Segmented information, segregated outcomes: Housing affordability and neighborhood representation on a voucher-focused online housing platform and three mainstream alternatives.
Hous Policy Debate
; 33(6): 1511-1535, 2023.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38178923
ABSTRACT
Online platforms have become an integral component of the housing search process in the United States and other developed contexts, but recent studies have demonstrated that these platforms offer uneven representation of different neighborhoods. In this study, we use listings covering the largest 50 U.S. metropolitan areas to assess how GoSection8, a platform uniquely focused on affordable housing and voucher-assisted households, compares with "mainstream" alternatives of Craigslist, Apartments.com and Zillow. Through descriptive and regression analyses of the housing and neighborhoods represented on these websites and a new way of measuring the distribution of rental housing opportunities, we advance a multisource perspective on the role of online information exchanges in housing search processes. Specifically, we find that GoSection8 and mainstream alternatives capture spatially-segmented information about housing markets, with GoSection8 ads representing units that are more affordable but also more constrained to higher-poverty neighborhoods where assisted households are already concentrated. The findings suggest that disadvantaged households are potentially funneled toward high-poverty, isolated neighborhoods by the operation of stratified information systems available for online housing searches.
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1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Hous Policy Debate
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos