Homeplace: Care and resistance among public housing residents facing mixed-income redevelopment.

Abstract

Low-income communities of color experience significant political, economic, and health inequities and, not unrelatedly, are disproportionately exposed to violent crime than are residents of higher income communities. In an effort to mitigate concentrations of poverty and crime, governmental agencies have partnered with affordable housing developers to redevelop public housing "projects" into mixed-income communities and to do so within a "trauma-informed" framework. The current study analyzes how residents have historically and contemporaneously negotiated, endured, and resisted structural and interpersonal violence in 2 long-standing, predominately African American, public housing communities undergoing a public-private housing redevelopment initiative. Interviews with 44 adult public housing residents (age range ϭ 18 -75 years; 82% African American/Black) were conducted during a 2-year period while residents' homes were being demolished and rebuilt into mixed-income communities. Analysis of in-depth interviews used constructivist grounded theory principles to reveal a common theme and basic social process of the ongoing formation of homeplace, with subthemes focusing on the ways homeplace emerges through shared lineage, knowing and caring practices; how homeplace is maintained through networks of protection in unsafe contexts; how homeplace is disrupted as a result of redevelopment activities; and the reclamation of homeplace during redevelopment in the service of hope and healing. These findings offer a nuanced view of resident's lived experiences of place-based trauma and collective resistance and resilience, while also highlighting the place-specific ways in which redevelopment unsettles deeply rooted sociocultural configurations of home and community. Public Policy Relevance StatementThis study highlights the ways in which elevating community voices in public policy assessments, using the case of housing policy, can inform how to best maintain community strengths. Findings reveal the complex ways that collective resilience operates in low-income communities of color and suggest that community strengths be incorporated into housing interventions aiming to enact structural, community and interpersonal change.

Health care utilization among women of reproductive age living in public housing: Associations across six public housing sites in San Francisco

“…For example, within the NHPI subgroup, a large Samoan population resides in San Francisco public housing. ( Hagan et al, 2020 ) Literature has shown that both within and across ethnic subgroups there is variation in health outcomes due to differences in the sociopolitical contexts that groups occupy. ( Gee et al, 2009 , Hagan et al, 2020 ) More robust investigation is needed in samples intentionally designed to address sample size issues across racial/ethnic subgroups in order to better understand implications of findings within this AANHPI/Other group.…”

“…Findings from the qualitative arm of the mixed method study from which these data were obtained provide potential insight into mechanisms driving this variation. ( Hagan et al, 2020 ) Interviews at two public housing sites emphasized that services available to residents were often not targeted to their needs in socially and geographically accessible ways. ( Hagan et al, 2020 ) Such disconnects may partially drive differences in health care utilization in public housing sites where outpatient visits are lower or emergency department visits are higher, although further research is needed to fully elucidate these nuances.…”

“…( Mason, 2022 , San Francisco Planning Department, 2020 ) These units have long been challenged by deterioration due to underfunding and disinvestment, but as housing affordability has become a crisis in San Francisco, the city has redirected attention to programs to rehabilitate public housing stock. ( Dubbin et al, 2019 , Hagan et al, 2020 , San Francisco Planning Department, 2020 ) For the current study, reflecting the aims of the parent studies from which we obtained data, housing sites were limited to those participating in either the HOPE SF program,( Public Housing Task Force, 2007 ) which is San Francisco’s local redesign of the national Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) program focused on redeveloping public housing sites with public–private partnerships in collaboration with the communities, or the Rental Assistance Demonstration(RAD) program, which focuses on renovating physically deteriorated public housing units without redeveloping the whole site. ( Dubbin et al 2019 ) Details about each study are described elsewhere.…”

“…( Dubbin et al 2019 ) Details about each study are described elsewhere. ( Dubbin et al, 2019 , Hagan et al, 2020 ) Briefly, these studies used qualitative interviews from residents and quantitative electronic health record (EHR) data from two large health networks, to understand the impact of public housing transformation programs on health. The current study leveraged EHR data from 4 large hospitals and 18 public clinics that were geocoded by address; records without a valid address were excluded (5% of records).…”

“…We limited to records from 2006 to 2011 in order to ensure that visits occurred before planned renovation and/or redevelopment activities were initiated at any of the sites. ( Dubbin et al, 2019 , Hagan et al, 2020 ).…”