Policy Brief October 2024 - How States’ Low Income Housing Tax Credit Allocation Plans Can Help Increase Students’ Access to Integrated, Well-Resourced Schools

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai

October 2024 policy brief examining how state Low Income Housing Tax Credit allocation plans can advance school integration and improve equitable access to well-resourced, integrated learning environments. It explains the reciprocal relationship between residential segregation and school segregation, showing how neighborhood-based enrollment links housing demographics to persistent racial and economic isolation. The brief outlines how educators and education advocates can use the LIHTC Qualified Allocation Plan process to incorporate educational criteria into affordable housing decisions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

HOUSING POLICY AND SCHOOL POLICY

Reciprocal relationship between residential and school segregation

Policy implications for educators and advocates

Policy Brief October 2024 How States’ Low Income Housing Tax Credit Allocation Plans Can Help Increase Students’Access to Integrated, Well-Resourced Schools A Guide for Education Advocates1 70 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education, American classrooms remain persistently isolated along racial and class lines. American youth are more diverse than ever before, and yet more than a third of students attend schools where over 75% of students come from the same racial or ethnic background.2 And despite the harmful effects of concentrated poverty, Black, Latinx, and Native students are over five times more likely to attend high-poverty schools than white students.3 Housing policy directly impacts schools. Public schools typically reflect their neighborhood demographics because most students are assigned to schools based on their residence. In 2021, over two thirds of K-12 public school students nationwide attended their neighborhood school.4 Thus, any serious hope of integrating America’s public education system requires us to consider not only educational policies and practices but also whether our housing policies make our communities more–or less–integrated.5 ________________________________ 1 This policy brief is the third in a recent series of reports on the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program and the potential of state Qualified Allocation Plans to reach key policy goals, including Building Opportunity III: Affirmatively furthering fair housing in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program (PRRAC, 2023) and Social Housing Goals in State Allocation Plans: A 50-State Survey (PRRAC, 2023) . 2 U.S. Government Accountability Office, K-12 Education: Student Population Has Significantly Diversified, but Many Schools Remain Divided Along Racial, Ethnic, and Economic Lines (2022), [https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104737. Full](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104737. Full) report at [https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-](https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-)[ ](https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-)[104737.pdf.](104737.pdf.) 3 National Center for Education Statistics, Concentration of Public School Students Eligible for Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (2020), [https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020144.pdf](https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020144.pdf). 4 U.S. Government Accountability Office, supra note 2. 5 Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, The Reciprocal Relationship Between Housing and School Integration 1 (National Coalition on School Diversity, 2011), [https://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/DiversityResearchBriefNo7.pdf](https://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/DiversityResearchBriefNo7.pdf). Poverty & Race Research Action Council Policy Brief October 2024 2 Neighborhood and school integration can help ensure that every student has equitable access to educational opportunities and adequate resources. Living and learning in diverse communities also prepares all students to become effective members of our multiracial democracy.6 This guide explains how policymakers can consider educational criteria when developing affordable housing under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program through the state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) process, which governs which affordable housing developments are developed each year. I. HOUSING POLICY AND SCHOOL POLICY There is a reciprocal relationship between residential segregation and school segregation.7 Federal housing policy and historical patterns of housing segregation have created stark divides between wealthy, predominantly white communities with high property values and communities of color with more limited resources. Though racially segregated and economically disadvantaged communities possess community cultural wealth,8 they have experienced ongoing disinvestment and exclusion from wealth-building opportunities through measures such as exclusionary zoning, restrictive covenants, and historical government

FAQs

What is the main purpose of this policy brief?

It explains how state Low Income Housing Tax Credit allocation plans can help increase students’ access to integrated, well-resourced schools by using the Qualified Allocation Plan process to incorporate educational considerations into affordable housing decisions.

How does housing policy affect school segregation?

Because most students attend schools based on residence, housing demographics shape school demographics. Residential segregation and concentrated poverty reinforce racial and economic divides, creating a cycle that persists through both housing and school policy.

Why are educators and education advocates encouraged to engage in housing and land use policy?

The brief argues that housing and school policies have a strong reciprocal effect on patterns of racial and economic segregation, so involvement in housing and land use decisions can directly support school integration and equitable educational resources.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai