behavior that planners seek with so many public policies. Planners must explore how the social and physical environments of neighborhoods interact with one another when they focus on the impacts of physical design and infrastructure on community outcomes.

Research support: None.