What barriers do current housing
trends present to pursuing social
justice?
Nancy A. Denton
University at Albany, SUNY
October 12, 2007
Center for Civil Rights—UNC School of Law
SEGREGATION
….prevents minorities and lower
economic classes from deriving the
benefits upper income classes derive
from housing.
A house is more than just a
home…
Housing in segregated neighborhoods:
• Limits the acquisition of human capital
• education
• jobs
• Limits asset appreciation
• housing
• businesses
• Limits inheritance
Evenness
• Most often used measure of segregation
• Would be 0 if every neighborhood had the same
racial composition as the city as a whole
• Would be 100 if groups lived completely apart
• Interpreted as the proportion of EITHER group
that would have to move to be evenly distributed
• Formal name is Index of Dissimilarity
Overall Segregation in 2000
80
70
60
50
Blacks
Hispanics
Asians
40
30
20
10
0
1980
1990
2000
Source: Lewis Mumford Center
Trends in Segregation in RaleighDurham-Chapel Hill, NC
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Blacks
Hispanics
Asians
1980
1990
2000
Trends in Segregation of African
Americans
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
an
w
ci
Yo
sc
o
rk
i
m
Fr
n
M
ia
Ne
Sa
Lo
s
A
Ch
ng
ic
ag
el
es
o
1970
1980
1990
2000
Trends in Segregation of Hispanics
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1970
1980
1990
2000
Chicago
Los Angeles
Miami
New York
Trends in Segregation of Asians
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1970
1980
1990
2000
Chicago
Los Angeles
Miami
New York
Exposure
• If I go outside in my neighborhood, who
am I likely to see…
• Known as the P-star series of indices
Diversity Expericed in Each Group's Typical
Neighborhood -- National Metropolitan Average
Asians
Hispanics
Blacks
Whites
0%
20%
Whites
40%
Blacks
60%
80%
Hispanics
Asians
100%
Source: Lewis Mumford Center
Segregation 1980-2000
• Blacks most segregated, though their
segregation declined slightly in all metro
areas
• Hispanics next most segregated, followed
by Asians, for both groups their
segregation increased
• Segregation declines largest in smallest
metro areas, those with small black
populations
Segregation in a Multi-ethnic
World
• New research able to measure
segregation of all four groups (whites,
blacks, Hispanics, Asians) at same time
• Sees same patterns as just described
• When income is added, it appears to
account for a larger part of the segregation
in 2000 than in 1990, but is overshadowed
by race in importance
• Race not class is driving segregation
Have these changes in segregation
translated into changes in poor
neighborhoods?
• Work done in collaboration with Bridget
Anderson for The Opportunity Agenda
• Looked at poor neighborhoods in metropolitan
areas 1960-2000 and examined who lived in
them
• Thanks to PRRAC and Phil Tegeler
7000
14
6000
12
5000
10
4000
8
3000
6
2000
4
1000
2
0
0
1960
1970
Number of Moderately High Poverty Tracts (20+% )
Number of Concentrated Poverty Tracts (40+% )
Poverty Rate
1980
1990
2000
Number of High Poverty Tracts (30+% )
Poverty Rate
Number of Tracts
Number of Neighborhoods of Varying Poverty Concentration and Poverty Rate,
8000
16
1960-2000
What about the people living in
these neighborhoods?
• Charts are complex:
– Purple bars refer to poor of each group, blue
bars to total population
– From left to right, poverty decreases
– For each poverty level, data for 1960-2000
shown
• First chart looks at race: blacks,
Hispanics, then whites
• Followed by charts for female headed
families and foreign born
Total and Poor Black Families by Neighborhood Poverty Concentration,
1960-2000
90
80
Percent of Families
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Total Black Families
0
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Moderately High Poverty
Neighborhoods (20+%)
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
High Poverty Neighborhoods
(30+%)
Total Black Families
1960
1970
1980
1990
Concentrated Poverty
Neighborhoods (40+%)
Poor Black Families
2000
Total and Poor Hispanic Families by Neighborhood Poverty Concentration,
1960-2000
90
80
Percent of Families
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Total Hispanic Families
0
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Moderately High Poverty Neighborhoods
(20+%)
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
High Poverty Neighborhoods (30+%)
Total Hispanic Families
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Concentrated Poverty Neighborhoods
(40+%)
Poor Hispanic Families
Total and Poor White Families by Neighborhood Poverty Concentration,
1960-2000
90
80
Percent of Families
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Total White Families
0
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
M oderately High Poverty
Neighborhoods (20+%)
1960
1970 1980
1990
2000
High Poverty Neighborhoods
(30+%)
Total White Families
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Concentrated Poverty
Neighborhoods (40+%)
Poor White Families
Total and Poor Female Headed Families and Neighborhood Poverty
Concentration, 1970-2000
90
80
Percent of Families
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Total Female Headed Fam
0
1970
1980
1990
2000
Moderately High Poverty
Neighborhoods (20+%)
1970
1980
1990
2000
High Poverty
Neighborhoods (30+%)
Total Female Headed Families
1970
1980
1990
2000
Concentrated Poverty
Neighborhoods (40+%)
Poor Female Headed Families
Living in Poverty Neighborhoods
• For all groups and for all poverty levels,
likelihood decreased over time
– Blacks and Hispanics, followed by Femaleheaded families most likely to live in poverty
neighborhoods
• Whites very seldom live in poverty
neighborhoods
• Foreign born are more likely to live there
than whites but far less likely than anyone
else
Segregation works in the ways just
described because
• resources mentioned have spatially
determined values:
– school quality varies spatially
– housing appreciation varies spatially
– business value varies spatially
• resources are linked to neighborhood of
residence
• accumulation is structured by where you
live
“Fair housing ought to provide a point of departure for
furthering equality and justice broadly throughout our
society and culture. It ought to provide a platform from
which all people can stand tall, assert their humanity,
and live their dreams. It ought to undergird the values
of acceptance, openness, and common but
unassimilated ground. It ought to enable us to
embrace a viable multicultural future.”
John O. Calmore
……..thank you.