Immigrant Culture and Housing Provision, Examining the Nexus: A Case Study of the ACTS Landmark Housing Program and Its Hmong Participants (3-Volume Dissertation)

Author: Lynne M. Dearborn

Dissertation School: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Pages: 493

Publication Date: May 2004

Availability:
Available from the HUD USER Helpdesk P.O. Box 23268 Washington, DC 20026-3268 Toll Free: 1-800-245-2691 Fax: 1-202-708-9981 Email: oup@oup.org

Access Number: 10787

Abstract:

Purpose: In the 21st century, with the number of immigrant households predicted to increase to an all-time high in the United States, housing provision, which takes advantage of cultural characteristics of immigrant groups, may provide extremely useful models to overcome social and economic constraints in the housing market. There is ample evidence that immigrants already represent a substantial number of those in the United States with significant housing-related problems. This dissertation aims to document a particular model of housing provision which has successfully accommodated a group of Hmong immigrants who have experienced significant adversity during their 25-year history in this country. Further, this dissertation examines ties between the processes and outcomes of this model and the distinctly non-western culture of its immigrant participants. This study is based upon a theoretical framework of residential choice, which posits that residential ideals and goals are closely tied to social and behavioral patterns and physical norms of immigrants' original culture. By studying the operation of the ACTS (Allied Churches Teaching Self-sufficiency) Landmark Housing Program and low- and moderate-income Hmong who have become homeowners through ACTS, this study seeks to examine ways that this non-profit organization builds upon and provides for social and behavioral patterns and physical norms of Hmong culture.

Methodology: The proposed study in an ethnomethodology that seeks to identify links between Hmong culture and experience, and residential choice within the confines of a successful non-profit housing program. The study is proposed as a qualitative, two-stage, case study because it can provide in-depth understanding and documentation of the program, its mechanisms and outcomes, from multiple perspectives. Within the limits of a single case, the study will document a successful housing provision model and will identify ways that the model's processes and outcomes facilitate choice and dovetail with Hmong culture and experience.

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