Short-term effects of moving from public housing in poor to middle-class neighborhoods on low-income, minority adults’ outcomes

This study reports results from a quasi-experimental residential mobility study in Yonkers, NY, in which low-income minority families residing in public and private housing in high-poverty neighborhoods were randomly assigned via lottery to relocate to publicly funded attached rowhouses in seven middle-class neighborhoods. One hundred seventy-three Black and Latino families who moved and 142 demographically similar families who remained in the original high-poverty neighborhoods were interviewed approximately 2 years after movers relocated; no baseline data were available. Multiple regression analyses controlling for individual- and family-level background characteristics revealed that adults who moved to low-poverty neighborhoods were less likely to be exposed to violence and disorder, experience health problems, abuse alcohol, receive cash assistance, and were more likely to report satisfaction with neighborhood resources, experience higher housing quality, and be employed, when compared with adults who remained in high-poverty neighborhoods. Adults who moved to low-poverty neighborhoods were less likely than those who stayed in high-poverty neighborhoods to socialize informally with neighbors. No program effects were found on adults’ symptoms of depression and anxiety. These early program effects inform housing policy initiatives for low-income families.