Housing Decisions among Low-Income Hispanic Households in Chicago

IntroductionRacial and income segregation, which characterizes the residential geography of many U.S. cities, largely stems from historical and enduring practices of discrimination (Bobo and Zubrinsky, 1996; Massey and Denton, 1993; Rugh and Massey, 2014). Scholars recognize that individual-level mobility decisions both are shaped by the realities of segregation and have the cumulative effect of maintaining segregated neighborhoods. Hence, researchers are increasingly turning their attention to individuals' housing search processes to better understand the factors underlying neighborhood sorting in the 21st century (Krysan and Bader, 2009; Rosenblatt and DeLuca, 2012). Residential segregation by race and class is important because of the documented negative effects that living in high-poverty and predominately minority areas can have on individual outcomes (Osypuk et al, 2009; Sharkey, 2013; Wilson, 1996). Federal housing policy has attempted to mitigate inequalities in residential opportunities by passing fair housing legislation. The 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Final Rule reiterates that, in matters of housing and urban development, the federal government is bound by "not only a mandate to refrain from discrimination but a mandate to take the type of actions that undo historic patterns of segregation and other types of discrimination and afford access to opportunity that has long been denied" (HUD, 2015a: 42274). One primary method of promoting access to neighborhoods of high opportunity has been with housing subsidy programs, bul these programs serve only a minority of the low-income population; thus, studies of these programs are insufficient for understanding the moving behaviors of most people who do not receive housing assistance.In addition, housing research has largely overlooked the Hispanic population.1 Housing problems- from affordability to crowding and poor housing quality-disproportionately affect Black2 and Hispanic households (Eggers and Moumen, 2013; McConnell, 2008). 3 Possibly because of eligibility restrictions for immigrants or limited outreach and cultural competency, however, Hispanic households are underrepresented in many housing assistance programs.4 For example, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program serves approximately 34 percent of income-eligible Black renter households with children but only 6 percent of similar Hispanic households and 10 percent of similar White households (Acevedo-Garcia, 2014). Thus, paradoxically-considering the demographic reality that the Hispanic population is the largest minority group-housing research often centers on issues that pertain to the Black and White populations.This article addresses the research gap by drawing on 23 qualitative interviews with low-income Hispanic mothers without housing assistance in Chicago. Given the thin existing literature on Hispanic households, we did not aim to test explicit hypotheses. Instead, we set out to explore a wide range of topics with Hispanic mothers by using open-ended questions (see the interview guide in appendix B) and to build our findings inductively from their narratives. We designed the interview guide with the following research questions in mind: How and from whom do low-income Hispanic mothers learn about neighborhoods as possible moving destinations? What factors are most consequential in determining where they move? How do such moves fit into the larger geography of opportunity? Hence, we contribute to the small but growing body of knowledge regarding the factors and mechanisms influencing the housing decisions of low-income urban residents. Understanding why people move, how they search, and where they end up is important for explaining observed spatial patterns of segregation by race/ethnicity and class. It also puts the issue of residential segregation in the context of more immediate housing considerations for households, such as affordability, transportation, and unit size. …