In this prologue to the special issue, the guest editors place the contributions in the context of current debates on living in concentrated poverty neighborhoods. These debates concern two broad categories of residents: poor households that are assisted to move from concentrations of poverty to lower-poverty areas (movers); and households (not exclusively the poor) that cannot move out of poor neighborhoods or are not willing to do so, for various reasons (stayers). For the first category, the main issue is whether housing vouchers provide movers only with better housing or also with other social, psychological and economic benefits. A wealth of (partly contradictory) evidence justifies exploring a fundamental question: What should housing vouchers do? With regard to those unwilling or unable to move out of poor neighborhoods, we focus on how residents cope with the recurrent problems and stressful circumstances in poor neighborhoods.

Within housing and urban research, there is a long tradition of studies focusing on residential segregation and poor neighborhoods. These topics continue to challenge and engage researchers all over the globe, reflecting the interest in and attention to poor neighborhoods among policymakers. Overall, residential segregation, both in ethnic and income terms, is considered an undesirable phenomenon which impacts the opportunities, prospects and quality of life of the residents, especially in urban areas. In general terms, selective migration and segregation are expected to disconnect poor residents from mainstream society, according to the seminal work of Wilson (1987).