The Spatial Concentration of Subsidized Housing - Poverty & Race ...

Subsidized Housing Impact on Property ValuesA considerable literature investigates the linkage between subsidized housingand property values including three review articles on this topic (Nguyen, 2005;Freeman and Botein, 2002; Galster and Zobel, 1998).Nguyen (2005) reviewed seventeen studies conducted from 1963 to 2001 thatassessed the changes in property values in areas surrounding subsidized housing.Early studies use matched neighborhoods and later ones use hedonic price regressionto control for factors other than the location of the subsidized housing. The literaturecan be summarized as follows: 1) if there are negative effects (and this is not alwaysthe case), the effects are small; 2) design and management are important factors inproperty value impacts; 3) negative impacts are more likely when the housing isclustered in neighborhoods with high poverty rates; and 4) there are a limited numberof methodologically sound studies so more are needed (p. 24). She providesrecommendations for future studies including the need for qualitative studies tounderstand property owner motivations and that data on housing trends beincorporated into the analysis in order to better understand the impact of the subsidizedhousing (p. 24).Freeman and Botein (2002) reviewed twenty-six studies on property valueimpacts conducted between 1974 and 2001 concluding that severe methodologicalproblems limit the usefulness of the findings. The authors find insufficient evidence8