Economic integration through various mixed income housing strategies has become the dominant housing policy in many parts of the world. In the United States, this strategy involves a restructuring of space often with conflict. This study reports on a socio-spatial analysis of mixed income housing programmes, including the degree that integration increases public housing residents’ access to diverse neighbourhoods, the use value of a city, and participatory space. The paper concludes that mixed income housing has the potential to increase public housing residents’ ‘right to the city’ but that policy implementers need to be proactive in the face of barriers such as community opposition to subsidized housing that can hinder the right.