An Examination of the Social and Physical Environment of Public Housing Residents in Two Chicago Developments in Transition

AAnn EExxaammiinnaattiioonn ooff tthhee SSoocciiaall aanndd PPhhyyssiiccaall EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt ooff PPuubblliicc HHoouussiinngg RReessiiddeennttss iinn TTwwoo CChhiiccaaggoo DDeevveellooppmmeennttss iinn TTrraannssiittiioonn Caterina G. Roman Carly Knight THE URBAN INSTITUTE Washington, DC MAY 2010 Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the many people who are collaborating to bring the Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration to life. We thank the dedicated staff of Heartland Human Care Services and Housing Choice Partners for their careful and compassionate work. We are grateful for the support of the Chicago Housing Authority, which has been a genuine partner in designing, funding, and advancing both the service model and the research evaluation for the demonstration. And our thanks to the residents of Wells/ Madden Park and Dearborn Homes for their willingness to take part both in the new services and the research. We would also like to thank the funders who are supporting the Demonstration: the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the John D. Rockefeller Foundation, the Partnership for New Communities, and JPMorgan Chase. Their vision has supported what we hope is a new model of services for distressed public housing residents. Finally, for this report, we would like to thank Susan Popkin, Brett Theodos, Liza Getsinger and Joe Parilla who are part of the research team at the Urban Institute. We are also grateful to our reviewers for their thoughtful comments. About the Authors Caterina Roman is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. Prior to joining Temple University in 2008, Dr. Roman had been a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. During her time at the Urban Institute, she was the lead on the evaluation component of the Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration. Her research interests include policy and programming related to prisoner reentry; gang violence; the role of community organizations and institutions in crime prevention and neighborhood well-being; the effectiveness of community justice partnerships; and the spatial and temporal relationship between neighborhood characteristics and violence. Carly Knight is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Her research interests include poverty and social disorganization and methodological innovations in studying neighborhood poverty, crime, and disorder. Photographs on cover, from left to right: Wells/Madden photo by Megan Gallagher (2005); Oakwood Shores Development photo by Megan Gallagher (2005); and Dearborn Homes photo by Valerie Wright (2008). Examining the Physical and Social Environment of Public Housing Residents CCoonntteennttss INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................... 1 THE SITES AND SAMPLE............................................................................................................................. 4 Wells/Madden .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Dearborn Homes ................................................................................................................................................ 4 FINDINGS FROM THE BASELINE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY....................................................................................... 5 Household Characteristics and Health................................................................................................................ 5 Perceptions of Neighborhood Crime and Disorder ............................................................................................. 9 Perceptions of Social Capital............................................................................................................................ 13 Perceptions of Housing Quality ....................................................................................................................... 16 Relationship between Resident Characteristics and Neighborhood & Housing Environment ........................... 17 The Environmental Factors Contributing to Poor Mental Health ....................................................................... 19 SUMMARY............................................................................................................................................ 22 Toward Innovative Solutions for Hard to House Residents of Public Housing ................................................. 22 REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................... 25 APPENDIX A. PATH ANALYSIS: DESCRIPTION AND TABULAR RESULTS.............................