"Housing Programs and Racial Segregation: The Role of Place-Based and Mobility Programs"
by Peter J. Mateyka, Survey Statistician, Housing and Demographic Analysis Division, PD&R (2023-present).
HUD User has just released a detailed historical analysis on place-based and mobility housing programs regarding the goal of racially desegregating housing.
"Overcoming racial segregation in housing is part of the Fair Housing Act of 1968's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) mandate. Over the past 50 years, the Office of Policy Development and Research's (PD&R's) work has expanded our understanding of the relationships between HUD's housing programs and racial segregation and how HUD can design housing programs that meet the AFFH mandate of overcoming segregation, promoting fair choice, and creating inclusive communities. The research and data on HUD programs and racial segregation that PD&R produces and disseminates highlight the department's successes, failures, and challenges in the pursuit of fair housing for all.
HUD’s housing programs include place-based programs and housing mobility programs, both of which take different approaches to connecting underserved households to quality housing. Place-based programs focus on community development through revitalizing distressed neighborhoods. Mobility programs provide subsidies to underserved households that allow them to move to high-opportunity neighborhoods with better employment and educational opportunities and lower crime rates. HUD’s proposed 2023 revisions to its AFFH rule incorporate both place-based and housing mobility approaches:
Affirmatively furthering fair housing can involve both bringing investments to improve the housing, infrastructure, and community assets in underserved communities as well as enabling families to seek greater opportunity by moving to areas of the community that already enjoy better community infrastructure and community assets.
This article reviews the history of PD&R's work on HUD's place-based and housing mobility initiatives and discusses how this work has enhanced our understanding of the relationship between housing policy and racial segregation and advanced the AFFH mandate's goal of reducing residential segregation.
Mobility programs provide subsidies to underserved households, allowing them to move to opportunity neighborhoods with better employment and educational chances, and lower crime."
The report concludes:
"PD&R’s work over the past 50 years has contributed to a better understanding of the relationship between housing programs and racial segregation, which has, in turn, helped HUD design place-based and housing mobility program designs that better adhere to its AFFH mandate to overcome segregation, promote fair choice, and create inclusive communities, However, declines in neighborhood racial segregation among all U.S. households have slowed in recent decades. Although recent HUD programs often have improved outcomes for neighborhoods and individuals, they have had mixed success at reducing racial segregation in public housing and increasing neighborhood integration for those receiving housing assistance. A promising development is HUD’s recent revisions to its AFFH mandate, which allows HUD to consider the role of race in the initial planning and design of housing programs. One of PD&R’s contributions to AFFH planning is supporting the development of a publicly released data tool that can help localities identify patterns of racial segregation and differences in neighborhood opportunity and incorporate this information into fair housing strategies."
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