California's Newest Housing Developments Evaluated in PPIC Report -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 24 -- September 5, 2003

According to a report released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) on August 20, 2003, California's newest neighborhoods house a wealthier, better educated, whiter population that do older communities across the state. Titled "California's Newest Neighborhoods" and co-authored by Hans P. Johnson and Joseph M. Hayes, the report suggests that these new housing developments also are more exclusive than older neighborhoods when it comes to location and the type of housing they encompass. The authors used data from the 2000 Census to examine these new housing developments, which are defined as those communities in which half of the housing units were built during the last decade.

The report found that far fewer new residential developments in the 1990s were created in the state than in previous decades. In 1980s, there were 1,739 new neighborhoods created, while the 1990s saw the creation of less than half that amount, or 845. Not only are there fewer new developments, but the ones created tend to be disproportionately located in the inland areas of the state. The report states that the Inland Empire, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Sacramento Metro regions together account for almost half of the state's neighborhoods and, together with Orange County, they account for nearly two-thirds of all new neighborhoods but less than one-third of the state's population. The study also reports that most new housing tends to be located near the urban fringe, with 87 percent in 2000 and 85 percent in 1990 located in urbanized areas.

The new housing developments also contain small numbers of multifamily units, while overall they tend to be large single family units housing two-parent families with children. Another interesting attribute new developments share is the fact that their residents tend to have high levels of educational attainment. The report also found that the state's newest neighborhoods have fewer immigrants or foreign-born, and tend to be less racially diverse than other neighborhoods. Accordingly, whites constitute a majority of the population (57 percent) and Asians are also over-represented (13 percent) in such new communities when compared to representation in older communities, while African Americans (5 percent) and especially Hispanics (20 percent) are under-represented.

In addition, the PPIC study found that, in every region surveyed, incomes in the new neighborhoods are higher than in other neighborhoods, with 45 percent of new development households having incomes greater than $75,000, compared to just 29 percent in the state as a whole. With respect to the employment commute for those living in the new neighborhoods, the study reports not only that residents of such developments are less likely to take public transportation to work than other Californians, but also that they spend more time commuting than residents of other neighborhoods. The study found that in 2000, almost a quarter of new housing commuters spent at least 45 minutes (one way) to get to and from work, compared to one in six commuters elsewhere.

The authors conclude that the characteristics of California's newest neighborhoods - location, economic exclusivity, few multifamily units, and little racial diversity - suggest the reasons why some people oppose them.

For more information about this report, visit the PPIC website at: http://www.ppic.org .

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill that directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods.

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