NIMBY Still Alive and Well - but it Shouldn't Be

Atlantic Housing Partners lost a lawsuit over a controversial affordable housing project in Oviedo. Business owner Mechelle Renee Benson says low-income rentals aren't what her city needs. She joined city leaders in demanding that the developer stick to an agreement to build only "owner-occupied" townhomes there. The judge Thursday threw out the developer's lawsuit challenging that requirement on a technicality.

On a related note Tufts University's Rachel Bratt recently posted to the Community Development Banking Newsgroup a summary of research conducted on the effect of affordable housing on property values. A 2005 review of the literature found that: the extent to which property values are lowered depends on a variety of factors” that are often independent of the subsidized nature of a particular development or the fact that the development is multifamily. Specifically, the quality of design and management of the housing were among the most important criteria in explaining property value changes. (“Does Affordable Housing Detrimentally Affect Property Values? A Review of the Literature”, Nguyen, Journal of Planning Literature, 2005. http://jpl.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/1/15 (The full article cited above is available to Journal subscribers only)

In a recent econometric analysis of the impacts of CDC development work on property values, it was found that these groups have been able to “spark a chain reaction of investment that leads to dramatic improvements to neighborhoods.” Specifically, the study showed that “CDC investments in affordable housing and commercial retail facilities have led to increases in property values … that are sometimes as great as 69 percent higher than they would have been in the absence of the investment.” (“The Impact of Community Development Corporations on Urban Neighborhoods,” Galster, Levy, Sawyer, Temkin, Walker, Urban Institute, 2005 http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/311217_CDCs.pdf). (The full text of this study is available).

Another rigorous research study conducted in Massachusetts concluded that the “introduction of large-scale high density mixed income rental developments in single-family neighborhoods /does not/ affect the value of surrounding homes.” The authors concluded that “the fear of potential asset-value loss among suburban homeowners is misplaced.” (“Effects of Mixed-Income, Multi-Family Rental Housing Developments on Single-Family Housing Values,” Pollakowski, Ritchay, Weinrobe, MIT Center for Real Estate, 2005 http://web.mit.edu/cre/research/hai/pdf/40B_report_HAI_0405.pdf) . (The full text of this study is available).

Click here for the complete text of Bratt's post.