View Research by Author - Deborah R. Kaye

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/DeborahRKaye

A substantial body of social science research finds evidence that living in high-poverty and racially isolated neighborhoods can undermine the well-being and life-chances of both children and adults. Clearly, neighborhood environment is not the sole factor influencing people's well-being; individual and family attributes also play critical roles. This paper uses the latest data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to explore variations across types of neighborhood environments in the well-being of families and children. Its takes advantage of the richness of NSAF's data on family work effort, economic security, access to services and supports, and child well-being, in order to shed new light on the relevance of neighborhood environment.

Not enough is known about the prevalence of housing discrimination against persons with disabilities. Only slightly more than half of Americans know that it is illegal for landlords to refuse to make reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities or to permit reasonable modification to a housing unit. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracted with the Urban Institute to advance the state of the art in testing to measure discrimination against persons with disabilities. UI found that persons with the disabilities studied encountered significant levels of adverse treatment when searching for rental housing in the Chicago area--even more than that of African-American or Hispanic renters in the Chicago-area housing market.

This brief examines income and employment findings for working-age adults two years after the start of relocation at the five HOPE VI Panel Study sites. At follow-up in 2003, though the share of employed respondents reporting incomes greater than $15,000 rose, the majority of household incomes remained below the poverty level. Overall employment rates were unchanged since baseline, though there was significant cycling into and out of employment. We found that poor health, the presence of children younger than six years old, lack of jobs nearby, and poor transportation were barriers to employment.

One goal of the HOPE VI program is to address the social and economic needs of the original residents, and this brief urges serious consideration of their health problems. Original residents from public housing developments being revitalized as part of the HOPE VI program have high rates of many chronic health problems, such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and depression. Their rates are significantly higher than those among other poor and minority subgroups nationally. We discuss policy implications that relate to HOPE VI relocation and redevelopment, and suggest realistic expectations for economic improvement among these adults.

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