Why do Displaced Residents Move to Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods?

Abstract

Urban restructuring—the large-scale demolition of low-rent dwellings, followed by the construction of more upmarket alternatives—forces residents to make a step in their housing career. Because displaced residents tend to have a low socioeconomic position, they are often confined to the most affordable parts of the housing stock. Since these dwellings are generally concentrated in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, displaced residents are likely to move to such neighbourhoods. However, they do have a measure of freedom to choose their new neighbourhood. This article reveals which kinds of households move to disadvantaged neighbourhoods and why they do so. An analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data collected in five Dutch cities shows that not only displaced households' restrictions but also their preferences are crucial to understand their relocation choices.

Keywords:

• Forced relocation
• disadvantaged neighbourhoods
• neighbourhood preferences

Notes

¹ Although both in The Netherlands and the USA displaced residents tend to move to neighbourhoods that are only somewhat less disadvantaged, in the USA the neighbourhoods they leave are considerably more disadvantaged. Nevertheless, numerous Dutch neighbourhoods face problematic levels of socioeconomic disadvantaged (Dekker & Varady, 2011).

² In 2011, only households with a maximum taxable income of €22 026 were allowed to apply for dwellings with a monthly rental of up to €366.37. Residents with a maximum taxable income of between €22 026 and €33 614 were allowed to apply for dwellings with a monthly rental of between €366.37 and €652.52.

³ This is a clear difference with the HOPE VI program in the US where relocatees are given housing vouchers to use in the private rental stock (Dekker & Varady, 2011).

⁴ Out of the five cities that are central to this study, four (The Hague, Ede, Groningen and Rotterdam) use choice-based letting, whereas Breda implements an option model: displaced residents indicate to which kind of social rented dwelling and to which neighbourhoods they want to move, and the housing association offers them a dwelling that matches their preferences as soon as such a dwelling becomes available.

⁵ The data on the quality of neighbourhoods stem from a national database (CBS Statline) and several local databases (BreData, Ede in Cijfers, Gronometer, BIRD and Den Haag in cijfers).

⁶ The socioeconomic position of neighbourhoods in 2007 is a valid proxy for their socioeconomic position in other years: the socioeconomic positions of neighbourhoods in the selected research cities have barely changed over time.

⁷ In Breda, the average house value was not measured for most neighbourhoods. We therefore used the percentage of multifamily dwellings.

⁸ According to this definition 30 per cent of the neighbourhoods in Breda and The Hague, 19 per cent of the neighbourhoods in Ede, 26 per cent of the neighbourhoods in Groningen and 28 per cent of the neighbourhoods in Rotterdam are disadvantaged.

⁹ In Rotterdam, the difference between origin and destination neighbourhood is smallest. This might be due to the fact that restructuring has not taken place in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Rotterdam.