Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence (RCAA's) The concept of Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence (RCAAs) was originally developed by scholars at the University of Minnesota to illustrate the flip side of the Racially and Ethnically Concentrated Areas of Poverty (R/ECAPs) metric used by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule to more fully tell the story of segregation in the United States. As stated in HCD’s AFFH Guidance Memo, when analyzing patterns and trends of segregation and proposing policy approaches in the Housing Element, localities should not only focus on communities of color. Segregation is a continuum, with polarity between race, poverty, and affluence, which can be a direct product of the same policies and practices. To better evaluate these conditions, both sides of the continuum should be considered and compare patterns within the community and across the region. This more holistic approach will better unveil deeply rooted policies and practices and improve identification and prioritization of contributing factors to inform more meaningful actions. HCD has created a new version of the RCAA metric to better reflect California’s relative diversity and regional conditions, and to aid local jurisdictions in their analysis of racially concentrated areas of poverty and affluence pursuant to AB 686 and AB 1304. HCD’s RCAA metric is provided as a resource to be paired with local data and knowledge – jurisdictions are encouraged but not required to use the RCAA layer provided by HCD in their housing element analyses. To develop the RCAA layer, staff first calculated a Location Quotient (LQ) for each California census tract using data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey data. This LQ represents the percentage of total white population (White Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino) for each census tract compared to the average percentage of total white population for all census tracts in a given Council of Governments' (COG) region. For example, a census tract with a LQ of 1.5 has a percentage of total white population that is 1.5 times higher than the average percentage of total white population in the given COG region. To determine the RCAAs, census tracts with a LQ of more than 1.25 and a median income 1.5 times higher than the COG Area Median Income (AMI) (or 1.5x the State AMI, whichever is lower) were assigned a numeric score of 1 (Is a RCAA). Census tracts that did not meet this criterion were assigned a score of 0 (Not a RCAA). COG AMI was determined by averaging the 2019 ACS established AMI's for each county within the given COG region. 2019 ACS AMI limits can be found here: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219 [census.gov]. State AMI was based on the ACS 2019 California state AMI ($75,235), which can be found here: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA/INC110219 [census.gov]. Census tracts with a total population of less than 75 people, in which the census tract was also largely contained within a non-urbanized area such as a park, open space, or airport, were not identified as RCAAs. Data Source: American Community Survey (ACS), 2015-2019 References: Wilson, William J. (1980). The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Damiano, T., Hicks, J., & Goetz, E. (2017). Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence: A Preliminary Investigation. To learn more about R/ECAPs visit: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/cityscpe/vol21num1/ch4.pdf [huduser.gov] Original data created by HCD, PlaceWorks 2021

Tags: hess, affh module