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Sociologists have shown how displacement reproduces inequality among U.S. renters. Less is known about the experiences of renters prior to displacement, or how the trade-offs that renters adopt to avoid moves also stratify families. This article addresses this gap by examining how renters with few housing alternatives manage landlord neglect in routine maintenance. Using interviews with 131 non-Hispanic white and Latina/o, low- and middle-income renters living in Los Angeles, I find that unaffordable rental markets embed disadvantaged families, particularly low-income Latina/o immigrants, into substandard indoor living environments. Unable or reluctant to move, renters endure a process that I call negotiating neglect, which encompasses decision making around repair requests, following up with repair delays, investing personal funds into maintenance, and managing the health consequences of disrepair. Negotiating neglect demands substantial time, cognitive labor, and, at times, financial resources, and for some families, it is a chronic stressor. Taken together, these findings advance prior research on how unaffordable rental markets widen inequalities among families.
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Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Renters’ Experiences with Maintenance Delays in the United States
Structural racism and individual discrimination contribute to racial inequalities in poor housing conditions in the United States. Less is known about whether and how structural racism and individual discrimination shape a parallel, but distinct, process that is also consequential for family wellbeing: experiencing housing unit maintenance delays. Maintenance delays transform acute problems into chronic stressors and increase exposure to physical hazards over time. Using the 2013 American Housing Survey, I examine racial/ethnic disparities in maintenance delays across non-Hispanic White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska Native renters. Given that 2.3 million low-income households rent using Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), a federal housing assistance program with requirements around repair timing, I also examine how renting with a voucher shapes maintenance delays. There are three principal findings. First, White renters are more likely to report timely repairs than either Black or Hispanic renters. Second, for Black renters, both structural racism experienced in rental markets and individual discrimination drive this disparity, whereas Hispanic renters’ diverging maintenance experiences are largely explained by pathways impacted by structural racism. Third, renting with an HCV is not associated with repair timeliness for any racial/ethnic group. Taken together, the findings suggest that racial/ethnic disparities in substandard housing emerge not only through unequal exposure to housing quality problems but also through unequal responses to these issues.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2203801
- PAR ID:
- 10489899
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- City & Community
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1535-6841
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 26-50
- Size(s):
- p. 26-50
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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