HUD Study Finds "White Flight" Continues to Worsen Residential Segregation

HUD's research publication PD&R Edge has just published the results of two surveys examining recent White Flight migration. “Validating the White Flight Hypothesis: Neighborhood Racial Composition and Out-Migration in Two Longitudinal Surveys” uses data from two longitudinal surveys, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), to compare probabilities of neighborhood out-migration for Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians by neighborhood racial and ethnic composition. “White flight,” or the tendency of White households to move out of neighborhoods as the proportion of racial and ethnic minorities living in the neighborhood increases, is a basic assumption of theories of racial and ethnic residential segregation. Few studies, however, have empirically tested this assumption, with those that have relying almost entirely on PSID. Although PSID is a rich source of longitudinal data on the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of U.S. households, it is based largely on a sample of households originally drawn in the 1960s and their descendants. While research using PSID data has consistently confirmed that White households frequently move out as the number of minorities in a neighborhood increases, these studies examine the post-1960s period of increasing racial and ethnic diversity.

Findings

The researchers found that, for White households, the likelihood of out-migration increases as neighborhood minority shares grow. The trend is most apparent in predominantly White neighborhoods  - that is, when the percentage of minorities (non-White residents) in a neighborhood increases from 0-20%. Because most White households live in neighborhoods with few minorities, this finding suggests that in predominantly White neighborhoods, small increases in the share of minority residents can spur out-migration for some White households. In neighborhoods in which the minority share exceeds 20%, the rate of out-migration was slower. When the researchers examined Whites' responses to neighborhood proportions of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians alone rather than the minority population as a whole, the results were similar: as neighborhood shares of each group increased from 0 to 20%, White households were more likely to out-migrate.

The studies' research also found that out-migration of Black households increases as the neighborhood share of Hispanic residents rises from 0 to 20%. Also, there was increasing out-migration of Hispanic households as Black neighborhood shares increased. Finally, it was found that the mobility behaviors of Asian households are largely indifferent to neighborhood racial composition.

Conclusions

The research highlights the continued important determining role of race in the migration decision making process and the broader spatial foundations that shape inequality and mobility. 

Earlier work appearing in PD&R Edge documented the difficulties HUD’s housing assistance programs have encountered in reducing racial and ethnic segregation. While housing assistance programs have successfully improved neighborhoods and the lives of individuals receiving assistance, these programs have not significantly reduced racial and ethnic segregation. 

This research found that additional barriers to efforts to reduce residential segregation are:

(1) The active resistance of some White households, who may resort to moving to new neighborhoods to avoid living with minorities. 

(2)  The tendency for minorities to  avoid neighborhoods predominantly occupied by other minorities. 

Therefore, "White flight” and minority neighborhood avoidance combined with discrimination in the search for housing, differential access to credit, and restrictive zoning laws are significant obstacles for HUD to achieve the stated goals of the AFFH, namely reduced racial and ethnic residential segregation. 

Read the May 14, 2024 HUD User article.

Bazelon Center Celebrates Critical Civil Rights Protections for People with Disabilities in New HHS Rule

 

The Bazelon Center commends the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for issuing the new Section 504 Final Rule, Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs or Activities.   The rule updates and strengthens the lead regulation implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal law that prohibits disability-based discrimination in federally funded health and human service programs and activities, including in healthcare and child welfare programs. The HHS Section 504 rule incorporates the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. (Lois Curtis) that people with disabilities have a right to live and receive services in their homes and community and to be free from segregation and unnecessary institutionalization. It also explains how this mandate applies in the child welfare system.   “HHS’ new Section 504 rule updates and clarifies federal disability rights regulations that had not been updated since the 1970s,” explained Bazelon Legal Director Megan Schuller. “The new rule is an important step towards realizing the promise of these laws to eradicate disability discrimination in all its forms, including the continued isolation and unnecessary institutionalization of people with mental disabilities.”   Last fall, the Bazelon Center co-authored coalition comments with members of the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) that responded to HHS’ then-proposed Section 504 rule. The comments included key Bazelon Center priorities. Bazelon led coalition efforts to ensure the full integration of people with disabilities in the community and to advance the rights of children and parents with disabilities in the child welfare system. We are pleased to see our recommendations reflected in the rule.   Responsive to feedback from Bazelon and partners, the rule defines “most integrated setting” broadly. This updated definition aligns with longstanding Department of Justice Olmstead guidance, as well as widely accepted Key Principles for Community Integration for People with Disabilities. The rule also recognizes that an entity’s practices, as well as its policies, can result in segregation, and that settings like group homes that are located in the community can still be segregated and discriminatory.   The rule also requires child welfare agencies to place children with disabilities in the most integrated setting and prohibits “the unnecessary or unjustified segregation of children with disabilities, such as default placement in institutional or other congregate care,” which “should never be considered the most appropriate long-term placement for children.” Children with disabilities must be supported to live in the most integrated setting, which “is almost always the family home or a foster care setting.”   In response to our comments, HHS also made explicit that Section 504 applies to family preservation services and reunification efforts and that parenting assessments must be individualized and measure parenting ability, not a parent’s disability. The final rule was officially published today.   Please join us in sharing this critical information, and in ensuring that the promise of Section 504 and the ADA is fully realized.   Read the Bazelon Center’s summary and analysis of key provisions. Read the Final Rule, which will take effect on July 8, 2024. Read the Final Rule Fact Sheet, which summarizes key updates. Learn more about the protections of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.