Public housing relocations in Atlanta: Documenting residents’ attitudes, concerns and experiences

Ruel, Erin; Oakley, Deirdre; Ward, Chandra; Alston, Renée Skeete; Reid, Lesley Williams

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2012.07.010

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Arguably, less attention has been given to the lived experience of place and displacement, to the notion of being at home and place attachment in the context of relocation. Consequently, despite some exceptions (Gibson, 2007;Levy, 2005;Manzo, Kelit, & Couch, 2008;Ruel, Oakley, Ward, Alston, & Reid, 2013;Tester, Ruel, Anderson, Reitzes, & Oakley, 2011), residents' emotional responses to forced relocation, and its impact on place attachment and a sense of being at home is still less well understood. It is, nonetheless, a crucial aspect of such restructuring programmes that must be considered if poor people are not to be collateral damage in the reimaging of urban space, and if more socially just housing policies are to be achieved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

On uncertain ground: being at home in the context of public housing redevelopment

Manzo

2014

International Journal of Housing Policy

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The recent global financial crisis increased the volatility of housing markets and furthered the ongoing disinvestment in public sector housing. This disinvestment has been manifest in urban restructuring programmes involving both the privatisation and the wholesale demolition of public/ social housing. For example, programmes like HOPE VI in the USA have radically altered the landscape of public housing through the demolition of tens of thousands of housing units nationwide. However, what of the people who occupied this housing, and what of the lives they had built there? In such a context, deliberating on the notion of being at home becomes a pressing task, necessitating serious consideration of the lived experience of place and place attachments among those who have been displaced by such programmes. While research has studied outcomes such as the quality of the new neighbourhood and household economic stability, it does not adequately address the lived experience of place and the disruptions that forced relocation can cause. This paper brings the literature on place attachment into the discussion of urban restructuring programmes and discusses the findings of several empirical studies on place attachment to provide a more complete picture of the impacts of such programmes on poor people. It demonstrates how place attachments in the context of public housing are complicated by poverty, power dynamics, ambivalence, and stigma, underscoring how attachments are formed through the interplay of policy and programme rhetoric, and the active processes of meaning making among residents. Policy implications of considering place attachments in public housing redevelopment efforts are also addressed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

On uncertain ground: being at home in the context of public housing redevelopment

Manzo

2014

International Journal of Housing Policy

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“…®A11 respondents were aged 18 years or older, more than 90% were leaseholders, and only one member per household participated (Oakley et al, 2008;Ruel et al, 2012). Later we conducted a sixmonth post-relocation survey and have just completed a 24-month post-relocation survey interview.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forced Mobility: The Relocation of Public-Housing Residents in Atlanta

et al. 2014

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In this paper we argue for the use of 'mobility' to describe not just bodily movement, travel, or transport, but as a concept that animates the constellation of policies and power relations that simultaneously move and spatially fix the urban poor. Using a framework developed by Creswell in 2010, in which mobility operates as 'an entanglement of movement, representation, and practice', this paper examines the mobility of relocated public-housing residents, who are forced to move as a result of the demolition of projectbased housing in the city of Atlanta. It draws from Cresswell's conceptualization of the politics of mobility in terms of motive force, speed, rhythm, route, experience, and friction to more fully understand the mobilities and immobilities of the urban poor as they respond to the neoliberalization of housing policy in cities like Atlanta. Based on our study, we propose the addition of 'resources' to Cresswell's framework to more fully capture the importance of individuals' abilities to navigate the complexities of residential relocation, as they draw on a variety of social networks, skills, and faith dispositions. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews and the voice and photographic journals of relocated public-housing residents as they recorded their eviction and relocation process, this paper documents their circulation processes against the backdrop of the city's neoliberalizing housing policies.

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“…The city of Atlanta has been at the forefront of these changes (Oakley et al, 2013). In the 1990s, Atlanta was one the first cities to take advantage of the federal HOPE VI program, which funded the demolition of public housing developments and the construction of mixed-income developments that served both subsidized and unsubsidized tenants (Ruel, Oakley, Ward, Alston, & Reid, 2013). Nationwide, the mixed-income communities that were constructed with HOPE VI funds often had significantly fewer subsidized units than the developments that they were replacing (Goetz & Chapple, 2010; National Housing Law Project, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was the case in Atlanta. Between 1996 and 2004, the city of Atlanta demolished 13 of its public housing developments and constructed 10 mixed-income housing communities using HOPE VI funds (Ruel et al, 2013). The 6,418 demolished public housing units were replaced by 5,837 units, although only 2,356 of these were reserved for public housing-eligible households (Boston, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This plan was completed by late 2010. In contrast to the HOPE VI revitalization that occurred in the 1990s, this more recent demolition was carried out under Section 18 of the 1937 Housing Act which, unlike HOPE VI, does not require the construction of replacement units (Ruel et al, 2013). Thus, while in the case of HOPE VI, a portion of relocated residents were able to return to reconstructed developments, those recently displaced in Atlanta did not have this option.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“We Need to Have a Meeting”: Public Housing Demolition and Collective Agency in Atlanta, Georgia

Keene

2015

Housing Policy Debate

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The last two decades have witnessed widespread demolition of public housing and a large-scale relocation of public housing residents. Much of the current literature has examined the impact of demolition on relocated residents, focusing primarily on individual outcomes such as employment, housing quality, and health. This article examines the potential collective consequences of relocation by using data from 40 in-depth interviews conducted with relocated public housing residents in Atlanta, Georgia, to examine experiences of civic engagement and tenant activism before and after relocation. Participants describe frequent experiences of civic engagement and tenant activism in their public housing communities prior to demolition and also discuss how these collective actions often translated into meaningful gains for their communities. Participants also describe challenges associated with reestablishing these sources of collective agency in their new, post demolition, private-market rental communities where opportunities for civic engagement and tenant activism were perceived to be limited, where stigma was a barrier to social interaction, and where they experienced significant residential instability.

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Public housing relocations in Atlanta: Documenting residents’ attitudes, concerns and experiences

Cited by 26 publications

References 22 publications

On uncertain ground: being at home in the context of public housing redevelopment

On uncertain ground: being at home in the context of public housing redevelopment

Forced Mobility: The Relocation of Public-Housing Residents in Atlanta

“We Need to Have a Meeting”: Public Housing Demolition and Collective Agency in Atlanta, Georgia

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