An Improved Living Environment? Neighborhood Outcomes for HOPE VI Relocatees

Brief #3 from the series "Metropolitan Housing and Communities: A Roof Over Their Heads"

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The HOPE VI program targets the nation's most distressed public housing developments, which are almost always part of the worst neighborhoods in any city (see page 7). Not surprisingly, the five HOPE VI Panel Study developments were located in high poverty, racially segregated, and extremely high crime neighborhoods. Four of the five sites had poverty rates over 30 percent and minority concentrations of at least 90 percent. At baseline, more than three-quarters of the survey respondents reported that drug trafficking and crime were serious problems in their neighborhood, and two-thirds reported major problems with shootings and violence in their community (Popkin et al. 2002). In-depth interview respondents raised concerns about the safety of their children; parents told of bullets shot into their apartments or their children caught in the crossfire of gun battles. Parents also described their efforts to shield their children from the visible drug dealing and violence, including keeping their children indoors or taking them to safer neighborhoods to play.

The HOPE VI program aims to improve neighborhood living conditions by revitalizing the site and helping residents move to less distressed neighborhoods. The goals of the HOPE VI program include "improving the living environment for residents of severely distressed public housing" and "providing housing that will avoid or decrease the concentration of very low-income families."

This brief examines the progress toward those goals two years after the start of relocation at the five HOPE VI panel study sites. At the time of the 2003 followup survey, only one site (Shore Park/Shore Terrace in Atlantic City) had built any replacement housing and only one site (Few Gardens in Durham) had relocated all its original residents. Overall, 61 percent of the 736 respondents had relocated by the time of the follow-up survey. The findings for most relocatees are based on the initial neighborhood they moved to after relocation, although some respondents had already moved multiple times. Future research will examine the living environment after the replacement housing is built and some original residents move back to the revitalized site.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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