Panel: Consequences of the Foreclosure Crisis and the Reproduction of Neighborhood Inequality
(Housing and Community Development)

Thursday, November 6, 2014: 1:00 PM-2:30 PM
Tesuque (Convention Center)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

Panel Organizers:  Jackelyn Hwang, Harvard University
Panel Chairs:  Christopher Herbert, Harvard University
Discussants:  Carolina Reid, University of California, Berkeley


The American Foreclosure Crisis, Racial/Ethnic Transitions, and Residential Segregation
Matthew Hall1, Kyle Crowder2 and Amy Spring2, (1)Cornell University, (2)University of Washington


This panel will bring together four papers that examine unique aspects of how the foreclosure crisis has unfolded to reproduce conditions of inequality at the neighborhood- and metropolitan-levels. Many studies have shown that minorities were disproportionately impacted during the fallout of the housing crisis, but foreclosures also had disproportionate impacts on neighborhoods and metropolitan areas in various ways. These four papers move beyond individuals and basic neighborhood characteristics to analyze the lingering effects of the housing crisis from unique approaches. Each paper examines a different scope of foreclosures and dimension of consequences and uses distinct methods of analysis, consequently offering diverse perspectives of the impact of the foreclosure crisis on inequality. The first paper takes a demographic approach to assess the impact of housing foreclosures on neighborhood racial and ethnic change and on broader patterns of racial residential segregation across the United States. The second paper focuses on neighborhood institutions and examines the relationship between foreclosure activity and changes in the financial services environment across New York State. The third paper zooms in on foreclosures in Boston by examining loss mitigation and asset management practices to explain the increased length of vacancies and likelihoods of asset abandonment. Finally, the fourth paper also studies Boston and examines neighborhoods that were most severely impacted by foreclosures to examine post-foreclosure transactions on foreclosed properties and their impacts on neighborhood blight and building activity. Altogether, the four papers demonstrate various ways in which inequality is reproduced in the aftermath of the Foreclosure Crisis across neighborhoods and metropolitan areas. By bringing together these four diverse papers to this panel, we highlight the multitude of ways in which the Great Recession has impacted inequality across neighborhoods and cities and generate a dynamic conversation on how policy can address the lasting effects of the housing crisis and new forms of social inequality. The panel features authors from four distinct institutions, a variety of disciplines (demography, sociology, and social policy), both graduate students and professors, and diversity across gender and racial and ethnic groups.
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