Volume 15, Issue 4

2004

 

In this article, we use data from the 2001 American Housing Survey to evaluate whether nativity-status differences in housing conditions vary by tenure and whether nativity status or race/ethnicity plays a more important role in determining housing conditions. Overall, when compared with native-born households, recently arrived immigrant households are significantly more likely to be crowded, but either as likely or significantly less likely to live in poorer-quality housing.

 

Further analysis revealed, however, that race/ethnicity is a stronger indicator than immigrant status in predicting housing outcomes. Among homeowners, black and Hispanic households, regardless of nativity status, exhibited lower-quality housing outcomes than native-born and, frequently, foreign-born whites. Thus, we find that minorities are doubly disadvantaged: They are less likely to attain homeownership than whites, and once they do, they are almost always significantly more likely to live in poorer-quality housing.