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An Exploratory Study Of Neighborhood Choices Among Moving To Opportunity Participants In Baltimore, Maryland: The Influence Of Housing Search Assistance, James X. Bembry, Donald F. Norris

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined the neighborhood choices of 150 families who participated in the Moving To Opportunity Program (MTO) in Baltimore, Maryland. The MTO program, utilizing an experimental design, provided intensive housing search and counseling services to the experimental subjects. This study found that the counseling services were instrumental in altering the subject's cognitive maps, and they were more likely to move to neighborhoods that were more racially integrated, safer, and, also, had higher levels of satisfaction with their new neighborhood. The authors conclude that the MTO program in Baltimore represents a clear case of public policy that, at least in …