The Impact of Rental Housing on Neighborhood Racial and Social Integration

Abstract

Neighborhood racial and class segregation continue to be major social problems within America's metropolitan areas. Segregation has been linked to a whole host of racial and class inequalities, including access to jobs, schooling and single parenthood, and future earnings. One factor accounting for segregation is the inability of black and lower income households to afford housing in white neighborhoods, where housing units historically have been largely owner-occupied single-family homes. In recent years there has been a shift in the housing makeup of many of these neighborhoods, with rentals and foreclosures increasing in share. This has made housing more affordable in these neighborhoods. In this paper we investigate the impact that foreclosures and three types of rentals (single-family, condominium, and apartments) have on neighborhood racial and income integration using data from Miami-Dade County, Florida. We find that neighborhoods have become more racially and socially integrated as rentals have increased as a share of the housing stock.