The Effects of Revitalization on Public Housing Residents: A Case Study of the Atlanta Housing Authority

摘要

This research uses administrative data to examine the long-term socioeconomic status of households that relocated from public housing projects in Atlanta as a result of mixed-income revitalization. The research spans 7 years, covering the period before relocation and demolition had begun and ending after mixed-income redevelopment was completed. Residents who lived in three public housing projects that were revitalized are compared to a control group of residents who lived in three projects that were not revitalized, showing that mixed-income revitalization greatly accelerated the residential mobility of public housing residents and that households displaced by revitalization did not experience a statistically significant loss of housing assistance. Households that relocated by using vouchers or by moving to mixed-income revitalized communities experienced significant improvements in their socioeconomic status, and they moved to higher quality neighborhoods. Additionally, their long-run socioeconomic status was similar to the status of households who moved from housing projects voluntarily, i.e., not in response to a planned demolition. This is one of few empirical studies of the effects of HOPE Ⅵ revitalization on public housing residents, and its conclusions argue against the elimination of funding for HOPE Ⅵ as called for in the president's budget for 2006.