Vehicle Access and Exposure to Neighborhood Poverty: Evidence From the Moving to Opportunity Program

Abstract

The geographic determinants of social and economic opportunity have received much scholarly attention. A missing link in this body of research is an emphasis on the range of factors influencing low-income households' exposure to neighborhood poverty over time. This paper examines the dynamics of exposure to neighborhood poverty for Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program participants. Our paper is unique in its emphasis on the role of vehicle access as it shapes exposure to neighborhood poverty. We find that vehicle access is an important factor shaping residential spells and transitions to low-poverty neighborhoods over time. We also find that the combined influence of a geographically-targeted residential mobility requirement and vehicle access substantially elevates a household's likelihood of accessing and staying in a low-poverty neighborhood. These findings suggest that residential mobility programs and similar efforts to spatially deconcentrate poverty should pay particular attention to the transportation needs of low-income households.

Subsidizing Car Ownership for Low-Income Individuals and Households

“…First, because they had a car, their earnings increased, and they could then afford to move. Tracy said, “Once I got the car, then I was able to get my own place because I had a job where I made enough money.” Second, vehicle access eased and expanded interviewees’ housing searches (Dawkins, Jeon, and Pendall 2015; Jeon, Dawkins, and Pendall 2018). For Cheryl, a car meant that she “was able to get around and check out places” in less time and with less hassle than on public transit.…”

“…Access to a car also shapes residential mobility. Several studies using data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Moving to Opportunity experiment found that access to a car enabled low-income households to move to low-poverty neighborhoods (Blumenberg and Pierce 2017a; Dawkins, Jeon, and Pendall 2015; Jeon, Dawkins, and Pendall 2018), while those without a car faced fewer choices when moving (Rosenblatt and DeLuca 2012). Households facing housing and employment instability have even greater incentives to purchase a car despite the high costs of car ownership (Mullen and Marsden 2018; Mullen, Marsden, and Philips 2020).…”

Distributive Justice and Transportation Equity: Inequality in accessibility in Rio de Janeiro

“…These questions have thus far received relatively little attention in the literature and remain largely unanswered (Cascetta et al, 2013;Curl et al, 2015;Fransen et al, 2018). Future studies could investigate, for example, how the association between activity participation levels and perceived and objectively measured accessibility varies across the population and to what extent this variation is affected by the built environment, Moreover, while the academic literature has often recognized that increasing physical mobility and accessibility are cause and effect of social mobility (Chetty et al, 2014;Kaufmann et al, 2004;Kronlid, 2008;Lucas, 2012), only a few studies have developed robust identification strategies to measure how accessibility gains from transport policies have impacted employment and educational outcomes (Cervero et al, 2002;Dawkins et al, 2015;Muralidharan & Prakash, 2017). Implicit in most of this literature, and to some extent in the empirical chapters of this thesis, is this idea that promoting greater access to opportunities for disadvantaged groups will in the long run improve their social and economic outcomes and contribute to reducing inequalities.…”

Moving away from opportunity? Social networks and access to social services

“…However, the MTO literature found that even when participants are initially required to use their voucher in low-poverty neighbourhoods, many eventually returned to high-poverty neighbourhoods once the requirement had been lifted (Sanbonmatsu et al, 2011). Explanations for the inability to maintain residence in low-poverty neighbourhoods include rising housing costs (Rosenblatt and DeLuca, 2012), a lack of access to vehicle and public transportation (Dawkins et al, 2015; Shroder, 2002) and pre-existing social ties to neighbours and families (De Souza Briggs et al, 2010).…”