Diffuse Aspirations: Mixed-Income Housing in the Context of For-Profit Urban Revitalization

Abstract

This paper evaluates the success of mixed-income housing in the context of a for-profit development in New Haven, Connecticut. It takes as its sample the development and the tenants of The Residences at Ninth Square, a mixed-use, mixed-income apartment complex located in the center of the historic city. The early parts of the paper (Parts II-III) tell the story of the neighborhood and contextualize the study in the geography and the history of New Haven, Connecticut. Part IV describes the development in detail. Part V looks to the expectations and commitments undertaken by the developers of The Residences. Part VI recounts the threats of failure voiced by contemporary critics. Part VII evaluates the success of the project in meeting those expectations and avoiding those threatened pitfalls by considering the success of the development, both financially, and as a form of urban revitalization. Part VIII evaluates the success of the project as a mixed-income development. It looks to the purposes of mixed-income housing, articulates the need for social interaction among tenants to achieve those purposes, and empirically examines the content and relation of those social interactions.