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27 Clearinghouse Rev. 335 (1993-1994)
Housing Mobility and Life Opportunities

handle is hein.journals/clear27 and id is 335 raw text is: Housing Mobility and Life Opportunities by Florence Wagman Roisman and Hilary Botein* M any poor people of color in the United States are isolated and segregated in neighborhoods that are egregiously underserved by govern- ment and private facilities. The social conditions associ- ated with the isolation and segregation are devastating: terrible housing, inadequate schools, dangerous condi- tions, lack of employment opportunities, rampant dis- ease, and high and early mortality.' The isolation and segregation were set in place and long maintained by a hostile, dominant white majority: by laws requiring seg- regation, and by violence and pervasive public and pri- vate arrangements enforcing it.2 This article discusses one effective way of redressing segregation and isolation: housing mobility programs. These programs have been used in several communities to enable poor people of color to leave segregated, im- poverished, underserved areas for predominantly white neighborhoods with better facilities and resources. Hous- ing mobility has been remarkably successful in enabling people to improve their lives. Although mobility is not the only remedy for separate and unequal neighborhoods, it is crucially important.3 This article reviews the value of housing mobility, the nature of existing housing mo- bility programs, and ways in which advocates can partici- pate in creating and implementing housing mobility programs.4 I. The Value of Housing Mobility he value of housing mobility is shown in a variety of ways. Some individuals who have moved speak about leaving a nightmare for quiet, safe, attractive homes in well-served neighborhoods. Now I enjoy going to school, I enjoy working, I enjoy * Florence Wagman Roisman is a staff attorney with the National Housing Law Project, 122 C St. NW, Suite 680, Washington, DC 20001-2109, (202) 783-5140. Hilary Botein is a law student at Northeastern Law School. The authors thank Alex Polikoff, Elizabeth K. Julian, Michael M. Daniel, Karen V. Hill, Linda Blake, Michael Collins, Joseph Feuerherd, Madeline Hoffman, Marissa Manos, John Schrider, and Philip Tegeler. They are grateful to Susan Mondoa for typing assistance. The authors take full responsibility for all errors in their article. I See, e.g., DOUGLAS S. MASSEY & NANCY A. DENTON, AMERICAN APARTHEID: SEGREGATION AND THE MAKING OF THE UNDERCLASS (1993); Douglas S. Massey, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, 96 AMER. J. SOC. 329 (1990); DAVID T. ELLWOOD, POOR SUPPORT: POVERTY IN THE AMERICAN FAMILY 189-215 (1988). 2 MASSEY & DENTON, supra note 1, at 17-59; A. Leon Higginbotham, et al., De Jure Housing Segregation in the United States and South Africa: The Difficult Pursuit for Racial Justice, 1990 U. ILL. L. REV. 765 (1990); Elizabeth Julian & Michael Daniel, Separate and Unequal-The Root and Branch of Public Housing Segregation, 23 CLEARINGHOUSE REV. 666 (Oct. 1989); HERBERT SHAPIRO, WHITE VIOLENCE AND BLACK RESPONSE: FROM RECONSTRUCTION TO MONTGOMERY (1988). Contemporary observers debate whether and to what extent the initial forced segregation now is compounded by other factors, such as continued external discrimination and segregation, economic forces, or personal failures of isolated people. See also MICHAEL B. KATZ, THE UNDESERVING POOR: FROM THE WAR ON POVERTY TO THE WAR ON WELFARE (1989). 3 Professor John Calmore has been an eloquent advocate for spatial equality. John 0. Calmore, Spatial Equality and the Kerner Commission Report: A Back-to-the-Future Essay, 71 N.C. L. REV. 1801 (1993); John 0. Calmore, To Make Wrong Right: The Necessary and Proper Aspirations of Fair Housing, in THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA 1989 77 (1989); John 0. Calmore, Fair Housing vs. Fair Housing: The Problems with Providing Housing Opportunities Through Spatial Deconcentration, 14 CLEARINGHOUSE REV. 7 (May 1980). 4 The authors believe that this is the first published collection of information about housing mobility programs throughout the country, and hope to participate in developing further information and analysis. CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW readers should contact them regarding pertinent material and ideas. Clearinghouse Review n Special Issue 1993 335

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