Housing Inequality in AmericaMain MenuThe Generational Illusion: An EssayAn Essay by Collin AndrewsEnvironmental Racism: How Residential Segregation Shapes Environmental InequalityHistoric Preservation Coast to CoastTitle PageNative American Housing: How Poor Housing Harms Indigenous HealthHow Poor Housing Harms Indigenous HealthPets & Housing: It's "Ruff" by Katie ClineHow NIMBYism Exacerbates Housing InequalityWhere's the Wealth!How Housing Discrimination has led to racial wealth inequality in the United StatesImmigrant Housing Inequality in AmericaIswat JinadSurveillance InequalityAn investigation into how poor communities are oversurveilled creating a cycle of more targeted and aggressive forms of surveillance for them and those around them.Post-WWII Urban Flight and the Birth of the SuburbsHousing Discrimination in Suburban AmericaRace, Repressive State Apparatus, and Homelessness: From Colonialism to COVID-19Tina NandiHousing Inequality and Access to Quality EducationMQ: Title PageVisualizing racial housing discriminationSplash page for path that includes interactive resources regarding racial housing discriminationProject information and creditsAndy Schocket278555063cc66428c8eadf42f48d412091c5aaf9Melissa Laddab8653014603439710b65435181f2130cee53400Andrew Bartelc9a57442f34fea7858b734ce98f4ec79bd5565b0Collin Andrewsf69afa6ae7fb0f33058b9e0cb476f7451a667cefTina Nandi6e38643c2c1510534cce4e954f0eeb8108bce699Iswat Jinad196dd805bf51f7a46fbf2d94ab069e97fc004d75Marcus Harris7e23857364c2363b25872718aea81323bdd37773James Cousinoe9398a1542d344c824ddaaf967819ae589cd2b61Katie Cline512add1943f75cbd770d4788dcdea90b706922c4Trisha A Bonham7fa13b399c9331700d719225b96f3bf9e54c4570Rene Oswald Ayalac01cc7385c24c3926f2f03a40860f6a4f703f410Kristine Ketel826fdfc33a24cff2c1e0ab79396dd2ae2bae3ed9Morgan Quinleyc8a47798c223cced64347bc9a7d80f6a64402e45
IJ citation 12
12022-12-08T10:26:00-08:00Iswat Jinad196dd805bf51f7a46fbf2d94ab069e97fc004d75412371plain2022-12-08T10:26:00-08:00Iswat Jinad196dd805bf51f7a46fbf2d94ab069e97fc004d75Bottia, Martha Cecilia. “Residential Segregation and Immigrants’ Outcomes.” Immigrant Integration and Immigrant Segregation: The Relationship Between School and Housing Segregation and Immigrants’ Futures in the U.S. Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep27199.10.
This page is referenced by:
1media/Immigrants Housing.gif2022-12-03T12:19:54-08:00Impact of Housing Inequality on Immigrants in the United States34plain2022-12-20T19:29:30-08:00Martha Cecilia Bottia in her article, “Residential Segregations; Immigrants Outcomes,” examines the experience of immigrants with residential segregation. Bottia draws attention to the impact of housing segregation on the life prospect and academic aspiration of children of immigrants. Using a 2010 census report that details the racial configuration of immigrants and housing challenges, Bottia's essay shows that “many immigrants live in urban systems that also tend to have higher level of poverty” (Bottia 16). Housing segregation often translates into unequal educational opportunity and low life prospect for these children of immigrants. As Bottia further explains, immigrant children populate underdeveloped urban areas with high levels of social segregation and corresponding poverty rate. It has been established that immigrants exhibit improved housing access with improved income and job opportunities. Similarly, poor housing access often translates into poor life prospects.
Another major impact of immigrant housing segregation is overcrowding. Overcrowding increases the spread of communicable diseases. According to Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler,overcrowding is common among immigrant workers in the United States. As reported by the Census Bureau of Statistics in 2018, 14.3 percent of immigrant workers live in overpopulated housing. This is four times the 3.5 percent of native-born workers residing in overpopulated housing (Camarota & Zeigler 2020). Immigrants represent one-third of workers living in overpopulated housing in 24 states across the United States.
Camarota and Zeigler clearly illustrate the possibility of immigrant-crowded housing as a result of low paid jobs. The researchers also detailed the role of overcrowded housing in the pandemic outbreak. It was established that overcrowding is more common among underpaid immigrant workers. These immigrant workers are usually factory/production laborers. From the study carried out by Camarota and Zeigler, 16.5 percent of low-paid immigrants live in overcrowded houses compared to 4.4 percent of native-born low wage workers. Immigrants comprise 18.3 percent of all “production workers” but occupied 45.9 percent of those in overpopulated housing conditions. This statistic also indicates that even with the possibility of equal job earnings among immigrants and native-born, immigrants are more likely to live in overcrowded housing than their native-born counterparts. This implies that income is not the sole predicator of overpopulated housing experience among immigrants.
As also evident in Camarota and Zeigler’s report, overpopulated housing is common among immigrant workers. Hence, overpopulated housing by implication may lead to poor health conditions. Many studies have investigated how immigrants’ lack of access to quality housing impact their health. The poor condition of an immigrant's house may be hazardous to their health and that of their children. According to Jaime Ballard et al., immigrants are prone to poor health conditions due to the deplorable state of housing. These may include lack of basic amenities, exposure to extreme weather conditions due to poor insulation, pest infestation, and mold, among others. Ballard et al. note that often time, some exploitive rental agents or homeowners take it upon the tenants to repair or maintain the building. Unfortunately, there are limited affordable housing alternatives for these immigrants due to some discriminatory policies or housing accessibility. These unsafe houses expose immigrants and their children to health implications such as asthma, diarrhea, and mental health issues.
More recently, news reporter Ashley Balcerzak reports immigrant housing crisis in New Jersey. According to the news article, a housing insecurity survey was conducted in Elizabeth, Passaic, and Perth Amboy on immigrant apartment renters' experience. The Immigrant Advocacy Group Make the Road New Jersey conducted a poll among 400 tenants in the areas to examine the cause of the soaring rental prices in New Jersey. The result of the survey indicates that one out of every five people interviewed stay in a dangerous/unsafe apartment. Particularly, immigrants are conditioned to live in a poor and unsafe housing conditions with no hope for repair or renovation. It is also noteworthy that these tenants sacrifice some of their necessities to afford house rent as they have no access to government housing benefits. The immigrant advocacy group reports 58,000 eviction cases filed by New Jersey homeowners in the first half of the year.
Another impact of immigrant housing discrimination is that it puts the children of immigrants at a comparative educational disadvantage since immigrants and their children dwell in rural areas with no access to quality education. According to Bottia, immigrant status shapes children’s school and neighborhood experiences. In fact, studies show that “immigrant children experience school segregation due to race, poverty, and linguistic isolation” (Bottia 10). Thus “the ethnic, socioeconomic and language segregation has negative effects on the quality of schools immigrant children attend”. This may affect their life aspiration and achievement. Also, research shows that immigrant housing inequality may expose immigrant neighborhoods to a higher risk of crime and poverty.