“Everyone Is Waiting on Pins and Needles”: Resident Experiences of Public Housing Redevelopment and Residential Displacement

Background and Purpose:

The federal public housing program seeks to provide affordable, decent, and stable housing for low-income individuals, but decades of disinvestment have led to poor physical and social conditions in the nation’s public housing. Large-scale efforts to demolish and rebuild severely distressed public housing through policies such as HOPE VI have created some positive contextual changes for communities, but have also resulted in large-scale displacement of residents. In response, newer policy models addressing poor conditions in public housing include phased redevelopment plans that limit the proportion of residents displaced and the length of displacement. However, there is limited research assessing these new models. As such, we ask: how do public housing residents in a community undergoing phased redevelopment perceive the effects of community redevelopment and residential displacement on their households and community?

Methods:

We conducted in-depth interviews with 61 residents aged 18-92 (39% Hispanic, 20% White, 16% Black, 15% Asian, and 10% multiracial) from a large urban public housing development in New England undergoing redevelopment into a mixed-income community. We also conducted 10 participant observations of community meetings and relocation counseling meetings with individual households required to relocate as part of the redevelopment. We took field notes during the participant observations and transcribed in-depth interviews verbatim. We used a team-based Reflexive Thematic Analysis approach to analyze the data through iterative coding, memoing, and theme generation.

Results:

Our results revealed several key themes, including the role of prior housing instability in shaping participants’ perceptions of the redevelopment, loss of home and community, and tenuous hope. The majority of participants endorsed past housing inconsistency, with almost half reporting that they came to their current apartment from a shelter or homelessness. Participants' histories of residential instability led many to frame the redevelopment as a potent, anxiety-provoking threat. Uncertainty about redevelopment drove fear of displacement and distrust about whether and when the redevelopment or another forced move might take place. Despite assurances from the Housing Authority and the redevelopment company, participants expressed distrust and notable worries about the upcoming redevelopment and the possibility of being displaced from their homes and communities. Though participants shared a pervasive sense of uncertainty, many also expressed tenuous hope that the redevelopment would improve housing quality and neighborhood conditions and that they would be able to remain in the community to enjoy these improvements.

Conclusions and Implications:

Findings highlight the importance of attending to the complexities of public housing residents’ experiences to mitigate the stressors of public housing redevelopment and relocation. While the redevelopment aims to improve housing and neighborhood conditions, distrust and uncertainty about the process amplified fear and stress, particularly for residents with histories of housing instability. Trauma-informed, resident-engaged redevelopment approaches that prioritize transparency and resident choice could bolster individual and community wellbeing and encourage residents to return to the community following displacement. Social work research building on this study’s findings could inform such practices and support their formal integration into affordable housing policy, promoting novel approaches that minimize stress and strengthen existing communities.