Sociology Professor Studies Housing Effects

Sociology Department Chair Robert J. Sampson and UCLA Sociology Professor Robert D. Mare have begun a study attempting to determine whether mixed-income neighborhoods in Chicago and Los Angeles provide better environments for raising children than neighborhoods that are socio-economically homogeneous.

The study, which draws from previous research taking into account roughly 8,000 residents, is intended to pinpoint specific effects of mixed-income housing, such as a greater number of role models in the immediate community. The researchers said they aim to publish it three years from now.

“Poverty is seen as major risk factor for a number of outcomes on adolescents,” Sampson said. “This has led to major policy changes in the United States and a new set of academic studies to try to understand it.”

According to Sampson, the study focuses on the impact that mixed-income neighborhoods have on residents’ “physical and mental health.”

Early returns seem to imply that  mixed-income communities provide improved quality-of-life, Sampson said, which he said was “not surprising.”

Benefits ranged from better mental health to improved racial heterogeneity.

This type of diversification is sometimes buffered by institutional presence, added Sampson, who specifically cited the University of Chicago’s outreach efforts to the community of Hyde Park in facilitating greater income diversification.

Additionally, Sampson said that municipalities and institutions might spur families living in low-income areas to leave their socio-economically homogeneous community by either physically destroy the existing facilities or provide vouchers to incentivize their relocation.

Mare said that the researchers hope that, by choosing two cities that are almost completely different from one another, they produce findings will be highly generalizable.

Mare also stressed the issue of stability, saying that while the benefits of mixed-income environments add greatly to the quality of life these communities, the study also hopes to determine whether these positive outcomes are sustainable.

—Staff writer Gautam S. Kumar can be reached at gkumar@college.harvard.edu.