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Affordable Housing Doesn't Lower Property Values
A new study from Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy is yet another study debunking the common myth that affordable housing negatively impacts nearby property values.
The researchers, led by Assistant Professor Brian Y. An, found that Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments do not impede the value of some surrounding properties.
“This research is significant as it challenges the stigma often associated with affordable housing,” said An. “This pernicious fear of property value decline has been a major source of opposition to affordable housing projects in many communities.”
Researchers reviewed mixed developments including both market-rate and subsidized units, and saw surrounding property values rose by 5.4% compared to comparable neighborhoods without tax-subsidized development. Fully subsidized developments boosted property values by 3.2%, the researchers found.
“From a policy perspective, the key takeaway is that LIHTC developments, in addition to creating and preserving badly needed housing that is affordable to low-income households, consistently have positive effects on surrounding property values,” the authors wrote in the paper. “A ‘bad’ place for such properties to be developed does not exist, nor does a ‘bad’ type of LIHTC development exist. Regardless of the development’s size or neighborhood in which it is placed into service, a LIHTC property is likely to have a positive spillover effect on its neighborhood.”
You can read the full study here, featured in HUD's Cityscape publication.
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