Rich links to a very good article by the Chicago News Coop on black migration to the south suburbs. One of the issues not discussed directly is housing stock.
While he checked the mailbox at the end of his driveway in the Ridgeland Estates subdivision, he said he would be interested in returning to the city only if he could move into a condominium on the lakefront. The $1,700 that he spends on his monthly mortgage payments for his spacious home in Matteson would be enough for no more than a small unit in a desirable section of Chicago, he said.
As African-Americans have been able to move with less interference from discrimination, they are making many of the same housing choices that whites have been making for years. The reality is that much of the housing in Chicago and some inner ring suburbs are small and less attractive to people who want a large home. When you think about how to retain and attract residents, focusing only on jobs or education won’t work in isolation. Jobs can be kept by commuting and most parents have a limited ability to actually make an informed decision about the quality of a school. White parents, for example, tend to judge the quality of a school by the percentage of minority students attending it instead of actual performance measures. A big part of people choosing where to live is what kind of housing they can obtain. Many people want big homes today and not finding creative ways to address this means more middle class African-Americans will look elsewhere as they can.