Improving the Lives of Public Housing's Most Vulnerable Families

Abstract

In 1999, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) launched its ambitious Plan for Transformation, hoping to transform its distressed properties into healthy, mixedincome communities that would provide better options for their residents (Vale and Graves 2010). As the Urban Institute's decade-long research on the transformation has documented, relocation proved one of the biggest challenges Popkin, Levy, et al. 2010). At the Plan's outset, the CHA had little experience providing relocation counseling or social services to its residents, and it was trying to serve a large number of high-need families simultaneously. Early efforts to provide these services floundered, and the CHA became the focus of criticism and legal action from resident leaders and their advocates. In response to these pressures, the CHA gradually improved its service system and began providing more effective case management and referral services (Popkin 2006). By the end of the decade, the Urban Institute was documenting surprisingly positive outcomes

The Effects of Childhood Exposure to Neighborhood and Community Violence: Impacts on the Safety and Well-being of Low-Income, Minority Children

“…We should pay attention for natural experiment candidates among the opportunities emerging in the US public policy arena, including HOPE VI mixed-income redevelopments of distressed public housing complexes, court-ordered public housing authority desegregation consent decrees, and innovative local housing authority initiatives. One promising example of how this technique may be used to probe issue of children's exposure to violence is the work of Popkin and her colleagues using the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation of its distressed public housing developments (Popkin & Davies, 2013).…”

Poor Families Need Real Choices, Not Another Policy Debate: Response to David Imbroscio’s “Urban Policy as Meritocracy: A Critique”

“…By the 1990s, public housing communities across the nation were grappling with unimaginable levels of violent crime and disorder. Many of those who were able—who had jobs or social connections elsewhere—moved out, leaving behind a population of mostly extremely poor, traumatized single mothers struggling to raise their children in what in many cities had become essentially urban war zones (Popkin, ; Popkin et al., ).…”

“…More recent research has uncovered the effects of trauma and chronic stress on health, especially for children (Shonkoff, ). Children growing up in distressed public housing also face the risk of illness or injury from substandard housing (Manjarrez, Popkin, & Guernsey, ; Popkin & Davies, ), and of becoming a victim of the endemic violence.…”

How Chicago's Public Housing Transformation Can Inform Federal Policy

“…Services that include intensive case management, access to clinical mental health services, and a transitional jobs program that provides on-the-job training have significant benefits for adult residents, including improved physical health, reduced depression and anxiety, and increased employment (Popkin and Davies 2013). Although the cost of providing comprehensive services is not insignificant (about $2,900 per household annually), 4 the benefits could reduce costs across a range of dimensions.…”

“…Permission is granted for reproduction of this document, with attribution to the Urban Institute. (Popkin et al 2013), the stability and quality of the homes and neighborhoods where CHA residents moved (Buron et al 2013), the effects of intensive services for vulnerable families (Popkin and Davies 2013), and the consequences of chronic violence for families and children (Hailey and Gallagher 2013). More information on the Long-Term Outcomes Study, and on the Urban Institute's decade of research into Chicago's public housing transformation, is available at http://www.urban.org/housing/Transforming-Public-Housing-in-Chicago.cfm.…”