College of Arts & Sciences

Urban Health Initiative

News / Press Release / Report

Urban Health Initiative Team

The Urban Health Initiative was formed in early 2008 by faculty across several academic disciplines including sociology, public health, criminal justice, nutrition, communications, and history with the support of the Partnership for Urban Health Research at Georgia State University. Our purpose is to examine the health and quality of life implications for low income residents in urban neighborhoods undergoing revitalization from a multidisciplinary perspective. Our approach is to start from the ground up by talking to the residents’ about their perspectives on how neighborhood transformation is affecting their everyday lives. The initiative also provides many opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to get experience in the field.

Our first project focuses on public housing transformation in Atlanta. The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) announced plans in early 2007 to demolish the remaining 10 family public housing communities as well as two senior high rises in the next several years. Almost 10,000 residents will be relocated to private-market housing with the help of Housing Choice Voucher subsidies (formerly Section 8). This is affecting some of the poorest families in the city and therefore has important social and health ramifications for public housing residents. The overall goal of this project is to document residents’ experiences before and after the relocation process, as well as assess residential, socioeconomic and health outcomes.

Our initial report presents some preliminary findings from our pre-relocation survey of 387 public housing residents. We focus on residents’ reasons for entering public housing and what implications this may have for relocation including residential stability, health conditions, level of financial security, building and neighborhood conditions, and accessibility of location. We also document the differences between the family and senior housing.

This study is partially funded by grants from the National Science Foundation; University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research and the American Sociological Association Funds for the Advancement of the Discipline.

NEWS

11/20/09 - Dr. Deirdre Oakley and Dr. Erin Ruel were quoted in the Las Vegas Sun, "Changes in Public Housing Bring Fresh Start for Families" published November 16th, 2009.

9/22/09 - Ranell Myles, a GSU PhD student in Sociology and participant in the Urban Health Initiative, received a Ford Foundation predoctoral scholarship. She was featured on the main GSU website in September 2009.

9/9/09 - Dr. Deirdre Oakley and Dr. Erin Ruel contributed an op-ed titled "Atlanta is No Model for Public Housing" that appeared in the September 6th, 2009 issue of the Galveston Daily News.

Click here to download our press release.

REPORT

Click here to download our public housing report.

CONTACTS

Deirdre Oakley, Erin Ruel, or Lesley Reid

PHOTOS

Please visit our photo album on the Georgia State University Department of Sociology facebook page.