Navigating Neighborhoods: How Social Networks and Space Shape the Decisions and Experiences of Families in Housing Mobility Programs

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the ways that race, class, and gender intersect in specific spatial contexts to shape access to opportunity and influence families' neighborhood decisions and experiences. I add to existing research by examining the initial processes of adjusting to new neighborhoods, focusing especially on the components of neighborhood transitions that are significant for low-income women and their children. I use in-depth qualitative interview data that was collected by Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Research between 2002 and 2005 with a randomly chosen sample of adults and youth in 91 families who participated in the Gautreaux Two housing mobility program in Chicago. This analysis assesses the various factors that influenced the range of program outcomes in order to understand the social processes involved. The results of this analysis show that respondents had complicated perspectives about moving out of public housing. Most respondents were eager to move out of their baseline neighborhoods, especially for the sake of their children. However, many also cited things they missed about the neighborhood once they moved. Many faced severe obstacles in locating an eligible unit. Some of these obstacles related to the poor implementation of the Gautreaux Two program, as well as to the tight rental market in Chicago at the time. After moving through the program, many families experienced hassles with landlords, substandard unit quality, distance from kin and support networks, and difficulty in creating new social ties in placement neighborhoods resulting in social isolation and transportation and financial difficulties. Other respondents had supportive relationships with landlords, good quality units, were able to maintain ties with kin, and developed relationships with new neighbors. Participants generally valued the racial diversity of their Gautreaux neighborhoods, and many emphasized the importance of having their children live in racially diverse areas. While some respondents' children faced discrimination in their new neighborhoods and schools, this was not the primary impetus for making subsequent mobility decisions. Policy implications include the need for further pre-move housing counseling for families in mobility programs, as well as continued program assistance to build and maintain strong social networks and connections to resources.