Siting of subsidized housing in neighborhoods: Assessing economic, neighborhood, and social equity impacts
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Although the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program has grown into\nthe largest subsidized housing program in the U.S., we have limited understanding about\nthe performance of the program. This study explores the associations between LIHTC\nsubsidized households and uneven geography of opportunities in the cities of Charlotte,\nNorth Carolina, and Cleveland, Ohio, to identify socioeconomic inequalities for\nsubsidized households using a variety of methods. First, the dissertation employs the\nsimple bivariate analysis, in terms of a location quotient (LQ), to examine the empirical\nevidence on inequitable opportunities. Based on the results of location quotients, this\nstudy suggests that current patterns of LIHTC developments may perpetuate inequitable\nopportunities for subsidized households through pushing them into the vicious circle of\nresidential segregation and inequality.\n\nThis paper also explores impacts of the LIHTC program on nearby property\nvalues and neighborhood stability to contextualize the economic and neighborhood\nimpacts of the program. To be more specific, this dissertation examined housing prices\nand housing turnover before and after the introduction of LIHTC developments into the\nneighborhood, based on housing sales data from 1996 to 2007. This data is merged with\nparcel-level data from Mecklenburg and Cuyahoga County. The study estimates an\nAITS-DID (Adjusted Interrupted Time Series-Difference in Differences) and an\nextended Cox hazard model with the difference-in-differences specification to clarify the\ndirection of causality in the impacts of LIHTC developments. This research also\nexplores impacts on neighboring housing prices and neighborhood stability from LIHTC developments citywide and in neighborhoods stratified by income.\n\nWhen it comes to estimating the relationships between the developments of LIHTC subsidized housing and surrounding housing prices, this study found that impacts of LIHTC developments varied across different housing market conditions (i.e., a “hot” and a “cold” market). The LIHTC developments had a negative impact on nearby property values in Charlotte while they had a positive impact in Cleveland. These results suggest that the LIHTC program may be implemented to revitalize or stimulate deteriorated areas, especially in depressed housing market conditions. In terms of examining the associations between the LIHTC developments and neighborhood stability, this study found significant negative impacts on stability of LIHTC developments in both cities, and the probability of housing turnover was significantly higher when LIHTC units were developed within the immediate neighborhood of each property. However, for the high-income submarket, there were strong spillover effects in Charlotte while there were no significant impacts in Cleveland. These results suggest that the vulnerability of neighborhood stability due to LIHTC development needs to be considered when implementing a successful subsidized housing program.
Author: Ayoung Woo
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2598518415