The problem is that neighborhood “opportunity” is difficult to measure, and a controversial concept.
Definition of neighborhood opportunity may only account for poverty rate. This income-focused definition only measures resident characteristics and not neighborhood characteristics that research suggests may support upward mobility, like nearby high-paying jobs, good schools and transportation connectivity. Additionally, actual residents may measure “opportunity” differently, with some people prioritizing neighborhoods near a certain transit line, or near their job, or with lower crime.
With these critiques in mind, the Kinder Institute worked with HHA, leaning on our research-practice partnership model, resulting in our first joint project with the agency. In the process of developing this research, we were able to expand the definition of opportunity and provide critical tools for HHA and the Houston community, including a research brief and an interactive map.
Vouchers, HHA and mobility
The housing choice voucher program, formerly known as “Section 8,” is HHA’s largest housing subsidy program. There are about 17,000 households in HHA’s program, compared to only about 4,200 public housing and tax credit units. The program gives qualifying low-income households a “voucher” to help pay rent at privately run rental properties.
Unlike the public housing program, which concentrates low-income tenants in single neighborhoods and government-run buildings, an explicit goal of the HCV program is the “spatial deconcentration of housing opportunities for persons of lower income,” to quote its enabling legislation. Because participants have a voucher they can take to the broader private rental market, they should be able to move to neighborhoods that can help improve their economic outlook.
But “opportunity neighborhoods” are difficult to define and map for three reasons.
First, the $5 million grant mandated HHA to move residents to neighborhoods with low poverty. Yet, measuring neighborhood opportunity on poverty alone, while easy to do with publicly available data, risks ignoring the spatial and social characteristics of neighborhoods that research suggests can improve upward mobility.
Second, people may want to move to areas with high-performing schools. But measuring school quality also requires both educational policy and mapping expertise.
Third, as mentioned above, different HCV residents may prioritize different neighborhood characteristics. Some may choose being close to jobs as their highest priority, and others may want to be close to high-quality public transit.
With in-house expertise in policy, education, mapping and social science, Kinder Institute researchers collaborated closely with HHA mobility program leaders to land on a definition of neighborhood opportunity that considered five characteristics of opportunity: poverty, school quality, transit access, public safety and jobs. Doing so accounts for different household needs, and provides a neighborhood opportunity metric that actually considers “the neighborhood” and not just the incomes of people within it.
Meanwhile, HHA staff and residents only want to know if a rental unit is inside or outside an opportunity neighborhood. So Kinder Institute researchers created an interactive web map that does just this. The map also contains data on the individual elements of the opportunity neighborhood designation, specifically school test scores, crime risk, transit access and jobs access by neighborhood. The interface allows a user to search by address.
The map also includes information about flood zones, including the FEMA flood risk designation (e.g., 100-year or 500-year flood plain) and the flood extent from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 based on satellite imagery. This overlay can help a family understand whether a “high-opportunity” area is also safe from climate-related hazards.
Partnership in action
This is the first project from the HHA-Kinder Institute partnership, but it won’t be the last.
Having an existing partnership meant that we could address the challenges of implementing the grant quickly. When the notice of the award came in late 2023, the Kinder Institute was able to immediately devote staff time to answering HHA’s questions as they arose. We met regularly to discuss our findings and strategize ways to best share the information.
As a result, HCV residents and HHA staff have a nuanced map of neighborhoods with data on high-quality schools (by grade level), public safety and flooding, among other characteristics.
This work is also advancing the public good, as the research can be used by both HHA’s clients and the entire Houston community. In addition, the data behind the maps will soon be available at the Kinder Institute’s Urban Data Platform, allowing other housing advocates, researchers or agencies to use them with their own clients and their own platforms.
One of the main goals of the research-practice partnership model is to provide relevant research to agencies like HHA to help them in their mission to serve people in need. As our partnership with HHA evolves, we will continue to deliver such knowledge, with impacts inside and beyond the agency.
