Nativity, Ethnicity, and Residential Relocation: The Experience of Hmong Refugees and African Americans Displaced from Public Housing

Abstract

This article focuses on how the experiences of refugee public housing residents differ from those of other public housing residents when they participate in housing dispersal programs. An analysis of the spatial resettlement patterns and survey responses of Hmong and African-American public housing residents who were involuntarily relocated from public housing in Minneapolis, MN indicates the extent to which residents resettled in ethnically concentrated neighborhoods and their satisfaction with their new housing arrangements and neighborhoods. Research results suggest that Hmong did not settle in ethnically concentrated neighborhoods to the same extent as African Americans after relocation, and experienced lower levels of satisfaction in their new housing arrangements and neighborhoods. These findings indicate that the outcomes for residents involved in housing dispersal programs may depend in part on nativity status.

The Location Choices of Public Housing Residents Displaced by Redevelopment: Market Constraints, Personal Preferences, or Social Information?

“…As Goetz and Chapple (2010) point out, dispersal programs in general and HOPE VI in particular have not benefited original residents. Previous research about public housing desegregation lawsuits found that desegregative moves are extremely difficult to make, even with the aid of counseling (Popkin et al, 2000), and such moves may even be more difficult for refugees (Allen & Goetz, 2010). This study adds an additional layer of knowledge about the challenges facing programs aimed at facilitating neighborhood mobility, especially for refugees.…”

“…Only two studies have focused on relocation outcomes for refugees—each with somewhat different results. One found that refugees differed little from nonrefugees in the decision to relocate from a HOPE VI site (Kleit & Manzo, 2006), while the other suggests that refugees had a more difficult time finding a place to relocate (Allen & Goetz, 2010).…”

“…In metropolitan areas with large immigrant and refugee populations, immigrants may comprise a substantial proportion of public housing tenants. Research suggests that immigrants may have different preferences for post‐HOPE VI moves compared to native‐born public housing tenants (Kleit & Manzo, 2006), and face additional barriers in their search for housing (Allen & Goetz, 2010). The HOPE VI program often provides counseling to public housing residents moving to new locations, but information available through social relationships, housing market characteristics, individual or group preferences and, in some cases, limited English proficiency can shape housing options or create circumscribed notions of the choices available.…”

Crimmigrating Narratives: Examining Third-Party Observations of US Detained Immigration Court

“…Second, the Fort Snelling court is important in that, compared to other courts, it hears a proportionally large number of removal cases involving respondents from outside Mexico and Central America. This is partly due to Minnesota’s status as a historically popular destination for refugees in the United States, particularly for the Hmong in the 1970s ( Allen and Goetz 2010 ), Somalis in the 1990s ( Boyle and Ali 2010 ; Abdi 2014 ), and Liberians today ( Corrie and Randosevich 2013 ).…”

Research on the Evaluation and Influence Mechanism of Public Housing Service Quality: A Case Study of Shanghai

“…Welfare communities with public entrances have supplanted mid-and high-rise buildings with communal hallways and new urbanism townhouses, apt at attracting outsiders and criminals [20]. Many studies have used crime rates, levels of incivility, and drug trafficking to evaluate social-space effects [21,22]. Moreover, some studies have found that long commute time not only affects residents' willingness to travel, but also exacerbates the emergence of psychological problems [23] such as the desire for intimacy and belonging, the sense of alienation and loneliness, and other emotions [24].…”