Low-income housing stigma, results and outcomes: a systematic review

Abstract

This study is aimed to provide an organized view of the causes and outcomes of low-income housing stigma (LIHS) and to analyze them by considering the housing type, target group, spatial scale, and methodology. This study has reviewed the background with the content analysis method; 7 databases were searched to identify the literature on the stigma of different types of low-income housing. The causes of LIHS were extracted in three dimensions (physical, socio-economic, and structural) and its outcomes in four dimensions (health and well-being, perceptual, socio-economic, and physical). The results showed that the socio-economic dimension had the greatest effect on the production of LIHS (52.2%), and also stigma had the greatest effect on this dimension (57.6%). However, considering the importance of visual perception on external evaluations, it is necessary to consider the physical dimension. On the other hand, the focus of research has been mostly on the neighborhood scale (62.9%) and the type of social housing (19.4%). 47% of the researchers also selected the residents as the target group while it is also important to evaluate outsiders. The use of qualitative methods is also observed in 71% of studies. There are gaps in these studies that need to be addressed: attention to the architecture scale, use of mixed research methods, considering evaluation and attitudes of the external group.

Appendices

Appendix A

Method	Technique	Analysis	Sample/ size	Area	Future research	Source
Qualitative	In-depth (semi-structured) interview	NUD*IST	17 participants (6 renters and 11 homeowners)	Adelaide, South Australia	Creating social mix—examining different aspects of regional stigma and evaluated interventions to respond to it	Palmer et al. (2004)
		Transcripts were collated by drawing together thematic issues in order to identify patterns, similarities and differences	40 residents (16 homeowners or buyers, 14 social housing tenants, 10 renting in the private sector)	Mitchell Park, Hillcrest and Northfield, Adelaide, South Australia	Past policies challenge to integrate about local peoples, and we need to know their culture and perspectives. And whether we are affected by class segregation in the mix of housing and neighborhood reconstruction?	Arthurson (2010a)
		–	27 people who are excluded from access to Homeownership (Refugee Families, Drug Dependency and/or Mental Health Problems, D´eclass´e)	Oslo and Stavanger, Norway	"Multiple stigma" not clearly seen by Goffman should be considered a key consideration in stigma studies—comparative studies of different stigma groups or different stigmas	Vassenden and Lie (2013)
		Transcribed and coded with the use of NVivo	50 residents	Jane-Finch neighborhood of Toronto, Canada	An in-depth study of the relationship between racial, cultural and religious diversity and social cohesion- More attention to how diversity affects social cohesion, social capital and security in neighborhoods	Ahmadi (2018)
	Community mapping, and go-along interviews	Using a new analytic framework called “ecometrics”(Ecometrics moves beyond individual-centred questions and surveys, or “methodological individualism”). We engaged in thematic and theoretical analysis to identify patterns of meanings across these datasets	14 young people between the ages of 13 and 22 years old	Redcrest, Niagara, Canada	–	Ingen et al. 2018
	In-depth interview, Statistics Census	NUD*IST	17 participants (renters and homeowners)	Adelaide, South Australia	Policies that make residents feel more secure and confident, and integration—examining the social composition of the problems of margins	Palmer et al. 2005
	Interview, film analysis	–	Residents, activists, local politicians and planners	Regent Park, Toronto, Canada,	The physical design of the project provides only an understanding of some of problems. Social, economic and political contexts are important	Purdy (2005)
	In-depth semi-structured interviews supplemented with reviews of local media, participant observation,	Open-coding of interview transcripts, followed by focused-coding using a set of fixed codes and the data analysis software ATLASTI	25 African American men and women who relocate to Iowa, social-service providers	Eastern Iowa, USA	Investigating the Relationship between Health and Immigrant Experience—Considering the reasoning processes involved in the production of spatial stigma, such as poverty deconcentration in an area	Keene and Padilla (2010)
	Semi-structured interview; Review of newspapers;	Audio files transcribed for analysis then reviewed and coded; Newspapers grouped into three general categories (physical characteristic of the housing units, neighborhood characteristics and tenant characteristics)	37 interviews (19 affordable housing developers and 18 local government staff); 38 California newspapers (1996–2006), 146 articles	California, USA	Understand the impact of these decisions on city form, regional performance, and social equality. For example, the distance and time between work and home for low-income people- research on the impact of social deprivation on affordable housing residents and their family outputs	Nguyen et al. (2013)
	In-depth semi-structured interviews; (participant) Observation	Coding was undertaken through multiple reviews of the interview and observation transcriptions, with categorizing and creation of summary matrices using basic word processing software	35 relocated residents, 184 field observations from community meetings and events	Oakwood Shores, Park Boulevard, and Westhaven Park, Chicago, USA	Mixed-income housing seem to be leading to a new form of stigma and increasing the isolation of the public housing residents who have been brought there	McCormick et al. (2012)
		–	32 residents, 12 key informants (including TCHC staff, politicians, developers, and community workers); participant observation at community events and meetings (including updates, consultations, Tenant Council, and other meetings)	Regent Park, Toronto, Canada	Social mix cannot answer the problems of marginalization. Topics to consider: Reducing housing maintenance budgets, upgrading social security networks, opportunities for the labor market, poverty and racial inequality	August(2014)
		Interview: assumed three axes of differentiation; established/ newcomers, low-income/higher-income, and black/white … and classifying	100 interviews with residents and institutional actors; 40 sessions of observations of several spaces of intergroup encounter, and 20 “spatial inventories” in which I located the traces of the symbolic presence of each group	Cabrini Green-in Chicago and La Loma-La Florida in Santiago	The social mix is very questionable and is complicated by the symbolic perception and reputation of the living environments of the poor	Ruiz-Tagle (2017)
	In-depth semi-structured interviews; literature review about cases	Interviews:—literature review: text analysis; and analysis of data on exchequer investment	Interviews with 6 key actors in the regeneration project design and implementation; text analysis of the case study estates’ regeneration plans and evaluations of their achievements if available; analysis of data on exchequer investment in the culture-led regeneration programs	Ballymun, Fatima Mansions, and Moyross in Dublin, Ireland	Further study on the impact of cultural revival on social cohesion and cultural capital	Carnegie and Norris (2015)
	In-depth semi-structured interviews	coding of interview data, highlighted a number of concepts, themes and topics taken from the documentary analysis	65 participants (39 residents, 26 lived in other neighborhoods)	Nîmes, France	Paying more attention to gender and age and differentiating between young people and other people—Surveying neighborhoods with minority ethnic groups—Doing research on a larger scale—Using visual techniques in the method	Kirkness (2013)
	Discussions about television series	Analysis was initially conducted collaboratively by a tenant–academic team drawing on the panel	A panel including 19 Participants (residents of a number of inner-city and suburban estates; community workers who work on estates; and self-nominated viewers of the show)	Sydney and Adelaide, Australia	–	Arthurson et al. 2014
	Collaborative research; residents voice through social media: Digital storytelling project, “housos” series project, “lost in the woods” film project	–	Collaborative between researchers and tenants	Australia	Residents should be involved in the research process, in policy discussions and in response to stigma	Rogers et al. 2017
	Ethnographic and case study approach; In-depth interview and open-ended questionnaire;	Transcripts of data, word processing software	45 Residents, 25 Non-residents or former resident, 29 Non-resident professional or institutional	Easthill and Westhill estates, Dundee, Scotland	Investigation of stigma over time and after regeneration and change	Gourlay (2006)
					Wider social influences such as the media and popular discourses on poverty and deprivation	Gourlay (2007)
	Ethnographic and case study approach; participant observation unstructured Interview, Structured interview, Community Meeting	discourse analysis for interview data	Structured interview with 36 residents; Community Meeting with public officials and residents	New England college town, USA	–	Blokland (2008)
	Ethnographic and case study approach; In-depth interview, observation, analyze newspaper	Interview: transcribed and coded	Interview: 60 residents. Census and archival records and analyzed 560 newspaper articles from the 1960s	Helsinki and Turku, Finland	Social housing stigma should be understood as a form of "non-recognition." And the collective nature of stigma strategies has so far been underestimated	Junnilainen (2020)
	Ethnographic and case study approach	–	Public Library, and other collections that include materials on neighborhood history (2007–2010)	Brooklyn, New York	–	Madden (2018)
	Descriptive-analytical/ Review	Exploring the debates that emerged about housing and inequality	–	New South Wales, Australia	Accurate definition of issues related to Australian social exclusion and housing policies	Arthurson (2004)
		Image of large housing estates	–	Netherlands	–	Wassenberg (2004)
		–	–	Flanders, Belgium	–	Decker and Pannecoucke (2004)
		–	17 research	USA	Investigating housing trends before and after the construction of affordable housing—Comparing the same housing policies in different cities- Investigating the impact of ethnic/ racial factors in relation to this type of housing and property value—Using qualitative methods In this regard—study the effects of different types of affordable housing	Nguyen (2005)
		Lawrence Vale viewpoint	–	USA	–	Redd (2010)
		Outcomes of NIMBY research	35 research	USA	Government agencies should be involved in data collection and evaluation of outputs so that decisions are based on experience and extend beyond NIMBY	Scally and Koenig (2012)
		Utilizing Loïc Wacquant’s recent work on “territorial stigmatization” and his thesis on the “ghetto”	–	UK	Punishment and control of crime must be done to grow a weak society and ghetto concepts in the context of social and economic inequality	Hancock and Mooney (2013)
		Problem of stigmatization and reduce public housing stigma	Base on the findings of a research panel investigation (three academics, a journalist, two practitioners from the housing sector and a doctoral student)	Australia	–	Jacobs and Flanagan (2013)
		Offer some critical reflections on the central analytical and political/ policy issues emerging the special issue of Cities focused on the Right To The City Alliance’s report We Call These Projects Home (WCTPH)	–	UK	Developments in subsidized housing are associated with high levels of crime, antisocial behavior, and declining social capital. They must be addressed. Policies need to be aimed at dispersing the rich	Slater (2013)
		Territorial stigma	–	Edinburgh, Scotland	Focus on ambiguities in dominance / resistance—Understand how gentrification theory can be used to spatial stigma	Slater and Hannigan (2017)
		Social responses to, and coping strategies	This thematic issue originated in a session titled “Housing Stigma” co-organized by the editors of this volume for the 19th World Congress of the International Sociological Association, July 2018; based on 7 articles	Toronto, Canada	Most recent research on territorial stigma has made no distinction between stigmas attributed to neighborhoods, types of housing, and occupations that should be considered- a more detailed study of this stigma in different places	Smets and Kusenbach (2020)
		Housing stigmatization	Literature		The need to build experimental tools to measure residential stigma- neglect of the elements affecting residential stigma in non-Western contexts- Given the underlying diversity in residential stigma, its reduction requires strategies appropriate to that particular context	Horgan (2020)
	Content analysis (a tripartite approach to media analysis, incorporating content, production and reception), semi-structured interviews	Theory driven coding. we triangulate the findings of our content analysis with those generated from research with residents and media professionals	4 newspapers analysis; interview: 1. with Two focus groups Each involved six participants (2 non-resident community activist, 10 residents) 2. 5 media professionals	Moyross, Limerick City, Ireland	Future research in Ireland should consider the perception of neighborhoods by non-residents and the factors that mediate between them and media messages	Devereux et al. 2011
	Content analysis	Articles were categorized according to the image they onveyed. random sample of the articles were then categorized by a second researcher to ensure validity. Distinguishing between direct and indirect articles	7 newspapers over the period January 1998 to August 2011; online media databases were used to identify articles	Sighthill and Red Road, Glasgow, USA	The relationship between reputation and the health and well-being of residents—A study of the social, psychological and psychosocial effects of reputation- Research on journalists to what extent they are aware of the impact of their approach on disadvantaged areas	Kearns et al. 2013
	Case-study (In-depth semi-structured) Interview	–	Households, outsiders, local employers, journalists and regeneration agencies	UK	Conduct other in-depth research in this field	Hastings (2004)
		Data analyzed content coded to reflect various dimensions of NIMBY attitudes and actions	Six case studies; interviews with more than 25 public officials and developers and/or managers of affordable rental housing	New York, USA	How this attitude can change and diminish over time- the need for generalizable research that can go beyond states- trying to change public opinion and unravel the nuances of this attitude	Scally (2013)
		–	Amsterdam: 63 interviews (39 regular tenants, 1 representative of the housing corporation, 22 temporary residents, and 1 with a squatter); Istanbul: 48 interviews) 9 formal tenants, 9 informal tenants, 21 property owners, 3 squatters, 2 representatives of the municipality, and 1 a representative of GAP (The government worked with a private investor, GAP, to transform the renewal area)	Comparative study: Ceramplein and the Van der Pek Blocks in Amsterdam, Tarlabaş in Istanbul	Comparative study of differences and commonalities in other case studies	Sakizlioglu and Uitermark (2014)
		–	Interview with 16 participants (residents, community activists and social service providers)	Ballymun, Clarion Quay, and Fatima Mansions in Dublin, Ireland	Strategies that limit the potential for internal stigma to achieve a proper neighborhood mix and design public housing so that it is indistinguishable	Norris et al. 2019
	Case-study, In-depth semi-structured interview with the method of narrative mapping	Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the software Atlas.ti	20 residents; 8 neighborhood professionals (project developers and managers, and housing officers)	IJburg, Amsterdam, Netherlands	"Blame" is not only influenced by design, but also by management and facilities at the neighborhood scale—the need for a more integrated approach to planning and managing mixed neighborhoods and more opportunities for positive interaction between groups	Tersteeg and Pinkster (2016)
	Case-study; Semi-structured interview	–	41 residents	Bijlmer, Amsterdam, Netherlands	The distinction between the production of stigma by outsiders and residents is very clear. It is suggested that unequal power relations, which are at the core of the territorial stigma process, be clarified, both outside and inside the neighborhood	Pinkster et al. 2020
	Review, Case-study	–	–	Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Changing the stigma of a large residential complex is a long process. Due to this limitation, working on image enhancement is useful in the reconstruction process	Wassenberg (2004a)
	Participatory research and planning methods; participatory observation, in-depth interview, focus group workshops	–	Observe the community’s daily life; interview with households, experts and social welfare groups who working on community affairs; four workshops for youth renters, Ankang households, property management professionals and city government sectors	AnKang welfare Housing, Taipei	Management mechanisms must be more inclusive and comprehensive with the principles of social integration life	Mu (2016)
	Collective environment fit, peer-research, and Participatory observation	The observations were then discussed in decision-making sessions	9 residents	Montreal, Canada	Improving the living environment and wel-being of these communities	Coulombe et al. (2018)
Quantitative	AITS (“Adjusted interrupted time series”)–DID (“Difference-in-difference”) model (this model is a hedonic price model)	Regression analysis	Subsidized and unsubsidized apartments	Seattle, Washington, USA	Further research in this area by examining the impact of low-income apartments or rental single-family homes	Koschinsky (2009)
	Survey; Questionnaire	Factor analysis, Regression model,	571 residents	Afrikaanderwijk, Westpunt and Schiemond, Rotterdam, Netherlands	The importance of time and familiarity and its effect on the severity of stigma—in this case, people feel belonging to their neighborhood	Duin et al., 2011
		Participants were given a hypothetical scenario; Regression analysis, Logistic Regression analysis	144 participants (university students)	USA	Investigating the Relationship Between Tendency to Diversity and Demographic Characteristics—Examining Other Types of Low-Income Housing in This Field- Investigating stereotyped beliefs related to emergency shelters- Investigating this research in other geographical contexts and with other examples- Investigating the impact of attitudes and stereotypes on residents	Motley and Perry (2013)
		Descriptive statistics for sociodemographic variables; for Sleep duration using linear regression and sleep quality using GLM; Regression models; using Stata software	120 residents	New York, USA	Examining Neighborhood Stigma and Sleep Disorders, as well as Objective Measurements of Sleep Duration- The main effects and effects correction hypotheses could be examined in more detail in a larger article	Ruff et al. 2018
	Hedonic pricing method	Regression analysis	Social housing developments	Walmer neighborhood, South Africa	Examining the impact of this housing on more than one neighborhood and how far its impact extends—Examining the impact of another type of housing (such as informal settlements)	Du Preez and Sale (2013)
			Affordable housing developments	Sacramento County, California, USA	Consider cap and trade to build more affordable housing. The possible result is that more affluent communities will shift their share of this type of housing to less affluent communities	Wassmer and Wahid (2019)
	Model	Mathematical procedure	Inclusionary housing	New York, USA	These findings can help make real choices by examining the relationship between property development decisions and inclusionary housing policies in different economic environments	Hughen and Read (2014)
Mixed-method	Longitudinal resident survey; questionnaire, In-depth semi-structured interviews	Quantitative data: linear regression models; Qualitative data: deductive/inductive approach used for coding	Question from 304 residents; interview with 30 women who were relocated	Maverick Gardens HOPE VI program in Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Assess the role of a neighborhood's various resources and determine whether some institutions or public spaces provide more useful meeting places, enhance familiarity and trust, or better access to opportunity—to what extent different features of public space design, neighborhood structure, and facilities increase or reduce the accidental contact of residents with non-residents	Curley (2010)
	Survey; In-depth interviews, questionnaire	Quantitative data: Chi-square test; Qualitative data: recorded and transcribed, in order to identify patterns, similarities and differences	Interview with 40 residents (16 homeowners or buyers, 14 social housing tenants, 10 renting in the private sector), Question from 325 residents	Mitchell Park, Hillcrest and Northfield, Adelaide, South Australia	Studies show that in mixed neighborhoods, stigma is usually present by owners who associate social housing tenants with social problems and crime	Arthurson (2010)
					Reconstruction policies should focus on making neighborhoods attractive to outsiders	Arthurson (2012)
					The importance of social cohesion and collective effectiveness in mixed neighborhoods	Arthurson (2013)
	Social network analysis (SNA); Survey	SNA: UCINET 6 and visualizing in Netdraw. Interview: NVivo 10	Interview: 25 households from each of the four recruitment areas. Questionnaire: 628 residents	Tasmania, Australia	There is a need to identify criteria for building relationships between small domains that are at risk of internal stigma	Verdouw and Flanagan 2019
	Survey; in-depth interview, ethnographic account of day-to-day interactions	Though, Hirschman’s ‘exit-voice’ model is more a descriptive tool than an analytic lens: we use it to frame the myriad of actually existing ways of dealing with territorial stigma	Survey of about 120 local families, 15 interviews of residents	Bairro do Viso, Porto, Portugal	–	Pereira and Queirós (2014)
	Survey; questionnaire, analyze LIHTC housing	Questionnaire: descriptive statistics only; LIHTC analyze: correlation between affordable housing location and …	Online question from 74 affordable housing developers; analyze all of the LIHTC housing that has been developed between 2006 and 2011	New York, USA	Providing appropriate information to people and informal meetings with them and building trust will lead to better outcomes in this area	Scally and Tighe (2015)
	Online survey; photo questionnaire, open-ended questionnaire	Qualitative: content analysis and coding. Quantitative: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA); logistic regression; ANOVA; variance and a Kruskal–Wallis H Test; post hoc analysis	718 homeowners	Ohio, USA	Relationship between behavior and built environment- Using Eye tracking tools to detect low-income housing	Price (2017)
	Online survey; questionnaire, map question	Cronbach's alpha; Descriptive statistics; regression analyses	Questionnaire placed approximately in an 800 m radius from each of the stigmatized estates	Kensington Estate and the mono-tenure Flemington Estate in Melbourne, Australia	Examining the difference between "social desirability bias" during interviews and questionnaires—is the lack of social housing related to its acceptance?	Raynor et al. (2020)
	Case-study (empirical findings from Local Government Area of Parramatta); surveys, interviews	Opposition to planned affordable housing developments in the study period were coded, with key extracts recorded verbatim	47 affordable housing projects, data from: 397 written submissions, 155 doorstep surveys (60 homes around each of the nine projects were visited and 14–20 surveys were completed for each), interviews (with government and the non-profit sector, planning officers, …) and newspaper articles (2009–2011)	Parramatta, Sydney, Australia	More research is needed in these areas before the housing planning process	Davison et al. 2016
	Case-study; Participant observation, Community meetings, In-depth interviews, newspaper analysis	Repetitive newspaper phrases. -	Interview: 5 long-term residents–2 secure council tenants and 3 leaseholders, 2 charity workers, shorter interviews in 2015 with 3 council tenants and 3 temporary tenants. Newspaper: web-based sources (local and national press) and 2 local newspapers. 18 community meetings (12 tenants and leaseholders)	Aylesbury estate in south London	–	Watt (2020)

Appendix B

Table 5 Percentage of the relationship between the causes of stigma and the spatial scale and type of housing based on previous researches

Table 6 Percentage of relationship between the causes of stigma with the method and the target group based on previous researches

Table 7 Percentage of relationship between stigma outcomes and spatial scale and type of housing based on previous researches

Table 8 Percentage of relationship between stigma outcomes with method and target group based on previous researches