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The Relational Basis of Neighborhood Selection: How Social Ties Shape Residential Migration and Mobility Outcomes for Low-Income Families

Why, when given the opportunity to move from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods, do some low-income families return to disadvantaged settings? Extant literature emphasizes low-income families’ “reactive” migration to structural forces beyond their control. But social ties are in fact a component of social structure that may be a relevant resource for low-income families’ residential migration decisions. Drawing on longitudinal geographic, interview, and social network data with 75 low-income mothers who survived Hurricane Katrina, I find the importance of social ties is magnified in situations of unplanned moves. Network peers from the origin neighborhood provide information or help that minimize the costs and increase the expected benefits of residential migration after initial displacement. In the absence of social ties, a family may evaluate the costs of settlement in the new environment to be too high and “re-optimize” by moving to a neighborhood that maximizes proximity to social resources. In some cases, this tradeoff is an undesirable but necessary reality for low-income families who feel pressured to be closer to their network peers. These findings suggest that scholars and policymakers should reconsider how social networks shape residential migration and mobility, as well as what it means to live in a disadvantaged neighborhood.