All Mixed Up: Making Sense of Mixed-Income Housing Developments

What is it about?

The term “mixed income housing” is not consistently defined, so there is no clear understanding of what it is, what characterizes it, and how mixed-income projects differ from one another. We analyze a data set of all 260 HOPE VI mixed-income redevelopment projects, grant announcements, and internal records from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop a framework for categorizing key aspects of mixed-income housing.

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Why is it important?

We show that HOPE VI developments vary ­dramatically across four key dimensions of mixed-income housing: 1) allocation - the proportion and range of incomes included in projects; 2) proximity - the spatial scale at which income mixing is intended; 3) tenure - the balance between rental housing and homeownership units; and 4) duration - the amount of time projects remain mixed income based on funding restrictions. Planners can influence the nature of mixed-income housing projects by making choices about the range of options offered within these dimensions.