College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.
West Coast Poverty Center summarizes research findings by Lynne Manzo, Lansdcape Architecture, and her colleague, Rachel Kleit.
Monday April 2008UW's West Coast Poverty Center featured Lynne Manzo and colleague Rachel Kleit's research "To Move or not to Move: Relationships to Place and Relocation Choices in HOPE VI" in the March 2008 Poverty Research Flash. HOPE, or Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere has granted funds to redevelop public housing sites since 1993. As these sites are redeveloped, the number of available units usually decreases, and residents must decide whether to relocate temporarily during construction, relocate to different public housing developments, or to move to the private market using a housing voucher. Manzo and Kleit's research examined the forces that shape these decisions in the High Point HOPE VI project in Seattle, and found that a majority, 60%, of respondents indicated initially a preference to return to the High Point site after redevelopment. They also found however, that initial preferences and actual behavior did not match, and that the gap between the two suggests that residents face difficulties in exercising their choices in the housing market. The research findings are published in Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2006), and summarized in the UW's West Coast Poverty Center's newsletter, which also includes a video interview with Manzo and Kleit.
For more on this story, please vist The West Coast Poverty Center online.