Black-To-White Successions in Central-City Housing

Abstract

The extent to which whites are replacing blacks in central-city housing-one measure of what is popularly known as the "back to the city" movement-has so far been undocu mented on a national scale. Data from matched years of the Annual Housing Survey can address this issue for the mid-1970s. Approximately twice as many central-city residential successions involved transitions from black to white occupancy in 1973-1976 as in 1967- 1971. The income and educational levels of central-city whites appear to have exceeded those of the blacks they replaced for the first time in 1975-1976, presenting limited support for the belief that cities are beginning to experience a gradual "revitalization."