When Only a House Makes a Home: How Home Selection Matters in the Residential Mobility Decisions of Lower-Income, Inner-City African American Families

Abstract

The correlation between neighborhood poverty and poor life-course outcomes is well documented. However, when examining residential mobility, scholars frequently neglect the role of dwelling in housing decisions and its potential contribution to the reproduction of concentrated poverty. Based on in-depth interviews with 40 lower-income African American mothers residing in Baltimore, this article illustrates how resource-constrained households give priority to dwelling attributes (including size, type, and unit amenities) when conducting a housing search and then satisfice on neighborhood-level criteria. This elucidates why some households remain in resource-poor neighborhoods even when they acquire the means to live in more affluent areas. The mothers’ narratives further reveal the strategies they use to mitigate their perception of neighborhood danger, allowing their residential selection to pivot primarily on fulfilling perceived dwelling needs. This research widens sociological awareness to a broader range of mechanisms reproducing neighborhood inequality and also offers new insight as to why housing policy often fails to deconcentrate poverty.