Housing mobility investigation by Social Justice News Nexus Fellows Meribah Knight and Maya Dukmasova

Since a U.S. Supreme Court decision, a new federal rule, landmark academic studies and other policy developments in recent months, there is renewed urgency behind housing authorities’ push for “mobility” of low-income subsidized housing tenants nationwide. It is seen as a key way to improve lives and fulfill legal mandates to address segregation. But despite the chance to move to wealthier, often whiter neighborhoods, many holders of Housing Choice Vouchers remain in segregated, impoverished areas. And even those who do move to “better” neighborhoods have problematic experiences. We will look in-depth at mobility programs in Chicago, Dallas and Baltimore, probing the problems and highlighting the successes of these programs through data and human stories.