A study on employment of HOPE VI projects: Examining the impact of neighborhood disadvantage, housing type diversity, and supportive services

ABSTRACT

The present study tested the associations of housing type diversity, neighborhood disadvantage, and employment-related community supportive services with new job placements in 257 HOPE VI projects. This study used a merged data from quarterly reports by HOPE VI revitalization grantees, 2010–2014 American Community Survey, and the entropy index on housing type diversity of each HOPE VI site. This study first described the patterns of housing type diversity and the surrounding neighborhoods of the HOPE VI sites. Then, a negative binomial regression analysis showed that higher housing type diversity and a higher number of education programs were significantly associated with a higher number of new job placements. The results suggest that mixing residents with diverse housing types could yield positive employment outcomes. None of the neighborhood-level predictors was statistically significant. This paper is one of the first to apply the entropy index to diverse housing types of mixed-income developments.

KEYWORDS:

• Employment
• neighborhood disadvantage
• housing type diversity
• community supportive services

Acknowledgments

The data analysis that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under a Research Partnerships grant (RP–14–OH–005) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities (NIMC) at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. The substance and findings of the work are dedicated to the public. The authors and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seungjong Cho

Seungjong Cho earned his BA and MSW from Yonsei University in South Korea. He worked for 2 years as a social worker at Haenuri Food Market, where low-income citizens, including North Korean refugees, can afford buying various groceries. He also worked at Good Neighbors International, an international humanitarian nonprofit organization as an associate researcher on fundraising and strategic planning. Currently he is interested in studying interdisciplinary aspects of urban poverty, neighborhood-level mental health disparities, and community-based mental health initiatives.

Miyoung Yoon

Miyoung Yoon earned her MSW from the University of Michigan with a concentration in community and social systems with management of human services. During her internship at Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County, she contributed to the development of an employment program for ex-offenders and supervised undergraduate international social work summer interns. She conducted research on the effects of school and neighborhood contexts on youth risk behaviors. She is interested in further examining the influence of school and neighborhood factors on the well-being of low-income minority youth.