Affordable Housing and School Segregation

Research Minutes podcast

Students who reside in federally subsidized housing can face significantly higher levels of racial and economic isolation in school, according to a new study. The study, coauthored by Jennifer Holme (University of Texas at Austin) and Erica Frankenberg (Penn State University), examined attendance zones and school composition across four large counties in Texas. Their team found that public housing and Low Income Housing Tax Credit-financed housing were predominantly zoned to racially and economically isolated schools, and that developments were associated with especially high levels of economic and racial isolation for Black and Latinx students. Holme and Frankenberg join CPRE Knowledge Hub managing editor Keith Heumiller to discuss those and other findings, and some important implications for stakeholders across the country.