Children and Foreclosures in Baltimore City: Foreclosure Crisis and Mobility

Since 2007, the foreclosure crisis in the United States has continued to affect families and
children across the United States. While most of the research on foreclosures has focused on the
impact on the housing market, the loss of the home, the decline in property values and a loss of
wealth, little research has examined the impact of foreclosures on children. Research conducted
in Baltimore City found that in the 2008-09 school year, 2.7 percent of public school children are
affected by foreclosure while research in New York City found two percent of public school
children are affected by foreclosure and research in Washington, D.C. found 2.2 percent of
public school children are affected by foreclosure (Been et al., 2010; Comey and Grosz, 2010;
Kachura, 2011).

The first phase of this research identified the number of students affected by foreclosure,
provided information on their demographic characteristics, neighborhoods, schools, and housing
characteristics (see Kachura, 2011). This brief, the second in a series about Baltimore City,
focuses on whether foreclosures result in public school students moving homes, switching
schools and the conditions in both the neighborhoods and schools before and after the move.
There is significant literature and research that suggests residential mobility and changing
schools has a negative impact on children and this brief relates these disruptive forces to the
foreclosure crisis in Baltimore City.