Attitudes toward economic integration

This is a study of Antelope Valley (AV) and Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) residents' attitudes toward economic integration. In response to the question of how low income housing should be handled, the largest percentage of respondents in both AV and SCV favored separate neighborhoods/shared facilities. However, SCV residents tended to react much more negatively toward the idea of economic integration than AV residents. Although scatteration was the second most popular alternative among AV residents, the alternative chosen by the second highest percentage of SCV residents was "No additional low income housing should be developed in this area. Although the majority of AV respondents indicated that, if there was a need for low income housing in their part of town, they would be in favor of its construction, only fifty percent of SCV respondents were in favor of construction of low income housing in their part of town. Respondents were also asked what action, if any, local government should take to provide housing for low income families—should government require that it be built, provide financial incentives to developers, encourage developers, supply low income families with money to use for housing of their own choice or should government not be concerned with low income housing. Among both AV and SCV residents the two alternatives calling for the least amount of government involvement were the most popular--local government should encourage the building of low income housing and government should not be concerned with low income housing. However, while these two alternatives were equally popular in the AV, SCV residents were slightly more likely to feel that government should not be involved than to indicate that low income housing should be encouraged. The key difference evident among various demographic subgroups was the finding in AV that, compared to respondents between the ages of thirty-five and forty-four, a larger percentage of respondents under age thirty-four preferred scatteration, felt that local government should be concerned with low income housing, and would be in favor of construction of low income housing in their part of town.