Arch City Development and Urban Decision Group, 2013
This 2013 report explores the neighborhood impact of five supportive housing residences in Columbus, Ohio. In doing so, it offers a compelling argument to counter the frequent not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) fears sometimes associated with supportive housing. The authors track a number of variables to gauge a residence’s impact on its surrounding neighborhood: crime risk, crime incidents, property values, property sales and land use change. These numbers are compared with those from nearby control neighborhoods. The report offers results from each of the five neighborhoods and their respective control neighborhoods and concludes that supportive housing residences “have no discernible negative impact on their surrounding neighborhoods’ character and stability.” One neighborhood, for example, saw a 12% increase in crime from 2008 to 2012 while the nearby control neighborhood saw a 52% increase in the same time frame. The authors also conduct interviews with community leaders, business owners and other neighborhood stakeholders. These interview subjects and the quantitative data suggest that, if anything, a supportive housing residence represents a “net positive” for the studied communities in Columbus.
Permanent Supportive Housing Impact Analysis was written by Arch City Development and Urban Decision Group.
Download Permanent Supportive Housing Impact Analysis
Research category: Neighborhood Impact