Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Housing Insecurity
Start Date
28-6-2021 10:55 AM
End Date
28-6-2021 11:40 AM
Topic
Systematic Inequities or Institutional Discrimination
Session Chair
Tomoko Udo
Abstract
Racial and ethnic inequalities in housing tenure persist well into the 21st century, with Blacks and Hispanics being significantly more likely to rent their homes than Whites, thereby having less access to wealth than Whites via homeownership. Moreover, racial and ethnic disparities have existed in housing cost burdens with greater shares of Black and Hispanic renters being severely cost-burdened than Whites. In recent years, researchers have examined a particularly dire consequence of housing insecurity – eviction. The association between race and ethnicity and eviction outcomes needs further exploration, however. Data on evictions are limited. Since the coronavirus pandemic, little research has examined housing insecurity among renters or the eviction of renters, and no research, to our knowledge, has examined racial and ethnic differences in housing insecurity or eviction. The federal government has enacted policies that could mitigate the economic harm of the pandemic on renters, which could impact racial and ethnic disparities in housing insecurity and eviction.
This study seeks to build upon and expand the existing literature on housing insecurity and eviction using data from the Household Pulse Survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2020. We fulfill three objectives. First, we document racial and ethnic differences in housing insecurity and likelihood of eviction. Second, we examine those relationships, controlling for relevant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Finally, we conduct these analyses for the U.S., overall, New York State, California, Texas, and Florida. We examine these four states because they are the largest states in the U.S. in terms of their populations. In addition, these four states received nearly 30% of the $25 billion in ERA from the Emergency COVID-19 Relief Bill. Moreover, New York and California currently have state-based eviction moratoriums in place, but Texas and Florida do not.
Our preliminary results reveal that race and ethnicity are significantly associated with housing insecurity in the U.S., New York, California, Texas, and Florida. Controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors, Blacks are significantly more likely than Whites to report not being caught up on their rent in all places; Hispanics are disadvantaged, relative to Whites, in all places except Texas and Florida. With respect to the analyses of eviction likelihood, Hispanic renters in the U.S., Florida, and Texas are significantly less likely than Whites to report being very likely to be evicted, relative to reporting that they would not be at all likely to be evicted. The finding from our eviction results in the New York State full model for Blacks is concerning – Blacks are significantly more likely than Whites to report that they would be very likely to be evicted, relative to reporting that they would not be at all likely to be evicted. Housing is linked to people’s well-being, and our results suggest that post-pandemic housing insecurity could have implications for minority health disparities.
Author Bio
(Presenter)
Dr. Friedman is an Associate Professor and Internship Director of Sociology and the Director of the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis. Her research focuses on housing market discrimination, racial and ethnic segregation, and disparities in residential attainment by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, nativity status, and religion. In 2015, Dr. Friedman completed a yearlong Fulbright fellowship in Turkey studying residential segregation and housing inequality by socioeconomic status. She is currently studying racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality in New York City and in pediatric asthma in metropolitan America. Dr. Friedman is also examining racial and ethnic disparities in eviction among renters and the role of housing tenure as it relates to disaster preparedness among Hispanics. Dr. Friedman has published articles in several journals including Demography, City & Community, and Urban Studies and is co-author of The Housing Divide: How Generations of Immigrants Fare in New York’s Housing Market (2007).
I am a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at UAlbany.
Yi Lu is a Ph.D. student and graduate assistant at the Department of Sociology, SUNY at Albany. Her research interests lie in class and inequality, immigration and transnationalism, parenting, and education. She is now studying how social class impacts parenting patterns and educational choices in Chinese immigrant families. Firstly, in a broader picture, Yi is desired to understand how macro mechanisms, specifically class, gender, and race, intersectionally produce micro-level inequality. Second, she is eager to know how transnational contexts produce and reproduce these inequalities. Born and raised in China, Yi did her undergrad in Taipei, Taiwan. She holds dual bachelor's degrees in Journalism and Economics from Chinese Culture University. She also went to the master's program in Asian-Pacific Studies at National Cheng-chi University. After spending five years in Taiwan, she came to the US and embarked on her graduate study in sociology at SUNY at Albany. Living and studying in different social contexts stimulates Yi to constantly reflect the dynamic between being a majority and being a minority. Yi likes bubble tea, coffee, plants, and Samoyed. Besides reading and writing, Yi enjoys playing the piano, listening to jazz, and taking a stroll. Keeping walking both physically and mentally enriches Yi's imagination in both daily life and academic endeavors.
Document Type
Extended Abstract
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Housing Insecurity
Racial and ethnic inequalities in housing tenure persist well into the 21st century, with Blacks and Hispanics being significantly more likely to rent their homes than Whites, thereby having less access to wealth than Whites via homeownership. Moreover, racial and ethnic disparities have existed in housing cost burdens with greater shares of Black and Hispanic renters being severely cost-burdened than Whites. In recent years, researchers have examined a particularly dire consequence of housing insecurity – eviction. The association between race and ethnicity and eviction outcomes needs further exploration, however. Data on evictions are limited. Since the coronavirus pandemic, little research has examined housing insecurity among renters or the eviction of renters, and no research, to our knowledge, has examined racial and ethnic differences in housing insecurity or eviction. The federal government has enacted policies that could mitigate the economic harm of the pandemic on renters, which could impact racial and ethnic disparities in housing insecurity and eviction.
This study seeks to build upon and expand the existing literature on housing insecurity and eviction using data from the Household Pulse Survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2020. We fulfill three objectives. First, we document racial and ethnic differences in housing insecurity and likelihood of eviction. Second, we examine those relationships, controlling for relevant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Finally, we conduct these analyses for the U.S., overall, New York State, California, Texas, and Florida. We examine these four states because they are the largest states in the U.S. in terms of their populations. In addition, these four states received nearly 30% of the $25 billion in ERA from the Emergency COVID-19 Relief Bill. Moreover, New York and California currently have state-based eviction moratoriums in place, but Texas and Florida do not.
Our preliminary results reveal that race and ethnicity are significantly associated with housing insecurity in the U.S., New York, California, Texas, and Florida. Controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors, Blacks are significantly more likely than Whites to report not being caught up on their rent in all places; Hispanics are disadvantaged, relative to Whites, in all places except Texas and Florida. With respect to the analyses of eviction likelihood, Hispanic renters in the U.S., Florida, and Texas are significantly less likely than Whites to report being very likely to be evicted, relative to reporting that they would not be at all likely to be evicted. The finding from our eviction results in the New York State full model for Blacks is concerning – Blacks are significantly more likely than Whites to report that they would be very likely to be evicted, relative to reporting that they would not be at all likely to be evicted. Housing is linked to people’s well-being, and our results suggest that post-pandemic housing insecurity could have implications for minority health disparities.