The unequal housing and neighborhood outcomes of displaced movers

ABSTRACT

Involuntary housing displacement is a stress-inducing life event that can cause and exacerbate both psychological and material hardship. Forced moves may invoke a disattainment process, whereby displaced movers move into lower quality housing and neighborhoods, placing them in a precarious housing position. Employing propensity score analyses, this study uses data from the recent mover module of the American Housing Survey to match recent movers whose moves were voluntary to recent movers whose moves were forced. Results show that moves caused by displacement compared to voluntary moves generally lead to worse housing and neighborhood outcomes. However, these results are dependent on the type of displacement experienced. Movers forced to leave their homes due to eviction move into worse housing and neighborhoods while forced moves caused by private action and foreclosure do not. Meanwhile, forced moves caused by natural hazards or government action result in worse housing, but not neighborhoods.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Population Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University for Population Research Infrastructure (P2CHD041025) and Family Demography Training (T-32HD007514). The content of the article is solely the responsibility of the author and does not reflect the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The author thanks Barrett A. Lee, Michelle L. Frisco, Alexander Chapman, and Thomas Siskar for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Notes

1. Kernel density findings were consistent, unless otherwise notes in the results section.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [P2CHD041025,T-32HD007514].

Notes on contributors

Megan Evans

Megan Evans is pursuing a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on the spatial manifestations of inequality and the role that spatial inequality plays in a person’s prospects for social mobility. Her interests include neighborhood change, segregation, voluntary and involuntary residential mobility (displacement), neighborhood reputations, and social network analysis.