Housing Markets and Residential Mobility (Urban Opportunity Series)

The ability to move to a new and better neighborhood has always been a defining point of opportunity in America's cities. But in the late 1980s there were signs that, for many Americans, this aspect of upward mobility was growing out of reach. The effects of the housing "affordability crisis", mixed with racial discrimination and other barriers, seemed to be eroding the locational fluidity of the past. Labor surpluses in the cities stood in sharp contrast to labor shortages in the suburbs. Homelessness, a phenomenon that hardly existed until 1980, was a symbol of malfunction in the nation's housing markets. This volume takes a hard look at the recent evidence on mobility patterns, and the factors that influence them (including public policies). The first group of chapters concentrates on measuring the trends and interpreting their implications. Stuart Gabriel, Janice Shack-Marquez, and William Wascher review changes in the structure of interregional migration. Kathryn Nelson and John Edwards consider recent shifts in residential mobility within metropolitan areas. The next group of chapters focuses on understanding the dynamics of the barriers now constraining residential choice. William Apgar looks at the influence of changing housing affordability from a national perspective. Margery Turner and John Edwards examine how the influence of housing affordability varies for different types of neighborhoods within cities and suburbs. Reynolds Farley notes recent trends in residential segregation and considers shifts in racial attitudes about location. Margery Turner and Ronald Wienk examine new evidence on several contributing causes of segregation. The final group considers the policy alternatives. Included are chapters by Mary Davis on the mobility effects of Chicago's Gautreaux program, Fred Freiberg on new means of promoting integration, Anthony Downs on the prospects for lessening exclusionary zoning and other regulatory barriers, and Mark Alan Hughes on successful housing strategies and policy options that can address current barriers to advancement faced by many Americans.