Review of Neighborhoods and Housing

Summary

1. There are a variety of neighborhood and housing problems. For instance, racial residential segregation is the separation of Neighborhoods by race. Currently, many neighborhoods in large cities are hypersegregated and some are gentrifying, with wealthier (white) individuals moving into and displacing residents of low-income neighborhoods (of color). Housing insecurity refers to a broad set of challenges related to housing such as being cost-burdened, evicted, or not being able to pay bills, and includes the experience of houselessness, not having a place to live.
2. Structural functionalism takes the view that neighborhoods and housing insecurity may serve important functions for society such as increasing social cohesion and justifying nonprofit employment, though it also holds that related problems are dysfunctional because they inhibit people's abilities to fully contribute to society. Conflic theory emphasizes power dynamics between social groups such as the rich and the poor, such as how those in power have used discriminatory housing practices and policies to maintain social hierarchies. Symbolic interactionism focuses on people's social interactions within different neighborhoods, as well as meanings attached to certain identities or circumstances such as stereotypes of those in poverty or who are houseless.
3. The discriminatory housing practice of redlining historically fueled residential segregation, though discrimination in the housing industry continues even today in mortgage applications and broker practices. Sociologists recognize that racist exclusionary policies have created residential segregation and housing instability. Wider social forces like the economy, access to jobs or education, or the amount of affordable housing in an area influence who is housing insecure.
4. Houselessness and housing insecurity are on the rise in the U.S., though they are difficult to measure. The experience of housing insecurity may include being stressed about and unable to pay bills, being cost-burdened – spending 30% or more income on housing, or being evicted – forced to move from one's home. Houselessness may involve sleeping on friends' couches, in a car, in abandoned buildings, or in tents.
5. Social location such as race, gender, and sexuality influences who experiences housing insecurity and houselessness – even though most houseless people are white men, people of color are disproportionately houseless as they are overrepresented in that population.
6. Consequences of neighborhood and housing problems include the racial wealth gap – the large gap in wealth between white and Black (or Latinx) families, differential health outcomes such as a higher risk of hunger, chronic illness, and mental health challenges among the houseless, a lack of critical amenities in the neighborhood or resource deserts including food deserts in which people lack access to affordable healthy foods, and differential education outcomes such as the lower school achievement of children experiencing housing instability.
7. Action from advocates, policymakers, nonprofits, and businesses along with changes in laws and policies are necessary to end residential segregation, housing discrimination, housing insecurity, and houselessness. Interdependent solutions include funding more shelters and temporary housing, focusing on housing first, building more affordable housing, decriminalizing houselessness, and other options. Safe housing is a basic human right, and housing stability is social justice.

  

Questions

1. How have you witnessed or experienced racial residential segregation in your own life, and what do you think are some consequences of that segregation?
2. The chart Racist Policies, Racist Inequities, and Racist Ideas in Housing illustrates Ibram X Kendi’s definition of racism as “…a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produce and sustain racial inequities” (2016) – what are examples of the policies, inequities, and ideas that have impacted who has a home?
3. What are some stereotypes that you've heard about people experiencing houselessness, and what impact did those stereotypes have on how you understand unhoused people?
4. How do the classical theoretical perspectives' framings of neighborhood and housing problems overlap with and differ from their framings of poverty?
5. Identify a neighborhood in your city or a nearby city that is experiencing gentrification – how do you think that the original residents of that neighborhood feel about the changes, and do you think those changes are more positive or negative?
6. Different populations experience houselessness for unique reasons – pick one population (e.g., the elderly, women, Black families, LGBTQ+ youth, Indigenous communities, and so on) and answer: Why are these folks houseless? What interdependent laws, policies, or community solutions would best help?
7. How do you think that consequences of neighborhood and housing problems vary by social location such as by race, gender, sexuality, or disability, and what does that suggest about solutions to these problems?

  

Action Steps

1. Use your sociological imagination: When you encounter someone perpetuating stereotypes about unhoused people, help the person use their sociological imagination to understand the structural causes of houselessness and to build empathy for the unhoused.
2. Support nonprofits and similar organizations: Contribute money or volunteer time to a local, state, or national organization that provides aid or shelter to those experiencing houselessness.
3. Use your individual agency: Call or send emails to local, state, and federal officials that encourage them to strengthen housing programs, including those that aim to build affordable housing, integrate residents from different backgrounds, offer vouchers in mixed-income neighborhoods, and so on.
4. Engage in collective action: Research organizations that are engaging in action around neighborhoods and housing such as YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard!), select one, and find out how to get involved in their efforts.