Low-income housing development and crime

This paper examines the effect of rental housing development subsidized by the federal government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program on local crime. Under the LIHTC program, certain high-poverty census tracts receive Qualified Census Tract (QCT) status, which affects the size of the tax...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of urban economics 2011-09, Vol.70 (2), p.115-131
Main Authors: Freedman, Matthew, Owens, Emily G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crime
Gentrification
Housing developments
Housing market
Low income
Low income groups
Low income housing credit
Low-income housing
Low-income housing Crime Gentrification Tax credits
Poverty
Public housing
Residential areas
Social housing
State court decisions
Studies
Tax credits
U.S.A
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper examines the effect of rental housing development subsidized by the federal government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program on local crime. Under the LIHTC program, certain high-poverty census tracts receive Qualified Census Tract (QCT) status, which affects the size of the tax credits developers receive for building low-income housing. Changes in federal rules determining QCT status generate quasi-experimental variation in the location of LIHTC projects. Exploiting this variation, we find that low-income housing development in the poorest neighborhoods brings with it significant reductions in violent crime that are measurable at the county level. There are no detectable effects on property crime.
ISSN:0094-1190
1095-9068
DOI:10.1016/j.jue.2011.04.001