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Public Housing Transformation and Crime: Making the Case for Responsible Relocation
Abstract
The research in this article examines the effect on cnme rates of public housing transformation in Atlanta and Chicago, focusing on the neighborhoods receiving households relocated with housing vouchers. Modeling the complex relationship between voucher holder locations and crime, using quarterly data, our analysis found that cnme rates fell substantially in neighborhoods with public housing demolition, whereas destination neighborhoods experienced a much lesser effect than popular accounts imply. Nevertheless, on average, negative effects emerge for some neighborhoods with modest or high densities of relocated households compared with conditions in areas without relocated households. Overall, we estimate small net decreases citywide in violent cnme over study periods during which cnme declined significantly. These findings suggest a need for thoughtful relocation strategies that support both assisted residents and receiving communities.
... 12 Prior to the beginning of Chicago's public housing demolitions, low-income households had no ability to access housing vouchers because the CHA stopped allowing requests in 1985 (Jacob and Ludwig, 2012). 13 Later initiatives by the CHA included providing relocation support to residents who were displaced by building demolitions that occurred during the 2000s (Popkin et al., 2012). ...
... Freedman and Owens (2011) find that the U.S. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program reduces violent crime in poor neighborhoods. 5 Using different data and methodology than Aliprantis and Hartley (2015), Popkin et al. (2012) study the impact of public housing demolition and relocation on neighborhood-level crime measures, and find evidence that crime increased in areas that received displaced public housing residents. 6 Aliprantis and Hartley (2015) find no statistically significant effect of displacement on neighborhood-level homicides; however, they do observe increases in arrests for assault and battery. ...
... Popkin et al. (2012) also studies the impact of public housing demolition and relocation on neighborhoodlevel crime measures. Using different data and methodology relative toAliprantis and Hartley (2015),Popkin et al. (2012) find evidence that both violent and property crime increased in areas that received displaced public housing residents. ...
The central idea in social economics is that an individual's actions are influenced by the choices and characteristics of peers. This occurs because group (network) membership provides information and shapes beliefs (norms). For both researchers and policymakers, the interest in social economics stems from its ability to explain a range of phenomena including the persistence of urban poverty and the spatial distribution of crime. This dissertation contributes to the literature by providing new empirical evidence on the effects of social interactions. Specifically, the first two chapters examine the impact of neighborhood peers on children by studying housing policy reforms in Chicago using novel administrative data. The third chapter (joint with Lasse Brune and Jason Kerwin) studies how coworkers affect workplace productivity using data from a field experiment.
... To combat crime, cities have attempted to move public housing to different areas. For example, Popkin, Rich, Hendey, Hayes, and Parilla (2012) examined the costs of relocating public housing in Atlanta and Chicago, finding that there were declines in violent crime when public housing was relocated. The study also found that there was a 4.4% decline in gun crime in Chicago by relocating public housing. ...
... The study also found that there was a 4.4% decline in gun crime in Chicago by relocating public housing. While Popkin et al. (2012) found a decline in firearm violence for Chicago in 2012, firearm violence increased by more than 88% in the first 3 months of 2016 in Chicago (Madhani, 2016). Similar to findings on crime in urban and rural areas, firearm violence may be more or less likely in different types of communities based on the analyses. ...
... Similar to findings on crime in urban and rural areas, firearm violence may be more or less likely in different types of communities based on the analyses. In one study, firearm violence may be demonstrated to decrease by 4.4% in Chicago (Popkin, Rich, Hendey, Hayes, & Parilla, 2012), but another examination may see an increase in firearm violence (Madhani, 2016). Homicide involving a firearm is a significant problem in the United States. ...
Examinations of firearm prevalence and crime have produced mixed results. The mixed research results and lack of knowledge about the amount of firearms in the United States make it difficult for researchers to assess the role that firearm prevalence plays in crime. The current analysis argues that the equivocal results could be due to location type because different locations may define the use and ownership of a firearm in different ways. Densely packed urban centers may be affected by firearm prevalence differently than sparsely populated rural areas. The current analysis created metro, nonmetro, and rural location types to examine the relationship between firearm prevalence and homicide. The findings illustrate that firearm prevalence significantly predicts the number of homicides in metro counties but does not significantly predict firearm prevalence for nonmetro and rural counties.
... Violence in public housing attracts particular attention because it is associated with social and physical disorder. Studies from multiple disciplines show that issues associated with the high-rise, highdensity projects built as a result of urban renewal policies of the 1950s and 1960s are risk factors for violence (Lindberg et al., 2010;Popkin et al., 2004Popkin et al., , 2012Suresh & Vito, 2009). Recent policies, motivated in part by concerns about crime, have sought to move people out of this type of housing. ...
... Housing programs such as MTO and HOPE VI raise persistent controversy because a significant proportion of relocated residents may be exposed to new risk factors that increase their risk for violence related to changes in their social and physical environments (Cahill, Lowry, & Downey, 2011;Goetz, 2010;Sharkey & Sampson, 2010). For example, disruption of interpersonal relationships affects the ability of people to build and take advantage of social networks that help reduce criminal behaviors in the community (Cahill et al., 2011;Popkin et al., 2012;Sharkey & Sampson, 2010). Moving is also often an expensive endeavor in the best of circumstances, and HOPE VI has been criticized for the financial hardship it inflicted on low-income families forced to relocate (Goetz, 2010). ...
... Multiple dimensions of relocation policy seem to influence whether or not the risk of violence increases or decreases for relocated residents and their new neighborhoods (Sharkey & Sampson, 2010). Important distinctions to be found include those between housing policy and mobility patterns (Keene & Geronimus, 2011;Popkin et al., 2012;Sharkey & Sampson, 2010), municipal structures and administrative boundaries, and demographic and social factors (Goetz, 2010;Haynie & South, 2005;Keene & Geronimus, 2011;Kling et al., 2005;Lindberg et al., 2010;Sharkey & Sampson, 2010;. ...
This article summarizes and reviews the cross-discipline literature on violent crime in destination neighborhoods postrelocation in order to build a more comprehensive picture of risk factors for violence, as well as how and why housing policies influence risk of violence. High rates of violent crime continue to be a persistent problem in areas of concentrated poverty and public housing. Modern housing programs such as Moving to Opportunity and Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere are popular interventions for reducing the density of low-income people receiving public housing assistance by relocating residents of distressed housing projects. However, evidence suggests that relocated residents may not experience less violence or improved safety in their new communities.
... This finding appears to provide support to the work by Newman (1973) suggesting that the physical design and high-density nature of public housing may be connected to the high incidence of criminal activities in such developments. From the lens of Popkin et al. (2012) there is the understanding that the link between public housing environment and crime may be due to the fact that public housing projects are often located particularly in high-crime neighbourhoods in the cities. Yet other authors (Massey and Denton 1993;Carter 1998;Cunningham et al. 2005;Tighe 2010) have insisted that the poverty level among residents of public housing developments makes them prone to violent crimes and antisocial activities. ...
... Consequently, the results of the factor analysis show that sitting the estates close to neighbourhood facilities and away from crime-prone areas is one of the features with significant influence on residents' satisfaction with security in the 12 housing estates. Again, this is in support of the previous studies (Stevento 1996;Popkin et al. 2012) on the contribution of location of residential developments in achieving improved security by deterring, disrupting or mitigating potential criminal activities and the findings by authors (Bursik 1988;Sampson and Groves 1989;Bursik and Grasmick 1993;Kubrin and Weitzer 2003;Kubrin 2009) indicating that the level of crime in a neighbourhood is more of a function of its ecological characteristics than the socioeconomic characteristics of the residents. This was corroborated by Clancey et al. (2014) who noted that there is a direct link between the physical environment characteristics and crime rate. ...
Location, planning and design of the built environment are known to have influence on the security of lives and property in residential neighbourhoods. However, there is a limited understanding of the extent to which these aspects contribute to security in public housing environments in a developing country like Nigeria. This study investigated the influence of locational, planning and design features on residents’ perception of security in public housing estates in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. The data used were derived from a questionnaire survey of 1036 residents in 12 Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) housing estates in the study area. Results of the descriptive statistics, factor and regression analyses revealed that the residents were generally satisfied with security of lives and property in the housing estates. Provisions for communal living, layouts of the estates and passive security measures and location of the estates close to neighbourhood facilities and in crime-prone areas of the city contributed most to residents’ perception of security in the estates. This study implies that to enhance security in public housing environments, priority should be given to location, planning and design strategies that promote communal living and residents’ participation in the security of their homes.
... Mast and Wilson (2013) explored the same question, examining Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 2000 and, and found that voucher households are associated with increased crime but only above a certain concentration of voucher holders in a census tract. Examining crimes at the census-tract level in Chicago and in Atlanta, Georgia, Popkin et al. (2012) found that crime rates fell significantly in neighborhoods where public housing had been demolished. However, they also found that after a number of relocated former public housing residents reached a certain threshold, crime rates decreased less than they would have if no former public housing residents had moved in (Popkin et al., 2012). ...
... Examining crimes at the census-tract level in Chicago and in Atlanta, Georgia, Popkin et al. (2012) found that crime rates fell significantly in neighborhoods where public housing had been demolished. However, they also found that after a number of relocated former public housing residents reached a certain threshold, crime rates decreased less than they would have if no former public housing residents had moved in (Popkin et al., 2012). ...
Scholars argue that housing abandonment increases area criminal activity. The link between abandoned properties and crime has led to the assumption that demolition of abandoned properties will stymie critical activity and thus improve neighborhood safety. Although cities spend millions of federal and local funds on demolitions every year, very little research has explored the empirical effects of demolitions on crime. Does demolition lead to a reduction in nearby crime? This study answers this question by quantifying the relationship between abandoned building demolition programs and nearby crime using a difference-in-difference approach on 559 abandoned buildings demolished in Kansas City, Missouri, between 2012 and 2016. This study finds that demolition of abandoned properties does not have any significant impact on nearby violent and property crime. This analysis shows that a change in nearby crime is attributable to differences in nearby socioeconomic and housing characteristics, rather than to the demolition of abandoned properties.
... The relationship between subsidized housing and crime is complex. Empirical studies indicate that public housing buildings and people receiving housing subsidies or vouchers tend to be located in high-crime areas (Casas et al. 2016;Griffiths and Tita 2009;Hayes et al. 2013;Lens 2013a, b;Mast and Wilson 2013;Popkin et al. 2012;Woo and Joh 2015;Zandt and Mhatre 2013). This pattern is consistent with research that has documented associations between crime and high poverty rates (Burraston et al. 2018;Hipp and Kane 2017). ...
... First, research has evaluated crime and safety in locations where public housing was demolished and not directly replaced. Although complete demolition differs from the revitalization model implemented at Yesler Terrace, studies have found associations between public housing demolition and improved perceptions and rates of reported crime (Owens 2013;Popkin et al. 2012). Second, a small body of literature has shown that residents who received vouchers to relocate away from HOPE VI public housing redevelopment sites reported improvements in their experiences of crime in their new neighborhoods (Brooks et al. 2005;Popkin et al. 2009). ...
Although research indicates that developing new public housing typically does not increase neighborhood crime, little is known about the impact of revitalizing existing public housing properties, also known as redevelopment. This study evaluates the effect of a multi-component physical and social redevelopment project on reports and perceptions of neighborhood crime in Seattle, Washington. We compare administrative police data with findings from a community survey to assess trends during early-to-mid redevelopment. While perceptions of safety improved over the study period, most crime-specific trends were not significantly different at the redevelopment site relative to comparison sites where no redevelopment occurred. Results suggest that this project did not have obvious adverse effects on crime rates. Although this redevelopment may have had a positive effect on perceptions of crime and safety in the short-term, it may take longer to realize beneficial effects on actual experiences or reports of crime.
... Social housing in the United Kingdom is predominantly the preserve of low-income groups, and thus the dispersal and dilution of offender concentrations depends in large part upon housing and planning policies that result in the diversification of social housing estates, and the wider provision of social housing across a city's neighbourhoods. Recent evidence from Atlanta and Chicago indicates that it is possible to get a net citywide reduction in crime from a deconcentration of social housing residents brought about by changing a number of factors in the origin locations at the same time as dispersing low-income groups (Popkin et al. 2012). Similarly, previous research in Glasgow found the effects of housing tenure mixing upon crime rates in advantaged neighbourhoods to be small, and that the greater potential of tenure mixing to reducing crime may come via its contribution to reducing area deprivation in the most disadvantaged (origin) areas (Livingston et al. 2014b). ...
... In policy terms, the fact that offender concentrations have been found to have effects upon crime rates both locally and elsewhere suggests twin approaches to combating this. First, 'responsible relocation' motivated by social equity (Popkin et al. 2012) should make structural changes in areas of offender concentration (especially in social housing) alongside relocation of some offenders where they are most concentrated. Second, a combination of traditional and non-traditional policing and prevention approaches should intervene with chronic and transient offenders in distinct ways. ...
This paper examines whether criminals commit more crimes when living among other offenders. We estimate a fxed-effect, negative binomial model of individual reoffending using a quarterly panel data set across a decade for 693 neighbourhoods in Glasgow, which provides plausibly causal relationships. The concentration of recently active offenders has positive effects upon the subsequent number of property and violent crimes committed by resident offenders both inside and outside the neighbourhood. The concentration of young males also has a positive effect upon both crime types in both locations. Further understanding of peer influences by crime type and location, and of the effects of offender concentrations on processes of social control are required. The deconcentration of offenders is justifed on social equity grounds.
... 14 The CHA provided few support services such as housing counseling during the period of my study. Later CHA initiatives included relocation support for residents who were displaced by building demolitions that occurred during the 2000s (Popkin et al. 2012). vouchers from public housing should not mechanically affect the income of assisted households because the program and rent rules for vouchers and project-based assistance were similar. ...
... Unlike households in the MTO study, there were few supplemental services provided to families forced to relocate due to building demolition(Jacob 2004).56 Using different data and methodology relative to Aliprantis and Hartley(2015),Popkin et al. (2012) find that both violent and property crime increased in areas that received displaced public housing residents. ...
This paper provides new evidence on the effects of moving out of disadvantaged neighborhoods on the long-run outcomes of children. I study public housing demolitions in Chicago, which forced low-income households to relocate to less disadvantaged neighborhoods using housing vouchers. Specifically, I compare young adult outcomes of displaced children to their peers who lived in nearby public housing that was not demolished. Displaced children are more likely to be employed and earn more in young adulthood. I also find that displaced children have fewer violent crime arrests. Children displaced at young ages have lower high school dropout rates.
... 2. Debating the intersections between housing and crime within a 'Southern Criminology' framework 2.1. Neighbourhood change, public housing and crime Urban transformations, including gentrification, regeneration, migration, changing population composition and relocation are shown to shape crime rates in complex ways (Kirk and Laub, 2010;Popkin et al., 2012). The role of public housing, particularly high-rise flats (noted in an American context), are associated with high crime levels and have been the recent state focus of demolitions, and relocations, into deconcentrated forms of low-rise scattered public housing (Kirk and Laub, 2010: 468). ...
... The role of public housing, particularly high-rise flats (noted in an American context), are associated with high crime levels and have been the recent state focus of demolitions, and relocations, into deconcentrated forms of low-rise scattered public housing (Kirk and Laub, 2010: 468). The relationship between public housing (its location, quality, inhabitants, economic realities, relative indices), processes of relocation and crime are multiple (Popkin et al., 2012), with mixed impacts potentially experienced through the migration of residents into areas which receive public housing (in whatever form) as is the case in this paper. Such selective migration "may undermine informal social control because of residential turnover and instability" (Kirk and Laub, 2010: 470) although areas receiving public housing may already have relatively high levels of crime and may be disadvantaged anyway. ...
New state-subsidised ‘RDP’ housing in South Africa aims to provide former informally-housed residents with a better quality of life, stronger community and decreased levels of crime. Despite the state’s ambitions, this process is highly contradictory, increases in safety occurring alongside rising incivilities and tensions. This paper contributes to an emerging set of debates on the socio-political outcomes of state-led housing interventions in the global South, through an illustration of the limitations of efforts to produce ‘safe neighbourhoods’ in contexts of high unemployment alongside high levels of violence. The conceptual framing of ‘Southern Criminology’ (Carrington et al., 2015), centres the significance of histories of colonial and post-colonial violence, inequality, hybrid governance and justice practices, as well as informal living, and is employed to analyse recently housed residents’ experiences of crime and safety in South Africa, in a north eThekwini settlement, Hammond’s Farm. Recognising these ‘Southern’ factors, the paper argues that movement into new formal housing, is typified by significant material changes at the home and neighbourhood scale which foster privacy and safety, formalised governance practices and (partial) improvements in policing services. These occur in conjunction with access to new leisure activities including alcohol consumption and ‘township life’ which alongside ongoing poverty foster urban incivilities. A ‘Southern Criminology’ perspective frames concluding questions about the nature of crime in contexts of urban change, which are persistently shaped by inequality and wider historical and structural factors, challenging the state’s aspirations to achieve crime reduction through housing.
... More generally, the "broken windows" hypothesis argues that signs of physical disorder send visible signals that an area lacks the social infrastructure to deter or catch criminals, thereby inviting more criminal activity (Wilson and Kelling 1982). The intuition behind the "broken windows" theory underlies several important urban policies , including large-scale urban renewal programs in the mid-20 th century and HOPE VI redevelopments of troubled public housing projects in the 1990s (Popkin et al 2012). ...
... The results are mixed, finding that demolitions are associated with reductions in property crime at the block level and increases in violent crime at the block group level. A larger literature exists regarding previous housing and neighborhood revitalization policies that were primarily aimed at improving the physical environment of distressed neighborhoods, with a secondary goal of improving safety and other social conditions (Joice 2011, Newman 1972, Popkin et al 2012. Aliprantis and Hartley (2015) demonstrate that HOPE VI demolitions of large, highly concentrated public housing projects in Chicago caused significant and substantial decreases in violent crime, notably homicide, shots fired, vice and prostitution. ...
The relationship between neighborhood physical environment and social disorder, particularly crime, is of critical interest to urban economists and sociologists, as well as local governments. Over the past 50 years, various policy interventions to improve physical conditions in distressed neighborhoods have also been heralded for their potential to reduce crime. Urban renewal programs in the mid-20 th century and public housing redevelopment in the 1990s both subscribed to the idea that signs of physical disorder invite social disorder. More recently, the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provided funding for local policymakers to rehabilitate or demolish foreclosed and vacant properties, in order to mitigate negative spillovers—including crime—on surrounding neighborhoods. In this paper, we investigate the impact of NSP investments on localized crime patterns in Cleveland, Chicago and Denver. Results suggest that demolition activity in Cleveland decreased burglary and theft, but do not find measurable impacts of property rehabilitation investments—although the precision of these estimates are limited by the number of rehabilitation activities.
... They lack the flexibility and adaptability to accommodate evolving human needs for functionality, personal comfort, and social interaction [3]. This often leads to alterations in the interior or exterior of dwelling units [11] [5] [13], further hindering social interaction within families and neglecting social and cultural aspects of living. ...
In the context of architectural evolution, while commercial office designs have evolved with time into more modern and contemporary designs and layouts, residential spaces still seem anchored to traditional layouts and designs, characterized by fixed rooms and walled enclosures. The likely reasons for the lack of significant changes in residential spaces are the historical precedents, architectural heritage, and cultural norms and expectations that determine specified spaces for discrete activities. In turn, the traditional layouts may affect and limit the types of social interactions, space utilization, and the versatility required in modern lifestyles. Therefore, this research seeks to provide insights that can support the ideation of future residential spaces that effortlessly adapt to modern lifestyles and daily routines. Though the literature suggests that the design of living spaces should support the lifestyle and daily routine of the inhabitants, most of the reported studies have primarily focused on women's (especially homemakers') activities in and around the kitchen. In contrast, there needs to be a clear understanding of how people's daily routines shape various spaces within a home, and the question remains: Is it the routine activities that shape our living spaces, or does the design of these spaces shape our day-today -activities? This paper undertakes an exploratory research study. The study utilizes data obtained through a survey methodology administered through a questionnaire and a digital form that focuses on the detailed 24-hour timeline of the individual's daily activities and other inputs like age, gender, occupation and preferences about space and storage. The research employs qualitative analysis to interpret the responses collected from participants. By examining the interaction between residential design and daily activities, this study aims to understand how living spaces can be altered to better align with the needs and behaviors of occupants. The findings seek to inform future architectural and interior design practices, fostering spaces that functionally support diverse lifestyles .
... rearrangement changes the color of walls or furniture. Meanwhile, structural transformations, such as breaking or adding walls, result in home layout transformation, which can occur over time in a series of processes [32] . Others have defined residential layout changes as the process of expanding or modifying interior or exterior layout arrangements. ...
Home should be a place for social activities that satisfy both physical and social needs. Real estate developers in Jeddah currently show little consideration for cultural and social patterns of users in residential interior layouts. Therefore, this study aims to investigate apartments released by real estate developers in Jeddah from users’ perspectives. Qualitative and quantitative approaches are applied through in-depth interviews with 21 participants. The interviews investigate participants’ satisfaction, desire to make changes, reasons for making changes, and reasons for not making changes. This study finds that the majority of participants want to make changes to the layout of their homes owing to social activities. The SPSS analysis shows that most participants are less satisfied with the home layouts of RED than homes that are self-built, with a statistical significance of P = 0.002. This study recommends that RED companies should consider open spaces when designing apartments for sale so as to allow users to divide the interior layouts of reception and living zones according to their needs. In order to achieve this by RED, the study recommends more study by electrical engineer for electricity switches location, architects for window location, and construction engineers for column arrangement.
... Casea et al. (2016) argue that areas of concentrated poverty and public housing face persistent issues with high rates of violent crime, while relocated residents may not necessarily experience less violence or improved safety in their new communities. Popkin et al. (2012) contend that while most relocations reduce violent crimes, the relocation of medium and highdensity communities may negatively impact domestic violence crimes. ...
This article explores the use of online negative emotions to predict public risk-coping behaviors during urban relocation. Through a literature review, the paper proposes hypotheses that anticipate advanced prediction of public risk-coping behaviors based on online negative emotions. The study's empirical focus is on the relocation of the Beijing municipal government, utilizing Granger causality analysis on time series data. Data on online negative emotions is sourced from Sina Weibo, while risk-coping behaviors are measured through public information search behaviors and the incidence of violent crimes. The results indicated that: 1) Online negative emotions regarding the relocation policy predict public risk-coping behaviors in advance. 2) Negative comments are more effective predictors than negative feelings; 3) Negative emotions about relocation policy formulation predict risk-coping behaviors better than those related to policy effectiveness and implementation; 4) Negative emotions from individuals better predict public risk-coping behaviors than those from institutions; 5) Negative emotions from key stakeholders better predict public risk-coping behaviors than those from non-key or marginal stakeholders. This study is expected to offer valuable insights and recommendations for institutions involved in policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation.
... Describe transformation as a remodeling of a completed building that results in a change in the appearance or character of the building envelope components. Popkin et al., (2012) also describe residential transformations to include activities ranging from internal furniture rearrangement and Sutrisno, Asmal, I., J., Radja, A., M., Yahya, M. (2023). painting of rooms to structural amendments such as adding more rooms or even demolition of some housing units. ...
Objective: This study attempts to review important facts related to the issue of providing housing for those with low incomes. Then the practice of residential transformation is reviewed from the spatial aspect, and what issues need to be carried out so that the transformation does not have a broad impact on residents (sustainable). Finally, the researcher tries to review some of the theories that are commonly used by researchers in reviewing housing and the transformation of the residential space itself. Method: This study uses a review study approach and descriptive explanation. This study involved around 100 reputable journals with a focus on studies of decent and inexpensive housing, and the transformation of residential spaces. The majority of journals are based on Scopus-indexed international journals and national (Indonesian) journals as reputable supporters of the Sinta index. Results: This study found that providing adequate housing for those with low income is on the agenda of all countries, until now they are still trying to reduce the gap because the amount provided has not been able to keep up with population growth rates. It follows that the transformation of public housing is carried out in transitional spaces, it's just that previous studies have not focused on transitional spaces in front of the house. The focus of his study is to produce a transitional typology. Each country has its own unique characteristics so the study of the factors that cause transformation and the choice of typology need to be studied further. Conclusions: The next finding is that there is an idea about providing a transitional space for the benefit of social interaction with an inclusive concept, which is an interesting thing to investigate.
... Describe transformation as a remodeling of a completed building that results in a change in the appearance or character of the building envelope components. Popkin et al., (2012) also describe residential transformations to include activities ranging from internal furniture rearrangement and Sutrisno, Asmal, I., J., Radja, A., M., Yahya, M. (2023). painting of rooms to structural amendments such as adding more rooms or even demolition of some housing units. ...
A CAMPO JURÍDICO: Revista de Direito Agroambiental e Teoria do Direito é um periódico peer-reviewed, é uma iniciativa do Curso de Direito da Faculdade São Francisco de Barreiras (FASB), sendo mantida pelo Instituto Avançado de Ensino Superior de Barreiras (IAESB), lançada em 2013 (migrada para o formato online em 2015), e que representa uma expressiva conquista que acarreta importantes resultados para os programas de Pós-Graduação brasileiros, e fundamentalmente para a área do Direito e Direito Agroambiental.
... Techwood Homes and Clark Howell Homes were among the first demolitions in the nation under HOPE VI (French and Disher 1997;Oakley et al. 2011;Oakley et al. 2013a). Then, immediately prior to the Great Recession and continuing through it, Atlanta demolished units (Popkin et al. 2012;Gress et al. 2016) under section 18 of the 1937 Housing Act, with no mandate of replacement units for low-income families. This meant former residents were left only with the option of HCVs . ...
U.S. housing policy in recent decades has deprioritized the provision of affordable housing for low-income families, while there are numerous barriers to accessing food safety net programs. Using secondary data analyzed with ordinal logistic regressions, I examine who has lower utilization of food social services or experiences food insecurity, in a sample of former public housing resident subjected to an involuntary dislocation. I find that widowed status, lack of a housing subsidy, and lower age predict lesser food social service utilization. Greater food social service utilization, housing instability, lack of a housing, and living with a partner subsidy predict greater food insecurity. The multiple food aid programs in our society do not effectively relieve food insecurity.
... A transformation, however, is described as the alteration of an entire building, resulting in changes to what is visible in various parts of the building [57]. Activities related to changes in housing ranged from redesigning the interior of a room and painting it to making structural modifications such as adding a room or even tearing down a building [58]. In the literature, several theories have been put forward to explain housing transformation. ...
This study examines the transformation in housing typology from low-rise to apartment buildings in the formal neighborhood of Kabul city. These formal neighborhoods were developed according to plans from 1978. The majority of these neighborhoods were designed with detached houses that had courtyards. Literature reviews, field visits, opinions of residents, and a planning organization provided data for this study. In this study, the transformation of housing in planned neighborhoods is analyzed in relation to their social and environmental impacts. Researchers determined how varying housing typologies affected residents’ health and quality of life in these planned neighborhoods. Initially, we assessed the physical characteristics of the study area and evaluated how much transformation volume is present in the study area. Second, we examined residents’ views of residential development and its impacts, as well as their daily lives. In order to identify the relationship between these two aspects, the study examined the characteristics of the area (variables) from the perspectives of privacy, natural light, shading, sound pollution, air pollution, and energy use. We used several criteria to evaluate the accuracy of the physical characteristics and the respondents’ opinions. Lastly, we provided some recommendations and solutions to improve the current situation.
... Generally, the results of this study are consistent with existing studies, although few previous pieces of research studied the relationship between residential burglary and neighborhood morphology. For example, Popkin et al. (2012) examined crime rates in public housing and found that high-density houses attracted more crimes because the concentration of residents creates opportunities. Hipp et al. (2019) demonstrated that street segments with large apartment complexes generally experienced more crime. ...
Urban morphology plays a significant role in shaping the spatial distribution of crime. This study takes an environmental criminology perspective on crime and examines how residential burglary is related to two typical morphology features—housing density and composition, which were rarely concerned by previous research. Wuhan, the largest city in central China, was selected as the case study. We first applied a new urban morphology approach to identify the morphology category of each neighborhood based on its housing density and composition. Negative binomial regression models were adopted to evaluate the impacts of morphology factors on the residential burglary at the neighborhood level while controlling for socio-demographic features, transport facilities, housing price and age. Results suggest that both housing composition and density are significantly associated with residential burglary. In particular, one unit increase in Floor Space Index, an indicator of housing density and Ground Space Index, an indicator of housing composition could lead to an 11.9% and 9.1% increase in the incident rate of residential burglary. The ‘block’ and ‘strip’ composition exert more substantial impacts than ‘point’ composition; neighborhoods with ‘high’ and ‘medium’ residences tend to be more dangerous than neighborhoods with ‘low’ residences. Results of this study reveal that communities must be designed with the relationship between risk levels of residential burglary and the ways by which communities are designed in mind. Implications regarding burglary prevention and neighborhood planning practices are discussed.
... Layout transformation can be identified as a series of changes in a home layout that takes place over time and varies from rearrangement of furniture and room colour to structural transformations like addition or demolition of some parts of the housing units (Popkin et al. 2012, Afifi 1991, Salama 1996. In other words, layout transformation is related to any type and size of changes, including extensions and/or alterations conducted on the unit's exterior and/or internal layout (Salama 1996). ...
House is a socio-cultural milieu that is strongly connected to its residents’ lifestyles; thus, any change in their way of living could be reflected in its layout. This research aimed to highlight the impact of socio-cultural factors on the internal layout of public housing residences, especially with the absence of a clear policy that defines the framework of their flexibility or the scope of transformation. In order to develop a comprehensive understanding of this relation, six variables were addressed: social role, social network, hospitality, gender segregation, safety, and privacy. The researchers adopted a mixed-method approach involving a questionnaire survey of 202 residents and 35 face-to-face interviews along with documentation of transformed layouts. The results showed that gender segregation, privacy, social network, and safety are significant socio-cultural factors affecting internal layout transformations. The findings underline the need for a public housing policy incorporating design guidelines which suit a wide range of residents to enhance the adaptability of future projects and, consequently, promote residents’ satisfaction.
... Public housing and voucher holders have long been viewed as factors contributing to neighborhood crime. Originated from the 1970s, the social norm perspective believes that the highrise public housing will increase crime within and outside the neighborhoods (Aliprantis & Hartley, 2015;Sandler, 2017), and that public housing projects and Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) may increase crime because of its associations with the socioeconomic disadvantage, neighborhood instability, and potential of the criminal network (Ellen et al., 2012;Goering et al., 2002;Popkin et al., 2012;Rosin, 2008). However, there is no empirical evidence supporting the claim of danger brought by public housing and voucher holders (Aliprantis & Hartley, 2015;Ellen et al., 2012). ...
The neighborhood environment plays an essential role in shaping the geography of property crime. However, criminologists and planners hold different views on the role of built environmental characteristics such as neighborhood permeability. Meanwhile, the consequence of social disadvantage has not been adequately considered along with built environmental measurements. We revisit the debate using the 2017 data from Dallas and Fort Worth, TX. Following a context-based theoretical framework, we use enhanced measurements of neighborhood characteristics to examine the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and property crime. The results of the geographically weighted negative binomial regression show that commercial and mixed land-use development, number of transit facilities, and alcohol-related establishments are positively associated with property crime rate, all else being equal. Neighborhoods with a higher per capita income exhibit a higher property crime rate. Neighborhoods with a higher percentage of Blacks/African Americans and a lower level of educational attainment tend to register a higher property crime rate. This research points to several areas for future studies.
... While there is additional literature on the effect of public housing demolitions on subsequent crime, especially with respect to Chicago (Aliprantis and Hartley 2015;Popkin et al. 2012;Smith 2014), the findings from this literature do not seem as applicable to the widespread demolition of smaller residential homes, which is the current problem facing many shrinking cities in the rust belt of the United States. In general, prior studies found that demolitions reduce crimes. ...
Objectives
From 2010 through 2015, the city of Buffalo demolished over 2,000 residences. This study examines whether those demolitions resulted in crime reductions.
Methods
Analysis was conducted at microplaces matching demolished parcels to comparable control parcels with similar levels of crime. In addition, spatial panel regression models were estimated at the census tract and quarterly level, taking into account demographic characteristics of neighborhoods.
Results
We find that at the microplace level, demolitions cause a steep drop in reported crime at the exact parcel and result in additional crime decreases at buffers of up to 1,000 feet away. At the census tract level, results indicated that demolitions reduced part 1 crimes, but the effect was not statistically significant across different models.
Conclusions
While concerns over crime and disorder are common for vacant houses, the evidence that housing demolitions are an effective crime reduction solution is only partially supported by the analyses here. Future research should compare demolitions in reference to other neighborhood revitalization processes.
... Tipple (1991) defines transformation of dwellings as alteration or extension involving construction activities using locally available materials and technology. Popkin et al. (2012) note housing transformation to include activities ranging from the rearrangement of internal furniture of a room to structural alterations such as addition of rooms or demolition of parts to housing units. In the context of this study, housing transformation is the act of changing, altering or renovating a dwelling unit or part of a house which may take a form of spatial or furniture re-arrangement or remodeling to suit the current desires, wishes and expectations of the occupiers or owners. ...
Studies in public housing delivery and transformation of dwelling units have continued to receive recent attention in academia with relatively few research efforts conducted in northern Nigeria. Such post occupancy evaluation studies provide architects and allied professionals important feedback towards improving future designs. The present survey investigates housing quality from the dimension of transformation and satisfaction of functional spaces using 50 houses in Kundila and Takur Site II estates in Kano and Jigawa States respectively. Participant observation and Likert scale questions were employed to ascertain the level of user satisfaction with spaces within housing units. These were analyzed in SPSS v. 21 for relative satisfaction indexes and T-tests. Results reveal transformation trends to include improving the quality of living areas and spaces accessible to visitors, fencing entire plots, provision of external toilets/baths and face-lifting facades to reflect modern trends. Least satisfactory spaces were those considered foreign to the traditional Hausa set up of the region such as dining and guest rooms. Satisfaction levels of the housing units were statistically different across the estates (t=2.136, p=0.038). Findings imply that flexibility at the design stage in space allocation, design and finish schedules for areas accessible to visitors within public housing is essential in minimizing housing transformations in future.
... According to Tipple (1994Tipple ( , 2000, Gough et al. (2003), and Sheuya (2004), the basic needs of households which triggers housing transformation are the demand for extra space to accommodate expanding household member, security purposes by building fenced walls, economic activities and the need for internal house services such as toilets and bathrooms (see also Popkin et al., 2012). Households expand in several ways, such as extended family members or friends from the rural areas migrating to the cities to find jobs, through marriages and creating of new households or high birth rates. ...
... This is remarkable because mixed-incomehousing policy rests on the assumption that deconcentrating poverty will alleviate the supposed ills of life in traditional public housing. Virtually all studies on crossrace and class social ties in mixed-income developments find a lack of connectivity (see, for example, Chaskin and Joseph 2010 Chaskin, Khare, and Joseph 2012; DeFilippis and Fraser 2010; Fraser and Kick 2007; Joseph 2006 Joseph , 2008 Joseph , 2010 Joseph and Chaskin 2012; Joseph et al. 2007; Khare et al. 2014; Kleit 2004; Kleit and Carnegie 2011; Kleit and Manzo 2006; Owens 2012; Popkin et al. 2012; Tach 2009, among others). In other words, a spatial solution to the social problem of poverty is untenable, failing to advance the interests of low-income families . ...
For several decades now an era of dismantling traditional, place-based public housing developments has emerged. Our essay draws upon sociological and geographical thought to argue for a more critical understanding of this process which welcomed in the expansion of government policies to build public–private mixed-income housing developments as a way to improve the lives of impoverished public housing households. Yet, only a modest portion of the original residents forced to relocate have actually benefited from these redevelopments. We document how public housing in the United States has always been approached by the State and private market interests with apprehension. The primary purpose is to provide a diagnostic perspective focusing on the promise of mixed-income policies to provide its stated opportunities and what got lost in transition. Urban scholars have critiqued the transformation of public housing developments as being constitutive of neoliberal urbanism and the privatization of the commons. However, equally important is a broader understanding of how the neoliberal project has been underwritten by mainstream social norms and assumptions about poverty and income mix, as well as the edict that the private market could adequately “fix” the social problems associated with traditional public housing.
... This article investigates the effect on neighborhood poverty rates of gaining and losing assisted housing units from 1977 to 2008. I contribute to the scholarship on how housing policy shapes neighborhoods, including research on impacts on property values (Ellen 2007;Ellen, O'Regan, and Voicu 2009;Freeman and Botein 2002;Galster, Tatian, and Smith 1999;Lee, Culhane, and Wachter 1999) and crime (Ellen, Lens, and O'Regan 2012;Popkin et al. 2012;Suresh and Vito 2007). Some past research has also examined the relationship between assisted housing and neighborhood economic conditions (Baum-Snow and Marion 2009;Carter, Schill, and Wachter 1998;Ellen, O'Regan, and Voicu 2009;Freeman 2003;Holloway et al. 1998;Kucheva 2013;Massey and Kanaiaupuni 1993;Schill and Wachter 1995). ...
Changes in housing policy have led to the geographic deconcentration of assisted housing, with assisted units now located in more and lower-poverty neighborhoods. Little research examines how the changing location of assisted housing shapes neighborhood poverty rates. I use propensity score matching to estimate how neighborhood poverty rates changed as assisted housing was gained or lost from 1977 to 2008 using a national panel data set. Neighborhood poverty rates increased when neighborhoods gained assisted housing units, with larger impacts when neighborhoods gained many assisted units. Neighborhoods that lost assisted units also became poorer. However, losing assisted units had a negative effect on poverty rates: Poverty rates increased less compared with neighborhoods that did not lose units. Therefore, removing assisted housing from high-poverty neighborhoods slowed, but did not reverse, poverty rate increases. These findings emphasize the durability of neighborhood poverty and inequality even in the face of drastic policy changes.
... Among numerous studies examining the associations between subsidized housing and crime, many researchers have also estimated the impacts of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program on neighborhood crime in recent years (Ellen et al., 2012;Mast & Wilson, 2013;Popkin et al., 2012;Suresh & Vito, 2009). However, surprisingly few studies have focused on the relationships between LIHTC developments and neighborhood crime. ...
... Stimulated by a magazine article that received considerable attention in the popular press, Popkin et al. (2012) focused on the effects of voucher recipients who were displaced from public housing on violent and property crime rates in their destination neighborhoods. When their buildings were demolished or substantially rehabilitated, public housing tenants are offered the option of a housing voucher or a vacant unit in another public housing project. ...
Governments throughout the world intervene heavily in housing markets, and most have multiple policies to pursue multiple goals. This chapter deals with two of the largest types of housing policies in the United States, namely, low-income rental assistance and policies to promote homeownership through interventions in mortgage markets. We describe the rationales for the policies, the nature of the largest programs involved, the empirical evidence on their effects, and the data and methods used to obtain them. Because the US government uses such a wide range of policies of these types, this evidence has lessons for housing policy in other countries.
... Public housing communities in the United States provide an important context to promote community engagement as a strategy to address social issues such as crime and instability influencing community health [1][2][3][4][5]. There is a history of addressing these social issues within public housing through policing, neighborhood safety upgrades (e.g., street lighting), and programming focused on youth development and/or drug rehabilitation [6]. ...
... Public housing communities in the United States provide an important context to promote community engagement as a strategy to address social issues such as crime and instability influencing community health [1][2][3][4][5]. There is a history of addressing these social issues within public housing through policing, neighborhood safety upgrades (e.g., street lighting), and programming focused on youth development and/or drug rehabilitation [6]. ...
... Public housing communities in the United States provide an important context to promote community engagement as a strategy to address social issues such as crime and instability influencing community health [1][2][3][4][5]. There is a history of addressing these social issues within public housing through policing, neighborhood safety upgrades (e.g., street lighting), and programming focused on youth development and/or drug rehabilitation [6]. ...
Background and Purpose: Public housing communities are often plagued by high crime, which increases residents' concerns about neighborhood safety, and decreases their levels of community engagement. This quasi-experimental community trial was designed to increase public housing residents' level of community engagement and decrease their concerns about safety through their active (and collective) engagement in community-generated and community-level interventions. We operationalized community-generated intervention as an intervention that was generated by someone who lived and/ or worked in the intervention community. Community-level was operationalized as an intervention that had an impact on everyone who lived and/ or worked in the intervention community.
Methods: Two public housing communities located in a Southern city were the focus of the study. One community served as the intervention group (IG) and the other was the comparison group (CG). Year 1 of the study allowed residents in the IG community to identify community strengths and concerns through the use of photovoice. Year 2 focused on capacity building and intervention implementation for the IG community. Specifically, we funded three community-generated interventions, which were implemented over a 6-month time frame. Each intervention was awarded up to $12,000 in funding. The awarded interventions focused on hunger and food security, exercise and wellness, and community advocacy. In addition to the awarded interventions, a community garden was implemented in the IG community. Year 3 continued intervention implementation and also emphasized intervention sustainability.
Results and Implication: We used proportionate random sampling to survey residents in Year 1 (N=91- IG; N=50- CC) on measures of engagement and safety. In Year 3, only residents who completed the survey in Year 1 completed the survey again (N=51- IG; N=41- CG). We operationalized engagement in terms of four key measures: sense of community, collective efficacy, neighborhood activism, and agency of neighborhood improvement. Our findings showed that safety concerns did not differ between the IG and CG communities (pretest vs. post test). However, sense of community (Cohen D= .62) and agency of neighborhood improvement ((Cohen D= .21) increased to a greater degree in the IG community. Overall, the community interventions significantly increased the general level of engagement and sense of safety among residents within the intervention group (pretext vs. post test). Lessons learned and implications for social work and community practice will be discussed.
This article explores the use of online negative emotions to predict public risk-coping behaviors during urban relocation. Through a literature review, the paper proposes hypotheses that anticipate advanced prediction of public risk-coping behaviors based on online negative emotions. The study’s empirical focus is on the relocation of the Beijing municipal government, using time series data for Granger causality analysis in EViews 10.0 software. Data on online negative emotions is sourced from Sina Weibo. After data cleaning, 1420 pieces of data related to the relocation policy of the Beijing Municipal Government within the period from June 9, 2015 to April 28, 2019 are retained. while risk-coping behaviors are measured through public information search behaviors and the incidence of violent crimes, the data coverage is also from June 9, 2015 to April 28, 2019. The results indicated that: (1) Online negative emotions regarding the relocation policy predict public risk-coping behaviors in advance. (2) Negative comments are more effective predictors than negative feelings; (3) Negative emotions about relocation policy formulation predict risk-coping behaviors better than those related to policy effectiveness and implementation; (4) Negative emotions from individuals better predict public risk-coping behaviors than those from institutions; (5) Negative emotions from key stakeholders better predict public risk-coping behaviors than those from non-key or marginal stakeholders. It is recommended that relevant departments establish a real-time monitoring system to track negative public opinions and emotions expressed online, adopt a stakeholder-centric approach to facilitate communication, and promote transparency and educational campaigns to address the challenges of urban relocation. In future studies, methods such as expanding the sample size and adding indicators will be used to address the limitations of potential bias in sample data.
Urban agriculture planning encompasses ethical dimensions. In this paper, two cases of housing authority-led farming and gardening projects are presented. These cases, initiated by agencies in New York City, and Denver, Colorado, show that urban agriculture has multiple multidimensional benefits, including building skills, fostering community cohesion, educating residents, encouraging healthy eating and physical activity, and generally improving the day-to-day experiences of those living in public housing developments. Both cases illustrate various lessons about applied planning ethics and suggest necessary steps for the success of these projects. In these two cases, such situations unfold and produce new interactions. However, social problems persist, but so will opportunities. Attempts to harmonize competing claims is at the root of UA practices. The purpose of this paper is to show ethics-in-interaction in the two cases. We show how the ethics of UA requires consideration of the stated goal of urban agriculture projects and the implicit goals manifested in the process. Understanding the various impacts will shed light on the feasibility and sustainability of food system initiatives. If proven environmentally and economically sustainable, as well as successful in increasing the health, economic, and social outcomes of residents, public housing investment into sustainable development and food system initiatives similar to the two cases could act as a model for public housing redevelopment across the country.
Purpose
Crime increased in Spain during the period of 2017–2019 after a decade of decline. This coincides with severe housing deprivation multiplying by three in just four years, affecting 3.4% of the population in 2020. However, no research has been found that analyzes whether this deterioration of the physical conditions of housing and its environmental elements has impacted the level of crime in Spain. This study aims to analyze how housing deprivation affects crime in the Spanish context.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, different items that are considered by Eurostat as elements of housing deprivation are used. The difference generalized method of moments estimator is used for 16 Spanish regions that comprises the period from 2013 to 2019.
Findings
The results suggest that certain structural and environmental elements of housing are positively associated with crime: space (0.5% and 0.4%) and high housing expenditure (0.4% and 0.5%) are positively correlated with the two dependent variables; the lack of light and overcrowding stand out as they establish a positive and statistically significant association with four out of the six analyzed crime categories; the absence of lighting effect reaches up to 1.8% and 1.7% in the case of violent robberies and vehicle theft, respectively. Finally, pollution is negatively associated with robbery with violence (−1.9%), theft (−0.7%) and robbery with force (−0.5%).
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines whether this deterioration of the physical conditions of housing has impacted the level of crime in Spain. It is also pioneering at the European level by using nonmonetary dimensions of inequality such as housing.
This chapter critically analyses the impact of public housing transformation on the production of space in South Shore by focusing on how the arrival of former public housing residents has impacted community dynamics. It examines the structural violence of state-led public housing transformation by focusing on the marginalisation and political alienation of community residents in decision-making around public housing transformation. This chapter shows how Lefebvre’s writings on the right to the city, urban planning, and urbanism provide a productive framework for deciphering the metropolitan impact of Chicago’s public housing transformation.
Through compelling ethnography, Homelessness and Housing Advocacy: The Role of Red-Tape Warriors reveals the creative and ambitious methods that social service providers use to house their clients despite the conflictual conditions posed by the policies and institutions that govern the housing process.
Combining in-depth interviews, extensive fieldwork, and the author’s own professional experience, this book considers the perspective of social service providers who work with people experiencing homelessness and chronicles the steps they take to navigate the housing process. With assertive methods of worker-client advocacy at the center of its focus, this book beckons attention to the many variables that affect professional attempts to house homeless populations. It conveys the challenges that social service providers encounter while fitting their clients into the criteria for housing eligibility, the opposition they receive, and the innovative approaches they ultimately take to optimize housing placements for their clients who are, or were formerly, experiencing homelessness.
Weaving as it does between issues of poverty, social inequality, and social policy, Homelessness and Housing Advocacy will appeal to courses in social work, sociology, and public policy and fill a void for early-career professionals in housing and community services.
Transitional housing is primarily provided as social assistance. There is some
evidence that providing transitional housing to offenders exiting prison can reduce
reoffending, particularly among serious violent offenders.
People always try to approach their housing ideals; spontaneous physical interventions are one of the manners, but may follow up with negative Consequences. In this study, in conjunction with investigating dependency of 'Spontaneous physical interventions done by Residents" and "residential satisfaction", the most common transformation activities and also the most important operational obstacles of resident's desired changes will be discussed. This is a Correlation research. For collecting data alongside with utilizing relevant resources, proportional to the aim of the research a questionnaire was designed and randomly distributed among residents of residential complexes in Tehran. To discover associations between variables , data was analyzed in a quantitative manner through correlation tests. According to investigations, although decrease in the level of residential satisfaction will increase the tendency to do spontaneous housing intervention , correlation of "applied housing interventions" and "residential satisfaction" is not significant; this suggests attendance of an architect as an advisor in the process of interventions is urgent.
Since the inception of the housing choice voucher (HCV) program, extensive research has focused on large metropolitan areas serving as demonstration sites for federal programs and concerning the impacts of dispersal on the residents and the types of neighborhoods where residents choose to locate. Little attention has been given to medium and small cities. Our analysis focuses on a medium-sized city, Louisville, Kentucky. We focus on the 170 census tracts of Louisville to examine the variations in neighborhood housing dynamics (i.e., median assessed housing values (MAVs), number of housing code violations, number of foreclosures, and crime rates) and the concentration of HCVs. Our findings indicate a significant negative relationship between census tracts with a greater concentration of HCV units and MAVs as well as a positive relationship with foreclosures. We find that HCVs have no impact on housing code violations or crime rates. A split regression analysis, however, shows that the presence of HCVs does not have a negative impact on the top half of Louisville’s neighborhoods with high property values. Finally, we show that HCVs, which are intended to deconcentrate poverty, concentrate poverty more in neighborhoods that already have a majority of low-income residents.
This article provides a holistic analysis of why and how federal assisted housing policy (specifically, public housing, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit [LIHTC], and voucher programs) should be reformed in ways that would be more conducive to socially desirable outcomes at the neighborhood level. First, I argue that past research has documented mutually causal interrelationships between assisted housing policy and neighborhoods that have been couched as having negative connotations for both. Second, I argue that there is there a rationale on grounds of both efficiency and equity for altering assisted housing policy so it would encourage the creation and preservation of neighborhoods that are physically of good quality and economically diverse. Third, I advocate a circumspect menu of programmatic reforms that would be gradualist, option enhancing, and relatively budget neutral, yet would garner these positive impacts. As overarching reforms, I propose regional housing institution-building, fair housing law revisions, impaction standards, and diversity incentives built into Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. As reforms to site-based assistance programs, I propose: a new formula for disbursing LIHTC, to repeal and replace the Qualified Census Tract bonus, diversification/preservation incentives for existing assisted private developments, and preserving assisted housing in revitalizing neighborhoods. As reforms to tenant-based assistance programs, I propose: Small Area Fair Market Rents, premove and postmove mobility counseling, ancillary family supports postmove, reducing barriers to lease-up, and diversification incentives in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations.
Nonlinear and threshold relationships are commonly manifested in neighborhoods, both relating to effects of neighborhoods on residents and causes of neighborhood changes arising from individual mobility and housing investment decisions. These relationships are generated by amalgam of often reinforcing processes related to socialization, gaming, tolerance, contagion, and tolerance. The existence of nonlinear and threshold effects holds powerful implications for planners. Scarce public investment resources must be spatially concentrated, so that they exceed property owners’ reinvestment thresholds. Poverty deconcentration strategies must seek to replace neighborhoods exceeding 40 percent poverty rates with those that have low (less than 15 percent) poverty rates.
Assisted housing programs in the United States aim to provide decent, safe, and affordable housing for low-income households. Increasingly, policymakers have also considered how assisted housing can provide access to lower poverty, income-diverse, and higher opportunity neighborhoods. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development currently balances two strategies. First, place-based programs—immoveable subsidies linked to particular units—can both revitalize distressed neighborhoods and provide access to higher opportunity neighborhoods. Second, people-based assistance—housing vouchers for use on the private rental market—can facilitate moves out of high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhoods. During this policy moment with fair housing priorities receiving national attention, understanding the efficacy of each approach is critically important. This article synthesizes past research on housing vouchers to identify the impact of people-based assistance on four outcomes: residents’ neighborhood attainment, education, economic outcomes, and health. I also review the scant literature examining how vouchers affect place rather than people. I conclude by identifying aspects of special voucher programs that promote positive outcomes that could potentially be scaled up.
Crime is influenced by the built environment. Broken windows, crime prevention through environmental design, situational crime prevention, and economic theories of the supply of and demand for criminal opportunities offer explanations. Zoning, designs of streets and housing, locations of public transit, and land uses shape the built environment in ways that can increase or reduce crime. Cross-sectional research shows that elements of the built environment are associated with crime rates in particular places. Quasiexperimental studies show that changes in zoning and street configurations, configuration and design of housing, and access to public transit can help manage crime. The mechanisms by which such changes influence crime are not well understood, though shifts in the supply of criminal opportunities most likely play a role. This evidence is promising. It suggests that the built environment can be modified to reduce both crime and reliance on criminal justice sanctions. Place-based experiments that manipulate features of the built environment will provide evidence for policy makers to use in designing cities in ways that reduce crime.
It is often alleged that households moving into neighborhoods with the aid of housing choice vouchers (HCVs) raise crime rates there. We use 1999–2008 quarterly data from Chicago census tracts to test this allegation with a dynamic panel model designed to overcome the challenges of omitted variable and endogeneity biases. We find no support for the proposition that growth in HCV holders leads to growth in violent crime rates, regardless of neighborhood context. We find that growth in HCV holders is positively associated with growth in property crime rates, however, in higher poverty neighborhoods or if HCVs exceed a threshold concentration.
Just as the lives of adults may be turned upside down when a move is made from public housing, so too may be the lives of children. Over the course of 5 years, mothers relocated out of a housing development in the southwest U.S. participated in surveys and focus groups, discussing among many topics the lives of their children after the move. Mothers talked about their children's behaviour, the lack of play spaces, their children experiences in their schools, and the schools' responses. The mothers offered insights into ways to ease the relocation process and make the new space home.
This paper estimates the effect that the closure and demolition of roughly 20,000 units of geographically concentrated high-rise public housing had on crime in Chicago. We estimate local effects of closures on crime in the neighborhoods where high-rises stood and in proximate neighborhoods. We also estimate the impact that households displaced from high-rises had on crime in the neighborhoods to which they moved and neighborhoods close to those. Overall, reductions in violent crime in and near the areas where high-rises were demolished greatly outweighed increases in violent crime associated with the arrival of displaced residents in new neighborhoods.
In a community-level analysis, this study examines violent crime hot spots and displacement patterns in the city of Louisville,
KY, from 1989 to 1998. Park DuValle, a neighborhood in Louisville, KY, was one of the major historic hot spots for assaults
until 1998. The revitalization of the two vulnerable low-income public housing developments in Park DuValle, combined with
the acquisition of nearby dilapidated and unattended private property by the Housing Authority of Louisville, caused a shift
in the clustering pattern of assaults at Park DuValle in the 1997 and 1998. Maps revealed that assaults were displaced from
the Park DuValle neighborhood to the Central Business District—the neighborhood where the majority of former residents of
the Park DuValle public housing units were relocated. Both Park DuValle and the Center Business District were associated with
low-income census blocks in Louisville, KY. These low-income public housing developments have exhibited a higher incidence
of aggravated assaults. The results are discussed in the context of the possible revitalization of low-income public housing
units. The study concludes that clustering and displacement of assault hot spots as well as emphasis on the decentralization
of low-income residents need to be addressed further.
Housing Mobility: Realizing the Promise
- Turner
- Kale Williams Margery
Turner, Margery, and Kale Williams. 1998. Housing Mobility: Realizing the Promise. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
The Effects of Housing Choice Voucher Households on Neighborhood Crime: Longitudinal Evidence From Dallas. Working Paper 09-01. College Station
- Vanzandt
- Shannon
VanZandt, Shannon, and Pratik Mhatre. 2009. The Effects of Housing Choice Voucher Households on Neighborhood Crime: Longitudinal Evidence From Dallas. Working Paper 09-01. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University, College of Architecture, Sustainable Housing Research Unit.