View Research by Author - Michael Eiseman

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

Children in the HOPE VI Panel Study sample face enormous challenges in becoming successful adults. Despite these challenges, some children do surprisingly well and seem able to cope effectively with the challenges in their environment. This report reviews existing research from a range of social science disciplines to identify key factors related to resiliency and to understand how these factors protect children from negative outcomes. Then, using data from the HOPE VI Panel Study, we explore which of these factors are related to resiliency in our sample of children from HOPE VI developments.

Housing in the Nation's Capital 2005 is the fourth in a series of annual reports sponsored by the Fannie Mae Foundation about housing in the Washington region. It assembles and analyzes the most current data on housing conditions and trends in the District of Columbia and the surrounding suburbs. This year's report focuses on Washington, D.C., examining how the region's sustained prosperity is transforming the District's housing market. More specifically, the report assesses how the city's neighborhoods are changing and explores the consequences for housing opportunity and housing policy across the city.

As Chicago's public housing is demolished to make way for new mixed-income communities, an unknown number of homeless squatters living illegally in vacant public housing units will also lose their housing. As illegal squatters, these residents have neither legal right to relocation services nor the right to return to revitalized developments. This study has two main research objectives. The first is to count the number of homeless people illegally living in Ida B. Wells, a public housing development slated for demolition. We hope that quantifying the extent of the homelessness problem at Wells will assist policymakers in developing an effective response. The second objective is to understand the squatters' current living situations, the factors that contributed to their homelessness, and their service needs.

The HOPE VI program can profoundly affect the lives of children, who are the most vulnerable residents of distressed public housing and particularly likely to suffer from the stress of relocation. However, some children in the HOPE VI Panel Study are doing surprisingly well, apparently succeeding in school and thriving despite the challenges they face. In this brief, we explore the factors that help make these children better able to cope successfully with the obstacles in their environment. We find that children of better-educated parents, children whose parents are highly engaged in their schooling, and socially competent children are more likely to be resilient, while children with depressed parents are less likely to be resilient.

The HOPE VI program can profoundly affect the lives of children, who are the most vulnerable residents of distressed public housing and particularly likely to suffer from the stress of relocation. This brief examines the impact of the program on children and youth. We find that children in the HOPE VI Panel Study have generally benefited from relocation. Relocatees live in better housing in safer neighborhoods, and their children attend schools that are less poor and, the parents believe, higher quality and safer than those in their original developments. Respondents who relocated with vouchers have benefited more than those who moved to other public housing. These findings suggest that families with children should be encouraged to select vouchers and receive ongoing support to help them adjust after relocation.

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