Housing and urban blacks: A social distance-residential distance view

The relation between the diversity of available housing within the black ghetto and the diversity of demand within the same region is the concern of this study. Specifically, the degree to which the black housing market is able to accommodate the variations in demand by black households is examined. The relation between social and residential distances, which is operationalized by employment of the index of dissimilarity, is used as the means for assessing this degree of housing accommodation. The black population of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is used as a case study, while the white population is included for comparative purposes. Results of the analysis show that the supply and location of housing has failed to provide a housing stock that is diverse enough to accommodate the needs of the city's blacks. Middle class blacks may be effected most by the constrained market, because these house-holds are less able to adjust housing according to income than are lower income groups. As a result of this housing allocation process, the social spatial form of the ghetto may differ substantially from the remainder of the city.