How Does the Location of Affordable Housing Impact Educational Opportunities?
Thus far, it has been explained how local funds and parental fundraising influence the educational outcomes of students from the poorer communities. That conclusion can be more or less generalized throughout neighborhoods in this country. But what do we know about government housing and education?
The federal government gives billions of dollars in support for low-income families in their acquisition of housing. For decades though, public housing was built intentionally reinforcing residential racial segregation. Housing projects were constructed as all-Black or all-White racially isolated communities. With landlord resistance to the Section 9/HCV programs, low-income renters continue to face a shortage of affordable apartments in the suburbs which has reinforced patterns of segregation. This de facto racial and economic segregation directly impacts the schooling experience and quality of education for children in public housing
One study examined the characteristics of elementary and middle schools attended by students living in public housing in New York City. It was found that a typical school attended by a public housing student had higher concentrations of students eligible for free and reduced lunch as well as a higher population of Black and Latinx students.
In a study done by Jennifer Holme and colleagues, they examine how these subsidized housing programs relate to patterns of school segregation for children. They examined the location of subsidized housing, district boundaries, and school attendance boundaries in four diverse Texas counties. They then examined patterns of segregation between schools with and without subsidized housing in their attendance zones. The results showed that subsidized public housing is zoned to racially and economically isolated schools. To hear the authors speak more about their study, you can listen to this youtube video.
Holmes et al discovered that there is a “racial dividend” that protects White students from attending a school with high poverty levels, regardless of what type of housing is in his or her attendance zone as seen in the chart below. In other words, White students are, on average, in more advantaged schools concerning poverty exposure than Black and Latinx students. This is likely because of the history of housing segregation.
