This document provides an overview of Natasha Boyde's research study examining how residents of a mixed-income housing project in Salishan, WA perceive their access to resources and mobility. The study uses ethnographic interviews and mental mapping methods to understand residents' personal geographies and knowledge of available resources. Preliminary findings from interviews with 6 residents indicate differences in terminology used, knowledge of resources, and family histories, suggesting the mixed-income housing policy may not be achieving its intended goals of integration and mobility. The research aims to provide new qualitative data to evaluate housing policy design.

1. Mapping Resources and Mobility for Residents of a
Mixed-Income Housing Project in Salishan, WA
Natasha Boyde
Committee: Dr. Deborah Thien (Chair), Norman Carter, Dr. Kerry Woodward
October 31, 2014

2. ~800 households
-Market rate + low income + apartments
-75% of population under 18 years old
-Median Household income
<14,000 annually
-WorkSource office, health clinic,
Housing Authority office
STUDY SITE: SALISHAN

3. 1) Do Salishan residents feel they have access to the
resources they need to move up and out of poverty?
a) Is development of social network(s) an important resource to
enhancing mobility?
2) Can ethnographic and mental map methods reveal one’s
personal geography and map of resources?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

4. 1) Despite theorized benefits of Mixed-Income housing,
the experience of residents say otherwise.
2) Qualitative methods capture that experience, and help to
evaluate housing policy design.
Goal: to demonstrate the value of participatory methods for
getting new kinds of data and inform policy.
ARGUMENT AND PURPOSE

5. Mixed Income: housing policies that integrate units affordable
to multiple income levels within a development site
(Schwartz 2010)
Mental maps: hand-drawn maps that represent how a place is
perceived and lived by an individual or collective group
(Dictionary of Human Geography 2009)
Ethnographic Interviews: interviews + immersion into culture
(Briggs 2011)
KEY TERMS/CONCEPTS

6. -Negative effects of typical income-based housing design;
“stuck in place”
-Shift toward Income Integration design
Little evaluation of results
-Measuring housing satisfaction:
-access to essentials
-sense of community
-acceptance of neighbors; ”people here are like me”
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

7. -Participatory Mapping and Mental Maps
-Mapping, Interviews, and Ethnography
METHOD: THE MENTAL MAP INTERVIEW

8. Plan: Designed Mental Map Interview for adults and children.
1 hour Mental Map Interview
Recruitment plan for homeowners and renters
In the field: The woes of recruitment & consent forms
6 adults only, recipients of housing
Audio-recorded interviews
New plan: Transcribe and code interviews
PROCEDURE

9. Little social interaction between housing and homeowners
Vast differences among just 6 participants
-nomenclature
-knowledge of resources
-family/financial history
Mapping + interview = substantial data that inform policy
Project is not working, but explanations are not simple
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

10. Chair: Dr. Deborah Thien
Norman Carter (Geography)
Dr. Kerry Woodward (Sociology)
Geography Staff, Faculty, and Fellow Students!!
THANK YOU!!!

11. Axhausen, K.W. “Social Networks, Mobility Biographies, and Travel: Survey Challenges.”
Environment and Planning B, Planning and Design, Vol. 35 (2008): 981-996.
Briggs, Daniel. “Emotions, Ethnography and Crack Cocaine Users.” Emotions, Space and
Society, (2011)
Brophy, Paul C. and Rhonda N. Smith. “Mixed-Income Housing: Factors for Success.”
Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, Vol. 3 No. 2 (1997): 3-31.
Gieseking, Jack Jen. “Where We Go From Here: The Mental Sketch Mapping Method and Its
Analytic Components.” Qualitative Inquiry, 19(9) (2013): 712-724.
Gillespie, Carol Ann. “How Culture Constructs Our Sense of Neighborhood: Mental Maps and
Children’s Perceptions of Place.” Journal of Geography, 109 (2010): 18-29.
Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1960.
Schwartz, Alex F. Housing Policy in the United States. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Further References Available on Request
KEY REFERENCES