UC Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development
PI: Margaretta Lin
Co-PI: Charisma Acey
Protocol # 2021-12-14912
Abstract:
This research project proposes the first ever research study to investigate the effectiveness of nationally significant public policy interventions intended to reduce ethnic and racial disparities in access to housing for the re-entry population, centered upon recent fair chance housing policies enacted in the cities of Oakland and Berkeley, California. This study will also address the competing research findings of ban the box in employment studies by assessing whether fair chance housing policies resulted in increased racial profiling and discrimination by housing providers.
Our research team is led by women of color scholars at the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and Regional Development, Margaretta Lin, Esquire, and Dr. Charisma Acey, who bring decades of experience in applied public policy research, participatory research, racial equity in housing and criminal justice, and mentorship of young researchers, including first generation students of color. They will mentor a team of racially and ethnically diverse junior researchers from the cross-disciplines of urban planning, education, and public policy.
The research study will utilize urban ethnography, participatory research, applied public policy, social history, and quantitative analysis of probation data in order to have robust datasets, triangulation of information, and grounds-truthing of data centered on the lived experiences of racially and ethnically diverse formerly incarcerated residents. The research questions are:
How and to what extent do fair chance housing public policies reduce racial and ethnic disparities in post-release housing access for formerly incarcerated people?
Does eliminating the ability of housing providers to conduct criminal background checks result in increased racial discrimination by housing providers?
What is the role of race and/or ethnicity in post-release reentry outcomes in Alameda County in relationship to other mediating factors such as immigration status, family status, employment, income levels, and access to services in affecting reentry outcomes?
What is the role of hope in racial and ethnic differences in relationship to other mediating factors including housing and employment access and its effect on reentry outcomes?
Collaboration partners include federal, state, county Probation and Health, local cities, reentry justice organizations, and housing providers. Deliverables will include peer reviewed academic publications, including one first authored by a junior researcher; public policy reports and briefings; media briefings; and academic and public policy conference presentations.