Where the Other Half Lives: Immigrant Housing Market Dynamics in the United States

Classic narratives around immigrant enclaves have long framed them as economic and social refuge. As rents in the United States soar and incomes stagnate, while immigration streams and destinations diverge, do these neighborhoods still serve a similar role for immigrants? Or do they become sites of exploitation by predatory landlords, as recent housing studies have highlighted in other poor neighborhoods? Drawing from restricted household-level 2019 American Community Survey data across 124 metropolitan areas, I find, overall, that foreign-born renters pay rents significantly lower than native-born renters living in the same tract. However, further analysis shows this to be true for foreign-born renters residing in immigrant neighborhoods (clusters of census tracts identified using local Moran’s I), but not those in non-immigrant neighborhoods. Fieldwork in Boston, MA and Houston, TX suggests the social organization of immigrant housing markets, especially ownership structures, in these neighborhoods influence such rent differentials. Interviews in Boston’s Chinatown illustrate the history of an enclave housing market, in which a network of community organizations, civic associations, and co-ethnic landlords collectively maintain low rents and relative residential stability. Informality and community ties govern landlord-tenant relationships in Chinatown. By contrast, Houston’s Gulfton neighborhood demonstrates features of a secondary immigrant housing market that is owned by investors and corporate management companies. Low rents in Gulfton are a result of poor maintenance and mismanagement that leave tenants in poor housing conditions. Importantly, formalized corporate policies, such as extra charges for applicants with no credit, create additional housing costs borne by immigrant renters. By investigating rental housing dynamics in immigrant neighborhoods, this study shows how local contexts inform the experiences of immigrant integration into the American housing market.

Future analysis will include sub-analysis by origin groups, MSAs, and other census years. Awaiting census approval to share full regression results.