Studyguide III
Intro to the City
Census definition of “overcrowding”
Housing as a right vs. private property
“Social housing”
“Neighborhood effect” on housing value
Character of “slumlords”
Effect of social & economic forces on physical condition of housing
Filtering
Gentrification
Mortgage
“Level debt” instrument
Effect of interest rates on homeownership
Ratio of income to monthly mortgage payment
Required downpayment vs. mortgage insurance
Average residential lending terms prior to 1930
“Balloon” payment
Role of federal government in mortgage market
--FHA insurance
--VA insurance
--secondary mortgages (FMNA & GNMA)
Tax deductions for homeowners
Condominiums
Pl
Effect of housing type decision on local community
1. Federal Policies
--1937 Housing Act—subsidized both capital and operating costs of local housing authorities (Pruitt-Igoe; Cabrini Green)
--1949 Housing Act—Urban Renewal (both housing and economic development; cleared blighted downtowns, but demolished more housing than it built
--1974 Housing & Community Development Act—Model Cities (urban development block grants, local participation, “urban homesteading”)
2. Housing Segregation
--1968 Civil Rights Act & housing segregation
>racial streering
>”terms & conditions”
>redlining
>blockbusting
--1978 Community Reinvestment Act—banks must reinvest in communities which provide their assets
--Persistence of segregation
>income disparity
>tipping point (“white flight”)
>discrimination in sales & renting
>discrimination in mortgage lending
>self-segregation
--Nonprofits & housing
>Nehemiah project
>Habitat for Humanity
Melting pot
Mosaic
Salad Bowl
Statistical background:
Decade when immigration into US exceeded 1 million
Decade of highest immigration into US (9,095,417 for 1991-2000)
Decades when immigration exceeded 4 million
Immigration Law
1852 Chinese Exclusion Act
1921 Quota Act (ended open immigration; quotas based on 1890 levels)
1965 Immigration & Nationality Act (family unification)
1980 Refugee Act
1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (permitted undocumented immigrants to apply for citizenship)
1990 Immigration Act (increased quota and established lottery to diversify immigrant stream)
Views on immigration
--without
immigration,
--open borders are like open markets
--immigrants make important economic contributions
--immigration increases pressure on natural resources
--immigration depresses wages
--immigration hinders progress of existing minority groups
--immigration dilutes national identity
Poverty line—level
Poverty line—basis
Why hasn’t poverty declined since early 1970s?
--Structure of poverty
>children
>family structure
--Urban “ghetto”
>meaning of term (shtetl)
>disappearance of work
History of Programs’
--New Deal: AFDC, WPA (“worthy poor”)
--1964 Economic Opportunity Act--War on Poverty (roots of poverty are systematic rather than individual)
>
CAPs (“maximum feasible participation”)—HeadStart,
>Manpower development—JobCorps (1964), CETA (1973), JTPA (1983)
--1965 Food Stamp program & Medicaid
--1970’s—HEW studies (DIME & SIME) find that income support reduces hours worked and increases divorce & separation
--1996—Comprehensive Welfare Reform Act
>abolished AFDC
>limited public assistance to 5 years over a lifetime
>welfare to work provisions
Geography of crime
Trends in crime
--age
--gender
--growth in prison population
Deterrence vs. iimprisonment
Trends in policing
--community policing
--“broken window” effect
--“hardening the target”
Perspectives on Crime
--Classical (protection of society)
--Retribution (punish the offender)
--Sociological (change the social structure that supports crime)
--Medical Model (profile & prevent)
Public Education as a system
Task of public schools
>education
>poverty
>racism
>family dynamics
>worker training
Coleman report (1966)
>de facto segregation
>differences in funding explain small part of differences in pupil achievement
>family background explains greater part of differences in achievement
>classmates’ background also explains significant part of achievement differences
Issues
>School financing (disparities between school systems)
>School busing (addressing de facto segregation vs. neighborhood schools)
>Bilingual education (many non-native speakers want their children to speak English)
>Competition in the system
--vouchers
--charter
schools