Can public housing authorities attract and hold upwardly mobile households? A report from Cincinnati

Logistic regression analysis is applied to a pooled, cross sectional data s et containing results from approximately 1,300 interviews with Cincinnati M etropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) residents, carried out between 1995 an d 1998 to determine overall levels of residential attachment, and to test w hether socially mobile householders had especially weak attachments to thei r locations. The results highlighted a strong propensity to move among CMHA residents generally. Although most residents stated that they were satisfi ed with their home, nearly three-fifths said that they expected to move wit hin five years. Multivariate results suggested that socially mobile residen ts (college educated householders, workers, moderate-income households) wer e using the CMHA stock as a stepping-stone to better rental housing or home ownership. Public housing officials need to decide whether to make a specia l effort to hold these upwardly mobile households. A more realistic goal wo uld be to minimize residential turnover caused by environmental problems (e .g., crime), regardless of income level. Policies to achieve this goal are discussed.