Mobilizing social capital: Which informal and formal supports affect employment outcomes for HOPE VI residents?

Abstract

Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines the relationship between informal social support and formal support services and employment outcomes among residents of a public housing development relocated as part of a HOPE VI project in Charlotte, North Carolina. Informal social supports are resources accessible through family and friends within a neighborhood and formal support services are provided by case managers and service providers. We find that when former public housing residents are enrolled in case management longer and have high satisfaction with their case manager, this leads to better employment outcomes. In addition, having strong bonding ties among public housing neighbors has a negative influence on employment. This study sheds light on how case managers play a role in promoting economic mobility by mitigating social and economic crises and providing bridging capital for poor families.

Keywords:

• Hope VI
• social capital
• social network
• relocation
• employment
• economic advancement
• case management

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the staff of the Charlotte Housing Authority and Children’s Home Society for their support of this project.

Notes

1 The US Department of Housing and Urban Development labels their economic mobility programs ‘self-sufficiency’ and therefore, we use this term when referring to their programs. We prefer to use the terms economic advancement or mobility rather than self-sufficiency, which has ideological and political connotations that suggest that those who are not receiving public assistance are more self-sufficient. This may not be true given one of the most expensive housing program in the US is the mortgage interest deduction program that offers homeowners a large tax deduction. This program costs the US Government approximately $70 billion per year and the benefits largely accrue to higher income households (Fischer and Chye-Ching, 2013). http://www.cbpp.org/research/mortgage-interest-deduction-is-ripe-for-reform.

2 There are a number of reasons the CHA focused their case management on employment. First, the CHA is a MTW demonstration site and the MTW program is focused on improving employment outcomes for all households receiving housing assistance. Second, a goal of all HOPE VI programs is to have original residents return and live in the revitalized neighborhood. The criteria to live in the revitalized residential developments often require that residents are working consistently. In Charlotte, if residents are not seniors or disabled, they must be working at least 30 hours a week to return to the revitalized development. Therefore, improving employment status is often a goal of all HOPE VI programs. Whether LHAs provide case management or services to assist with these employment goals vary substantially across agencies.

3 We did not include the single household that opted out of case management in this analysis because case managers did not collect employment data if households were not active in case management.

4 While these are the requirements and goals for this HOPE VI project, each HOPE VI project is different and LHAs set their own standards and criteria for their participants.

5 This is the percentage of months working while receiving case management. We also tested an alternative measure, total months working during the study period and the results of the regression model using either of these two variables had the same significant predictors.

6 We do not include a dichotomous measure of working versus not working. Our study population’s work histories showed episodic employment patterns. The vast majority of HoHs in our study missed some months of work during the study period and their classification of employment would be affected by the month that we chose to measure their employment status. Thus, we believe that our dependent variables are more appropriate employment measures for this population.

7 Other studies have also adapted the resource generator to low-income minority populations (see Grinstein-Weiss et al., 2008).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Charlotte Housing Authority, Charlotte, North Carolina as part of a HOPE VI grant provided by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.