Doctoral Dissertation Research: Affordable Housing and Support Networks in U.S. Cities

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This project will analyze how privately owned affordable housing - the most prevalent type of project-based subsidized housing in the US - affects low-income communities. Specifically, it will evaluate affordable housing's effect on the formation of support networks or groups of individuals who depend on each other for material, service, and information-based assistance. This project will compare support network formation in affordable housing with support network formation in market-rate rental housing. The objective in this comparison is to identify the characteristics of affordable housing, such as the physical design of housing complexes and the rules and regulations required for tenancy, which may influence the formation of support networks among neighbors. The comparison will be made using original survey and interview data collected in a low-income neighborhood in the City of San Diego. The survey data will be statistically analyzed to identify patterns of support network formation within and between the two housing environments. The interview data will then be used to explain the social processes underpinning the patterns identified in the statistical analysis. The findings will contribute to sociological theory of housing and social capital while also increasing knowledge of the US social safety net. This project will help the providers of affordable housing understand its residents' ability to access resources needed for daily life and socioeconomic mobility. This project makes available to affordable housing providers a method of collecting and analyzing data to evaluate their housing services.