Blind Faith in the Free Market: Urban Poverty, Residential Segregation, and Federal Housing Retrenchment, 1970–1995

Abstract

In recent years, research on poverty and segregation has been organized within a dominant discourse that centers on the relative salience of racial discrimination or macroeconomic change as a determinant of concentrated minority poverty. In contrast, little sociological research has focused on federal housing policies and programs as important factors shaping racial patterns of poverty and residential segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas. Drawing upon census data, public documents, housing reports, and interviews with local residents, I examine how federal and local housing initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s have interacted with the shift to a service-oriented economy to reinforce racial residential segregation and exacerbate urban poverty in Kansas City. I find that persistent racial residential segregation, including minority poverty concentration and the spatial isolation of inner-city neighborhoods, is due to post-1970 changes in the operation of the metropolitan housing market and retrenchment in federal and local housing policy. Rather than viewing racial discrimination and macroeconomic change as disconnected and separate "variables," I focus on the interconnectedness and mutually reinforcing character of both factors. Such an emphasis moves beyond separate-variables approaches and analyses to identify how concentrated minority poverty is sustained not only by racial discrimination and large-scale macroeconomic and demographic changes, but also by the market-centered orientation of federal housing programs and policies.

Concepts in social and spatial marginality

“…Real estate manipulation of local housing markets by using arbitrage in block-busting and similar changes in diverse neighbourhoods cuse, 1997a; Gotham, 1998;Squires, 1999;Wacquant, 1999). Unlike market-based inequalities, systemic marginality does not lend itself to reform policies of the welfare state (Painter, 1995).…”

A new model of neighborhood change: Reconsidering the role of white flight

“…If they target the hard to finance, the resultant increased likelihood of mortgage default and perhaps foreclosure opens their efforts and programmatic base to criticisms that the programs are doing more harm than good in low-income minority neighborhoods (Cincotta, Rose, and Ryan 1998) and are promoting residential racial segregation and unemployment through the spatial mismatch between job growth and the hard to employ (Gotham 1998). If they broaden their client base to the lower middle class, they will dilute their efforts, decrease fair housing gains, and be accused of unfair competition and of supplying unnecessary subsidies.…”

Alternative Agrifood Projects in Communities of Color: A Civic Engagement Perspective

“…As local economies failed and access to necessary resources like credit and insurance declined, many businesses (not just food-related businesses) left these neighborhoods (Massey & Denton, 1993). The combined effects of these practices made the acquisition of land for any use-residential, commercial, farming-challenging for the African American community (Gotham, 1998;Highsmith, 2009;Logan & Molotch, 2007;Massey & Denton, 1993;Schildt, 2011). Thus the U.S. food system remains inequitable, long after overt racism has subsided (Alkon & Agyeman, 2011).…”

“…Unjust practices of urban housing and neighborhood exclusion such as redlining, block-busting, restrictive covenants, and steering segregated neighborhoods by both race and class. This was followed by consistently inequitable and reduced investment in minority neighborhoods by city governments and private interests throughout the U.S. (Gotham, 1998;Highsmith, 2009;Logan & Molotch, 2007;Massey & Denton, 1993;Schildt, 2011). Racism, exclusion, and disinvestment led to a downward spiral in opportunity that is reflected in high unemployment rates, high vacancy rates, high rates of preventable health problems, and failing local economies (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom, 2004;Massey & Denton, 1993;Wilson, 1996).…”

“…Building trust and commitment is a necessary step toward empowering communities to create transformative change. A culture of distrust often exists in impoverished communities as a result of years of disinvestment, broken promises, and structurally segregative policies (Gotham, 1998;Highsmith, 2009;Logan & Molotch, 2007;Massey & Denton, 1993;Schildt, 2011). Suspicion of new public and private initiatives is a common result of this sad experience, frequently culminating in civic disengagement.…”