The Spatial Concentration of Subsidized Housing - Poverty & Race ...

Cluster Analysis ResultsThe cluster analysis helps to understand why we get moderate concentrationresults in the descriptive analysis. This is due to the fact that subsidy types form atleast two distinct forms of concentration with one at a low or moderate scale and theother at a high or very high concentration. The poverty rates vary depending on thescale and type of subsidy. The level of detail provided in the cluster analysis allowsfor more nuanced policy recommendations based on these differences.Public housing has the highest concentration of the four subsidy types and islocated in the highest poverty areas. This finding is consistent with prior studies onthe location of public housing (Coulibaly et al 1998, Rosenthal 2008). Results areunsurprising given the long history of this large-scale site-based construction program.Demographic and employment changes over time, racial segregation, and urbanrenewal actions led to a concentration of the poorest residents in public housing whichis still current today.But the cluster analysis finds that there are actually two different scales ofpublic housing development which may explain the mixed results in prior studies. Thefirst is small scale development in lower poverty tracts and the other has a very highconcentration of subsidized housing and is located in very high poverty tracts. Thisstudy concludes that there are two different models of public housing constructionresulting in very different concentrations of neighborhood poverty.120