Navigating Networks and Neighborhoods: Residential Mobility of the Urban Poor

Author: Becky Pettit

Dissertation School: Princeton University

Pages: 206

Publication Date: November 1999

Availability:
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Access Number: 10083

Abstract:
This study examines the experiences of families participating in a housing relocation program in Los Angeles, California. Using data from self-administered baseline surveys, telephone interviews with 284 adults, in-depth interviews with 27 adults, the 1990 Census, and Los Angeles Police Department crime statistics, this dissertation investigates three research questions. First, it documents if and where families move through the program. Second, this project examines whether or not participants are able to establish social connections shortly after moving. Third, this dissertation endeavors to explain how children and parents make or do not make social connections. Young participants, victims of violent crime, and participants with social support in the origin neighborhood are more likely to move to low-poverty neighborhoods than other participants. Moving is harder on the social connections of teenagers than young children. Furthermore, moving to low-poverty neighborhoods moderates the negative effects of moving on social connections for teens and parents. The pattern of results persists even when instrumental variable estimations adjust for factors that influence the probability of moving. The author concludes that residential mobility is an influential and sorely understudied mechanism for the reproduction of inequality.

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