Racial disparities and place effects for housing instability and homelessness in the u.s.

This dissertation examines the effects of race, neighborhood poverty, and racial segregation on homelessness and housing instability in the U.S. African Americans are disproportionately represented in the American homeless population, yet little research has explored this racial inequality. This study contributes to the literature by examining Black-White disparities for multiple measures of housing instability, including homelessness, and the individual pathways underlying these differences. In addition, community-level segregation and poverty have helped to explain racial disparities in other outcomes for health and wellbeing. I also examine the effects of community-level segregation and poverty on housing instability and homelessness in general and on racial disparities in particular. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) longitudinal survey, I find that Black mothers have higher odds of experiencing homelessness and doubling-up with others for financial reasons, but no such differences were found for odds of eviction or frequent moves. Additionally, neighborhood poverty and segregation are significant for some measures of housing instability over and above individual socioeconomic characteristics. For homelessness specifically, due to the difficulty obtaining sufficient and quality data, I use two datasets to explore race and place effects for this outcome. Using administrative data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, I find that racial segregation contributes to the disproportionate number of Black persons in the homeless population. Finally, using a restricted sample from the FFCW survey to mirror program targeting, I find that risk factors differ for Black and White mothers for homelessness.