Cityscape Examines Relationship between Assisted Housing Populations and Crime

Cityscape Examines Relationship between Assisted Housing Populations and Crime

The latest issue of Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research features a research symposium about rental assistance and crime. Guest editors Ron Wilson and Brent D. Mast explain that to move forward in using housing assistance as a platform for improving family opportunities and communities as a whole, it is necessary to refine our understanding of the interaction among housing assistance programs, assisted families, and their neighborhoods. The articles in this symposium highlight crime-related issues and barriers that confront assisted populations. Peer commentary on articles in this symposium adds depth to the discussion.

Christopher Hayes, Graham MacDonald, Susan Popkin, Leah Hendey, and Allison Stolte examine the question of how often members of families relocated from Chicago public housing projects with voucher assistance are arrested for crimes and how often they are victims of crime. They find that younger members of these relocating voucher households have higher arrest rates but older members have higher victimization rates than the general population.

Marah A. Curtis, Sarah Garlington, and Lisa S. Schottenfeld reviewed standards and protocols used by local public housing authorities (PHAs) to deny or accept applicants for assisted housing, based on their criminal or substance abuse histories. The authors found that HUD guidelines allow PHAs to choose among a wide range of standards and exclusionary policies that are consistent with community need; however, this discretion sometimes leads to very stringent denial or expulsion criteria.

Jocelyn Fontaine evaluated the role of housing in employment, educational training, and participation in rehabilitation programs that, respectively and collectively, are seen as critical to reducing offender recidivism. Her research provides evidence that supportive housing can significantly reduce reoffending by certain types of ex-offenders after they are released from incarceration.

Ann Owens examines the perceptions of safety in neighborhoods after changes occur due to either demolition of distressed public housing complexes or the relocation of voucher holders. She finds no increased perception of disorder with the presence of voucher holders individually, but as the number of voucher holders increases, the perception of disorder may be heightened.

David P. Varady, Xinhao Wang, Dugan Murphy, and Andrew Stahlke also examine whether there is a perception of voucher holders importing social problems to neighborhoods in which they relocate, at least among community leaders, developers, public officials, and housing activists. Perceived problems associated with an influx of voucher holders include cultural clashes between neighbors, poor exterior maintenance, and poor school performance, but the authors also note that their respondents generally considered the in-migration of voucher holders to be a symptom, rather than a cause, of neighborhood decline.

Michael C. Lens explores whether voucher holders relocate to safer neighborhoods and finds that they do; yet crime rates tend to be higher in the new neighborhoods selected than in the general population. Moreover, crime rates in those new neighborhoods tended to be rising, relative to the local average, before the voucher families moved in. He points out that segregation and demographics offer little explanation for crime exposure and that tight rental markets prevent voucher holders from moving to the best possible neighborhoods.

Also in this issue, Kirk McClure explores Which Metropolitan Areas Work Best for Poverty Deconcentration with Housing Choice Vouchers? McClure’s analysis seeks to explain variation in the shares of Housing Choice Voucher Program found in each metropolitan area that locate in low-poverty neighborhoods with poverty rates less than 10 percent. Variables found to influence the level of voucher entry into low-poverty neighborhoods include race, ethnicity, market conditions, and local metropolitan Fair Market Rents.

In Cityscape’s Point of Contention section, Nathaniel Baum-Snow, Marlon G. Boarnet, Jill Stoner, Stephen Malpezzi, and Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox offer expert viewpoints on “a denser future” by responding to the following proposition: “In 40 years, the average person will live closer to her neighbors and farther from the ground than she does today.”

This issue also features short analytical works: Data Shop: Comparing Households in HUD Rental Assistance Programs With PUMS Data by Brent D. Mast; Graphic Detail: Tracking Criminals with Cell Tower Analysis by Toni Nunez, and Exploring Housing Cost Data with Conditioned Choropleth Maps by Brent D. Mast; Impact: The Proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Regulatory Impact Analysis by Raphael Bostic and Alastair McFarlane; Industrial Revolution: High-Efficiency Windows: The Frontier of High-Performance Construction by Andrew P. McCoy; Policy Briefs: The Public Purpose of FHA by Roberto G. Quercia and Kevin A. Park; SpAM: Spatial Weight Matrices and Their Use As Baseline Values and Location-Adjustment Factors in Property Assessment Models by Carmela Quintos, and Using Near-Repeat Analysis To Measure the Concentration of Housing Choice Voucher Program Participants by Ron Wilson.