SUBSIDIZED HOUSING AND RACIAL CHANGE IN YONKERS, NEW-YORK

This paper uses an exploratory regression model to discern whether sub sidized housing has had any independent association with changes in ne ighborhood racial composition in Yonkers, New York. Using data from al l Yonkers census tracts for 1970 to 1980, the model shows that, all el se equal, a higher increase in the percentage of blacks in a tract was associated with both the prior existence of subsidized (especially fa mily-occupied) housing and the construction of such units during the d ecade. On average, one-third of the observed increase in the percentag e of black residents in tracts having subsidized construction during t he 1970s can be so attributed. However, projections based on the model suggest that the proposed court-ordered subsidized housing for Yonker s would yield from 1990 to 2000 only a minimal increase in the percent age of black residents in the affected tracts.