Ann Owens

Examines whether new assisted housing programs shape residents’ perceptions of their neighborhood’s disorder and safety. Shows how the demolition of public housing projects reduces neighborhood residents’ perceptions of violence and disorder in their community and shows that neighborhoods where many voucher users live tend to be perceived as less safe by residents.

Examines how the transition from public housing projects to a combination of traditional projects, vouchers, and new types of developments affects neighborhood poverty and poverty concentration. Shows that poverty rates do not decline in neighborhoods where public housing is lost and poverty rates increase in neighborhoods where voucher users move, and that the geographic deconcentration of subsidized housing has not led to a deconcentration of poverty in U.S. metro areas.

Examines how communities have fared in the Great Recession in terms of poverty, vacancy, and unemployment rates. Shows that reductions in neighborhood well-being were borne unequally across neighborhoods during the recession, with already disadvantaged and minority communities experiencing larger increases in poverty, vacancy, and particularly unemployment rates, suggesting that the Great Recession has intensified inequality among neighborhoods.

Provides an account of the types of neighborhoods in which socioeconomic conditions improved in each decade from 1970 to the late 2000s. Shows that white suburban neighborhoods make up the bulk of neighborhoods experiencing socioeconomic improvements but minority and immigrant neighborhoods became increasingly likely to ascend over time.

Finds that children from disadvantaged neighborhoods have lower high school and college graduation rates when attending school with more advantaged peers, while children from advantaged neighborhoods receive an additional boost when attending school with more advantaged peers.