To Fix School Segregation, Start with Housing

Think school segregation is a thing of the past? Think again.

When kids head back to school for the start of the 2019 school year,  more than 70 percent of black students will walk through the doors of a segregated school. And while you might expect to see the number gradually decreasing, since segregation was legally banned by the Supreme Court in 1954, in recent years the problem has actually been getting worse. In fact, the number of “intensely segregated” schools, meaning less than one percent of the student body is white, has nearly tripled over the past three decades.. This modern-day educational segregation isn’t just about race. . Economic segregation in schools --the degree to which school districts are made up of one socioeconomic class, regardless of race -- rose by nearly 20 percent between 1990 and 2010.

The U.S. Supreme Court officially outlawed school segregation more than 60 years ago. So how did this re-segregation of American schools happen? The answer is of course complicated and rooted in over a century of racially biased and discriminatory policies at all levels of government. But one factor plays an outsized role in the problem: housing.

Across the country, 9 out of 10 public school students attend their neighborhood school. That means that where you live typically determines the school you go to, and ultimately the opportunities you get in life. A recent study found that that each year a child spends in a high-poverty neighborhood, which tend to have worse schools and fewer opportunities than lower-poverty areas, decreases both their chances of going to college and their expected earnings as an adult.

Put another way, the problem isn’t just that our country’s schools are segregated; it’s that our country’s neighborhoods are segregated. The number of Americans living in high-poverty neighborhoods, where more than 40 percent of residents are poor, has nearly doubled since 2000, with poverty becoming more concentrated in communities of color. Today more than one in four poor blacks and nearly one in six poor Latinos live in high-poverty neighborhoods, compared to just one in 13 poor whites.

Considering all of this, it should be no surprise that patterns of school segregation, in general, reflect the racial and socioeconomic makeup of the surrounding neighborhood. 

So how do we fix it? One way to address segregation in America’s schools would be to fundamentally change the way we fund and operate education in this country – moving away from local funding models and toward a system of regional, state and national parity. But that’s not likely to happen anytime soon, especially in today’s political environment.

A more realistic immediate option  is to improve the racial and socioeconomic diversity of the neighborhoods surrounding the schools. And that starts with changes to housing policy.

For example, the Section 8 voucher program has a long track record of success in creating stable and affordable housing options for low-income families. But more must be done to ensure that families who receive housing vouchers, and families of color in particular, have access to neighborhoods with good schools and other opportunities. The program is also woefully underfunded: less than one in four families who are eligible for federal rental assistance actually receive it, leading to decade-long waiting lists and lotteries for rare openings.

Similarly, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, also known as the Housing Credit, has financed virtually all of the country’s affordable housing construction since the mid-1980s. But due to a variety of constraints – including higher land costs and “not-in-my-backyard” objections from residents – it is often comparatively difficult for developers to build Housing Credit properties in  high-cost neighborhoods with access to high-performing schools. State and local lawmakers should enact policies that make it easier and cheaper to build affordable housing in these communities, and  Congress can play its part by expanding the annual cap on Housing Credits available to affordable housing developers to keep up with the growing need for affordable rental housing nationwide.

Investments in affordable housing would not only  immediately provide access to better schools for low-income kids, they would also improve their long-term educational outcomes. When a child grows up in a home their family can’t afford, they are often forced to move frequently, which can lead to disruptions in school attendance and poor academic performance. That takes a toll on a student regardless of school quality. One study found that just one change in elementary schools results in a decrease in math and reading skills equivalent to a four-month learning disadvantage. Other studies have found that children growing up in unfit or overcrowded housing have lower math and reading scores, complete fewer years of education, are more likely to fall behind in school and are less likely to graduate from high school compared to their peers.

However, while it is important to enact policies that enable families to live in thriving communities with good schools, not every low-income family will be able to move – nor does every family want to. For that reason, federal resources should be distributed in a way that allows low-income families to make housing choices that are best for themselves, and any effort to improve neighborhood access should be coupled with comprehensive investments into low-income communities, with a particular focus on underfunded public schools.

Ronald Reagan once rightly said that “education begins in the home.” If we ever hope to solve America’s education problems – from eliminating school segregation to improving student performance – we need to start by addressing America’s housing problems.