Racial/Ethnic Differences in Housing Insecurity: Evidence from the Household Pulse Survey, 2021–2022

Abstract

The growing body of research of the eviction process and forced moves in general is mixed regarding racial/ethnic differences, likely resulting from focusing on past experiences with eviction, potential sampling undercoverage, and no controls for housing arrears. Our paper builds on this research and examines racial/ethnic disparities in housing insecurity—time spent in rent arrears and perceived likelihood of expulsion—using data on renters from the Household Pulse Survey. Our multivariate analyses show that blacks are significantly more likely than whites to spend a longer time being behind on rent and to expect an expulsion from their housing units, controlling for other factors. Compared to other nonwhite groups, blacks fare the worst in terms of their housing insecurity, relative to whites. Our results reveal that for blacks, long-term housing insecurity likely stems from the persistence of discriminatory housing market processes.