Intentional community: a qualitative analysis of social organization in a mixed-income neighborhood

Thesis

Mixed-income housing policy initiatives in the United States have attempted to reduce the social disorganization associated with concentrated urban poverty. Using a Portland, Oregon HOPE VI project as a single case study site, this thesis examined how residents’ socio-economic status, correlated closely with tenure, informed neighborhood choice, social networks, social exchange and informal social control. The latter three concepts underpin collective efficacy for children, which provided the theoretical framework for this thesis. Research methods relied on 42 in- depth interviews with parents and adolescents from rented and owned homes, 10 in-depth interviews with Housing Authority of Portland staff members and neighborhood observation over a span of four months. The study revealed differences between lower-income renters’ and higher-income owners’ framing of neighborhood choice; these frames informed subsequent approaches to social ties, social exchange, and informal social control in the neighborhood.

Parents’ social networks typically did not span across tenures but adolescents’ networks were more flexible; families’ varied use of Portland’s school choice program influenced the nature of these ties and other elements of social organization in the neighborhood. Institutional resources, in the form of staff employed in youth services and community building efforts, were particularly important to social capital activation among renter families. Finally, governance forums and public spaces informed territoriality in the neighborhood and the related perception of boundaries between rented and owned households. The theoretical implications of this research relate to the utility of mixed-income housing policy as a tool for poverty reduction, as well as how social dynamics are informed by socio-economic status and delineated by physical space.

Authors: Quist, RG

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: social capital; mixed-income; housing
• Subjects: Housing policy