Developing mixed income housing

Mixed-income development refers generally to residential settings in which housing is affordable to individuals and families with different income levels. The term is often applied to projects that include a mix of market-rate and dedicated affordable units (restricted to low-income households) in the same building or development. These units may be mixed in the same hallway, separated in different buildings or on different floors or wings of the same building. City blocks or neighborhoods can also be described as mixed-income when they include a diverse housing stock affordable to residents with a range of income levels.

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In different localities and in different contexts, the term mixed-income may be used to describe different ratios of affordable and market-rate units. Similarly, the determination of what income level (or range of income levels) makes up the affordable units in a mixed-income development may vary, and a variety of subsidy programs may be used and combined to reach the lowest-income households, including Low Income Housing Tax CreditA dollar-for-dollar tax reduction against federal tax liability, provided to developers based on the criteria set out in the states&#; qualified allocations plan. It is the primary source of funding for increasing and preserving supply of affordable rental homes.s and project-based vouchers. All of these factors will vary depending on the community and the type of housing assistance used.

Community revitalization, economic mobility, and other social goals can also influence the target income mix at a particular development. In redevelopment projects, including a greater share of affordable units may be more desirable if the primary goal is to prevent displacement and preserve social networks among existing residents. Setting aside a larger share of units for higher-income residents can lead to better maintenance and amenities in the development (as the development has to compete with market-rate developments) and help to increase economic diversityA description of variety, not equivalent to racial justice or inclusion.. However, the research evidence does not support the hypothesis that mixing lower-income households with higher income households in the same development results in stronger social connections. The evidence to date indicates that interaction across income groups has been limited, with no significant changes in the economic status of families in assisted housing units.

&#;We can foster integrated schools through integrated housing, particularly in areas of the country that are growing,&#; said Megan Gallagher, a principal research associate in Urban&#;s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center and Center on Education Data and Policy. &#;Districts and urban planners could use the same language and the same tools, because in a lot of ways, they're currently working in parallel universes, but their decisions are affecting the same families.&#;
 

Understanding the current barriers to school integration

Just a few blocks away from Yale University sits New Haven&#;s highest-performing public school, the Worthington Hooker School. With the highest English, math, and science test scores in the system, the school has long enticed families to move to its district. But Worthington Hooker doesn&#;t look like the rest of New Haven&#;s public schools.

In a city that&#;s nearly 30 percent white and 5 percent Asian, New Haven&#;s public school enrollment consists of 83 percent Black and Latinx students. Meanwhile, enrollment at Worthington Hooker is about 60 percent white and Asian. These disparities are caused in no small part by long-standing housing segregation, with the school sitting in the affluent East Rock neighborhood, where the median home sales price is more than $500,000.

Generally, school officials rely on an array of strategies&#;offering school choice programs, redrawing school attendance boundaries, and increasing transportation options&#;to overcome housing segregation and integrate public schools. Depending on local context, one, two, or all three of these strategies may not be effective or even viable.

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New Haven largely relies on an intradistrict school choice program, which has produced some success stories, but most of New Haven&#;s public schools still don&#;t represent the community at large. A no-busing rule specific to Worthington Hooker largely prevents students from other neighborhoods and districts from attending the high-performing school and exacerbates demographics disparities. According to Marquelle Middleton, director of school choice and enrollment for New Haven Public Schools, at least six families&#;all Black families&#;from another district with more affordable housing have been offered seats in the past year but have turned them down because they couldn&#;t get their child to or from school.

School choice, according to Gallagher, is largely considered to be &#;a market-driven strategy&#; that brings free market forces into public education to offer families multiple options. By giving families more choice in where their child goes to school, the thinking goes, schools will not re-create the surrounding housing segregation by default. But there are clear shortcomings.

First, to get to the school they&#;ve chosen, families still need physical access, whether that is the ability to walk to a nearby school or access transportation options, which, as Worthington Hooker shows, are not always available. Second, a family might pull their child out of the public system altogether.

Some withdraw from the system because they don&#;t get into their school of choice, which Glenn Carozza, assistant superintendent for school choice, planning, and assignment in the Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina, has seen happen time and again. In Wake County, a new charter school recently opened outside the county lines, and many families decided to move their students into the new school instead of attending their neighborhood public school. &#;It's this balancing act of trying to understand how much you can let choice dictate how your schools are going to look and feel,&#; Carozza said.

Other families may decide to leave their neighborhood school because of families from other schools or districts choosing to attend. Dunia Fernandez, program and policy development adviser for the Los Angeles Unified School District, calls this the &#;unspoken racism&#; of school integration efforts. According to Fernandez, these parents may feel that their neighborhood school is now serving students from outside the community, and that change isn&#;t welcome.

Beyond school choice and transportation, redrawing school assignment boundaries is the other main tool school officials have at their disposal. But this option, too, is fraught. School officials have to seek political backing from local families to redraw the lines, which Middleton has never seen in his five years in New Haven. And even if overcrowding or new school construction necessitate boundary adjustments, community input often leads to new boundary lines that reinforce stark segregation.

Ultimately, the current tools at school officials' disposal are limited because none address the root cause of school segregation&#;housing segregation. But education stakeholders do not have to work toward integration alone. By using data to better understand local relationships between housing and education, school officials can partner with housing stakeholders to address housing segregation and provide students with a diverse, holistic learning experience. 
 

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