Evelyn Blumenberg

En-gendering Effective Planning: Spatial Mismatch, Low-Income Women, and Transportation Policy

Abstract Welfare-to-work transportation programs are predicated on a conceptualization of the spatial mismatch hypothesis that focuses on the central-city residential locations of welfare participants, rapidly expanding job opportunities in the suburbs, and the long commutes needed to connect them. Feminist scholarship and travel behavior research, however, show that the travel patterns of low-income single mothers are not consistent with this behavior, resulting in a policy mismatch between many welfare recipients and their transportation needs. The research reviewed in this article indicates that policymakers and planners should do more to address the transportation needs of these low-income women. Policies must account for the important role of gender in determining where welfare recipients will look for work, how they are likely to conduct their job searches, and the mode by which they travel to both employment and household-supporting destinations.

Beyond the Spatial Mismatch: Welfare Recipients and Transportation Policy

Beneath the broad umbrella of agreement about transportation’s relationship to poverty is considerable discord about the specific nature of the problem and about where and how transportation solutions should be applied. Much of the existing scholarship on this topic focuses on the spatial mismatch hypothesis, the geographic separation between employment and housing. Although this concept has merit, to meet the transportation needs of welfare recipients, policy makers must move beyond conventional notions of the spatial mismatch hypothesis. This article draws from theoretical and empirical scholarship on travel behavior, transportation infrastructure, poverty, gender studies, and residential segregation and recommends transportation policies to better connect welfare recipients to employment.

Job accessibility and welfare usage: Evidence from Los Angeles

Previous scholars have explored the effects of local labor market conditions on welfare usage. However, none of these studies use direct measures of geographic access to nearby jobs. Responding to this limitation, our research combines data from the 1990 census with three administrative data sets to examine the effect of geographic job access-defined as the relative supply of low-wage jobs located within a three-mile radius of a census tract-on welfare usage rates among the Los Angeles population with a high school degree or less. After controlling for other characteristics likely to affect welfare behavior, we find that welfare usage declines as geographic job access increases. This relationship holds not only among African-Americans, the subject of much of the scholarship on job access and economic opportunity, but also among whites, Asians, and Hispanics.

Cars, Buses, and Jobs: Welfare Participants and Employment Access in Los Angeles

Some studies suggest that, among other obstacles to employment, welfare participants face a spatial separation from jobs and employment-related services. Using data on welfare participants, low-wage jobs, and public transit in Los Angeles County, an examination was made of the relative access that welfare participants have to employment opportunities. The analysis shows that welfare participants’ access to employment varies dramatically depending on their residential location and commute mode. Many welfare participants live in job-rich neighborhoods and are able to reach numerous jobs without difficulty by either car or public transit. Others, however, live in job-poor neighborhoods where a reliance on public transit significantly reduces their access to employment. In these neighborhoods long and unreliable commutes on public transit often severely limit their ability to find and reliably travel to and from work. Therefore, given the distinctly uneven patterns of employment opportunities in metropolitan areas, policies to address the transportation needs of welfare participants should be targeted to reflect the characteristics of the neighborhoods in which welfare participants live.

On the Way to Work: Welfare Participants and Barriers to Employment

The landmark 1996 welfare reform legislation required welfare participants to transition rapidly into the labor market. However, many welfare participants have not fared well in the competition for jobs because they face multiple barriers to employment. This study draws on data from a California job readiness survey of welfare participants to examine the effects of employment barriers on male and female welfare participants. The results of logistic modeling show that individual barriers negatively affect employment outcomes and that the likelihood of employment declines with an increasing number of barriers. These findings suggest that economic development programs intended to aid welfare participants in making a successful transition into the labor market must move beyond piecemeal approaches to meeting the needs of welfare participants and include comprehensive strategies that address multiple barriers to employment.

Accessibility and Cognition: The Effect of Transport Mode on Spatial Knowledge

Spatial behaviour and decision-making require knowledge of the urban environment, including opportunities available and the means to reach them. Thus, variations in spatial knowledge can result in radically different levels of effective accessibility, despite similar locations, demographics and other factors commonly thought to influence travel behaviour. Cognitive maps, which develop primarily through wayfinding and travel experience, are individuals’ repositories of spatial knowledge. This paper examines whether differences in cognitive maps can be explained, in part, by variations in travel mode. Adults were surveyed in two Los Angeles neighbourhoods with relatively low auto use and high transit use. The data show that spatial knowledge does indeed vary with previous experience with travel modes.

Measuring the Role of Transportation in Facilitating the Welfare-to-Work Transition: Evidence from Three California Counties

Welfare-to-Work transportation programs are premised on a conceptualization of the spatial mismatch hypothesis that focuses on the physical separation between the central city locations of welfare participants, rapidly expanding job opportunities in the suburbs, and the long commutes needed to connect them. Using data from three diverse California counties, welfare recipients’ spatial access to employment was examined. The results indicate that the traditional notion of the spatial mismatch is less relevant to welfare recipients, many of whom live in counties in which the urban structure does not fit the simple model of poor, central-city neighborhoods and distant, job-rich suburbs. Many welfare recipients live in job-rich areas; others live in neighborhoods that are spatially isolated from employment. Therefore, to be effective, transportation policies must be tailored to the diverse characteristics of the neighborhoods in which welfare recipients live.

Automobile Ownership and Travel by the Poor: Evidence from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey

Income, or the lack of it, influences household transportation decisions and the ways in which individuals travel. Low-income households are less likely to own cars and more likely to travel by modes other than the automobile. Less is known, however, about the specific determinants of travel among the poor, which was the purpose of this analysis. This study used data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey to examine the relationship between income and automobile ownership and the role of automobile ownership in explaining person miles traveled. An analysis was then made of whether these determinants varied by income group. The results indicated that low-income adults rapidly convert rising income into additional mobility at faster rates than higher-income adults. Further, automobile ownership increases person miles traveled for all adults; however, it is particularly influential in increasing the travel of low-income adults. Households accrue greater marginal benefits by moving from zero to one vehicle than by purchasing additional vehicles when they already own one or more. These findings underscore the importance of automobile ownership to the mobility of low-income households and suggest an important role for policy in facilitating low-income auto ownership.

Moving Welfare Participants to Work: Women, Transportation, and Welfare Reform

This article draws on data for Los Angeles to argue that effective transportation programs for welfare recipients must consider both the distinctive characteristics and patterns of employed women and the constraining burdens of children and other household responsibilities. The failure to do so will limit the effectiveness of these programs and greatly increase the likelihood that recipients will remain poor.

Planning for the Transportation Needs of Welfare Participants Institutional Challenges to Collaborative Planning

The responsibility for developing transportation programs for welfare participants spans multiple public agencies. Consequently, federal funding programs require that agencies work together to develop a coordinated response to address the transportation needs of welfare participants. Based on a survey of transportation, welfare, and employment agencies in nineteen California counties, this study examines the potential institutional obstacles to successful local collaboration and coordination among public agencies. The research shows that new sources of federal funds have encouraged interagency efforts to address the transportation needs of welfare participants. However, the divergent organizational goals, methods, and approaches of the participating agencies heavily influence these collaborative efforts. As a consequence, stakeholders may have difficulty moving beyond the narrow interests of their individual institutions to identify and plan for the transportation needs of welfare participants.