Social Integration of Low-Income Black Adults in Middle-Class White Suburbs

Abstract

To examine whether racial and socioeconomic integration leads to social isolation, the authors studied participants in the Gautreaux Program which helps low-income black families move into better housing in white middle-class suburbs and black inner-city neighborhoods. A random sample of 342 Gautreaux participants were surveyed, and 95 were interviewed. Surprisingly, little difference exists in the overall social integration of people moving to the suburban and city neighborhoods. Both groups report making friends in their new communities and report about the same level of interaction with and support from neighbors. Suburban movers experience more incidents of harassment, but these incidents decrease over time, and most were relatively minor. These findings suggest that the difficulties that low-income blacks face in moving to middle-class white communities are less severe than is generally believed and that housing vouchers are a promising way to overcome the isolation of the black underclass.