HomeMy WebLinkAboutEffects of Multi-Family Housing on Property Values, Crime and Code Violations in Little Rock, 2000-20161
Effects of Multi-Family Housing on
Property Values, Crime and Code
Violations in Little Rock, 2000-2016
UALR Center for Public Collaboration
Dr. Michael Craw, Principal Investigator
January 19, 2017
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Executive Summary
The study discussed herein analyzes the effect of new multi-family housing development in
Little Rock on four neighborhood-level outcomes: sales prices of single-family houses; property
crime; violent crime; and code violations. The analysis combines data on single family home
sales from the Pulaski County Assessor’s deed transfer file (January 2000 through May 2016)
with building permit data for multi-family developments from the Little Rock Department of
Planning and Development (2000 through 2016); crime reports from the Little Rock Police
Department (2000-2014); and code violation reports from the Little Rock Department of
Housing and Neighborhood Programs (2007-2015).
The results indicate that:
1) Subsidized multi-family housing has a positive effect on the sales prices of single-family
within 1000 feet and reduces the vulnerability of properties within 2000 feet to property crime.
2) Most forms of non-subsidized market-rate housing, including condominiums, market-rate
apartments, and senior and assisted-living facilities, have either no effect or a positive effect on
the sales prices of single family homes within 2000 feet.
3) Small (fewer than 5 buildings) market-rate apartment complexes, subsidized apartment
complexes, and dormitories have either no effect on the vulnerability of properties within 2000
feet or they reduce crime vulnerability.
4) Large (five or more) market-rate apartment complexes and condominiums appear to increase
the vulnerability of properties within 1000 feet to violent crime. The causal mechanism for this
finding remains unclear.
5) Senior and assisted living apartments appear to increase the vulnerability of properties within
1000 feet to property crime.
6) Insufficient evidence exists at this time to determine the effect of multi-family housing on the
vulnerability of nearby properties to code violations.
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Introduction and Background
At its February 16th, 2016 meeting, the Little Rock Board of Directors adopted a 12-
month moratorium on new multi-family housing development along S. Bowman Road between
36th Street and Kanis Road (Resolution 14,289). As part of this moratorium, the Board requested
an investigation into the potential effects of new housing development on S. Bowman Road on
traffic, drainage, and other related items. As part of these other related items, the City’s
Department of Planning and Development was asked to provide an analysis of the effects of
multi-family development on neighborhood quality of life across Little Rock.
The study discussed herein analyzes the effect of new multi-family housing development in
Little Rock on four neighborhood-level outcomes: sales prices of single-family houses; property
crime; violent crime; and code violations. The analysis combines data on single family home
sales from the Pulaski County Assessor’s deed transfer file (January 2000 through May 2016)
with building permit data for multi-family developments from the Little Rock Department of
Planning and Development (2000 through 2016); crime reports from the Little Rock Police
Department (2000-2014); and code violation reports from the Little Rock Department of
Housing and Neighborhood Programs (2007-2015). The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s
Center for Public Collaboration (CPC) has geocoded this data, making it possible to estimate the
level and trend in home prices, crime and code violations in neighborhoods before and after the
construction of a new multi-family development. After controlling for other neighborhood
effects, the differences in prices and in crime and code violation frequency before and after
development can be interpreted as the effect of the development. This study, then, addresses the
following questions:
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1) What is the average effect of new multi-family housing development on sales prices of
nearby single family homes?
2) What is the average effect of new multi-family housing development on frequency of
violent and property crimes near the site?
3) What is the average effect of new multi-family housing development on frequency of
code violations near the site?
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Theories of Neighborhood Change and Multi-Family Housing
Skepticism of and opposition to multi-family housing development is a familiar feature of
local politics in central Arkansas and across the country. Owners of single-family homes
frequently cite concerns that such development will increase levels of neighborhood social
disorder and crime, create added inconveniences and nuisances (such as more traffic), and reduce
property values (Obrinsky and Stein 2006; Pendall 1999). Local public officials often raise
additional concerns that multi-family housing development may have negative fiscal
consequences for the community by increasing demand for local public services without a
proportionate increase in tax revenues (Danielson 1976; Obrinsky and Stein 2006; Peterson
1981). At the same time, proponents of new multi-family housing point to the need for lower-
cost housing to meet the demands of a growing population, equalize access to housing and
promote better racial and income class integration. Consequently, multi-family housing is likely
to continue to be an important part of Little Rock’s housing and land use strategy.
Hence, the concerns of multi-family housing skeptics merit investigation. For many
homeowners, the home does not just provide shelter, it represents their most important financial
asset. Further, it is an asset that is vulnerable to changes in value that cannot be mitigated
through insurance or diversification (Fischel 2001). Understandably, then, owners of single-
family homes have serious concerns about protecting property values. Moreover, consistent with
public perceptions, a series of studies by Brill and Associates for the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development in the 1970s documented significantly higher crime rates in
and near high-rise public housing projects than in other neighborhoods in several major cities
(1975, 1976, 1977a, 1977b, 1977c; see also Newman 1972 and Roncek, Bell and Francik 1981).
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This suggests that the concerns of multi-family housing skeptics cannot be dismissed without
closer examination.
Existing theories of neighborhood change and housing markets suggest a number of ways
in which multi-family housing might affect property values, crime and other neighborhood
quality-of-life factors. We can distinguish between three approaches to theorizing about the
effects of multi-family housing, differing in the scope of multi-family housing types: i) effects of
all types of multi-family housing, including condominiums, market rate and subsidized
apartments, senior and special needs housing, and dormitories; ii) effects of multi-family market
rate and subsidized rental property; and iii) particular effects of subsidized rental housing.
Broad multi-family housing concerns: Multi-family housing regardless of type tends to raise
concerns about density. By design, multi-family housing concentrates population into a smaller
area and at lower housing cost per person. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that such housing
might generate additional traffic and demand for public services relative to the area that it
occupies, and less tax property tax revenue per housing unit than a single-family house. At the
same time, these density effects are likely to be offset, at least in part, by the smaller size of most
multi-family households (generating fewer automobile trips per household and less demand for
services per household) and by the difference in property tax rates for apartment complexes
(taxed as commercial property) compared to single-family homes (Goodman 2006; Institute of
Transportation Engineers 2003; Obrinsky and Stein 2006).
Concerns with multi-family rental housing: Multi-family rental housing, however, raises an
additional concern not shared by condominium development: possible degradation of a
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neighborhood’s social fabric. Mainstream theories of cooperative behavior hold that frequent
interaction and expectations of frequent future interactions greatly facilitate the emergence of
trust and cooperation, producing what many social scientists call “social capital” (i.e. a shared set
of social rules for behavior and expectations for reciprocity) (Axelrod 1984; Kreps et al. 1982;
Jacobs 1961; Putnam 2000). In other words, when a person cooperates in the implementation of
a neighborhood watch program or attends a neighborhood meeting, it is with the expectation that
her neighbors will do likewise, today and in the future. Homeownership might play a significant
role, then, in generating neighborhood social capital by increasing the tenure or expected period
of time an average person lives in the neighborhood (DiPasquale and Glaeser 1999; Rohe and
Stewart 1996). Conversely, rental property reduces the number of people in the neighborhood
expected to remain in the neighborhood over the long-run and might therefore reduce
neighborhood social capital. Hence, it is possible that an increase in rental property brought
about by multi-family rental development could reduce neighborhood social capital.
Moreover, it is possible that a decline in neighborhood social capital could, in turn, result
in more neighborhood social disorder and crime and lower property values. Jacobs (1961), for
instance, argues that neighborhoods with strong social capital form natural defense mechanisms
against crime, what she refers to as “eyes on the street.” That is, when neighbors know and trust
each other, they are more inclined to watch out for each other and each other’s property by
reporting or intervening in suspicious activity and otherwise supervising the neighborhood while
going about their daily lives. Similarly, neighborhood social capital may play an important role
in forming and maintaining neighborhood organizations such as crime watches, neighborhood
associations, and ad hoc groups seeking improvements from local government. Such
organizations may play important roles in reducing crime, increasing social order, improving
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neighborhood quality of life and improving property values. A significant body of empirical
evidence has emerged in recent years indicating that neighborhoods with more active and
complex organizations and greater social capital tend to have lower crime and higher property
values (Craw forthcoming; Sampson 2012).
At the same time, it is important to note that multi-family rental housing, in and of itself,
need not necessarily result in lower social capital. What matters to the emergence of social
capital is not homeownership, but tenure. To the extent apartment renters within a particular
neighborhood remain as long as other neighborhood residents, one might expect little effect on
neighborhood social capital. This is consistent with findings from DiPasquale and Glaeser
(1999), who in an analysis of the General Social Survey find that while homeownership is
significantly associated with a variety of civic and political activities, most of this effect is
explained by tenure within the neighborhood rather than by homeownership per se.
Concerns with subsidized multi-family rental housing: Finally, subsidized rental housing raises
yet other concerns that are not common to either condominium or market rate rental
development. First, some forms of subsidized rental housing have physical characteristics that
make them more vulnerable to crime. High-rise towers surrounded by large open lawns
(inspired by the Swiss urban designer Le Corbusier) tend to reduce opportunities for social
interaction and for casual observation and monitoring of events in the neighborhood, thus
increasing the vulnerability of the community to crime (Jeffrey 1971; Lens 2013; Newman
1972). For instance, such developments frequently make it difficult to distinguish between
private and public space, thus making it more difficult for residents to recognize spaces that are
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“theirs” and for which they are therefore responsible for monitoring (Rouse and Rubenstein
1978). In this way, some forms of subsidized housing may invite more crime than others.
Second, in some cases subsidized rental housing may “concentrate disadvantage”, i.e.
produce areas in which most residents are in poverty and vulnerable to economic shocks
(Freeman and Botein 2002; Lens 2013). A significant body of research suggests that such
concentration further reinforces the social and economic isolation of low-income households,
making it more difficult to move out of poverty (Wilson 1987). Moreover, to the extent that
subsidized housing residents differ in income and socio-economic status from neighbors in non-
subsidized housing, it is possible that the presence of subsidized housing could reinforce a
weakening of social ties and neighborhood social capital beyond what is expected with market-
rate rental property (Morenoff, Sampson and Raudenbush 2001). This could occur because
socio-economic differences make every-day social interactions even less frequent even between
neighbors and because the needs and interests of those in different socioeconomic groups differ
significantly (Heckathorn 1993). Social ties among residents of concentrated subsidized housing
themselves may also be weaker than those in the surrounding neighborhood, possibly because
longer work hours leave less time for social interaction; because of higher resident turnover
and/or social heterogeneity within the housing project; or because of generalized feelings of
disempowerment or hopelessness (Taylor 2001). Consequently, one might expect that
neighborhoods with subsidized multi-family housing to be even more vulnerable to social
disorganization and therefore crime and declining property values than neighborhoods with
market-rate multi-family housing.
Concentrated disadvantage may also affect property values because of population effects.
Higher socioeconomic status households may consider living near those of lower socioeconomic
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status (i.e. of a different race or income class) to be undesirable in and of itself (Di, Ma and
Murdoch 2010; Ellen et al. 2007; Freeman and Botein 2002). Alternatively, potential
neighborhood homeowner households may take the presence of lower status households as a
signal for emerging neighborhood disorder, even in the absence of physical neighborhood decay.
Potential homeowner households might also anticipate that landlords will have fewer incentives
to adequately maintain subsidized housing units, resulting in future neighborhood blight. Hence,
the mere introduction or announcement of subsidized housing, before any actual may prompt an
expectation of neighborhood change that results in declining property values (Briggs, Darden
and Aidala 1999; Schelling 1971).
At the same time, it is important to note that the physical and social vulnerabilities of
older forms of subsidized multi-family housing are not necessarily shared by new developments.
A significant body of evidence has emerged suggesting that in neighborhoods where new
subsidized housing replaces older and decayed housing stock, the new housing as an upgrading
effect the boosts property values (Ellen et al. 2007; Freeman and Botein 2002; Nguyen 2005).
Likewise, changes in neighborhood population may generate “market effects”, i.e. additional
investment in the neighborhood that caters to the larger or changed population (Ellen et al.
2007). Moreover, new subsidized housing development is often based on crime prevention
through environmental design (CPTED) principles that encourage greater interaction and more
“eyes on the street”, e. g. low-rise buildings with greater walkability (Jeffery 1971; Newman
1972). Contemporary subsidized housing programs, such as those finances with the Low-Income
Housing Tax Credit, also frequently incorporate elements to deconcentrate disadvantage through
mixed-income development. It is reasonable to expect that such changes may reduce the effect of
subsidized multi-family housing on crime and nearby property values.
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Hence, a significant body of theory exists that implies that multi-family housing, at least
in some contexts, may affect neighborhood crime, property values and other quality-of-life
factors. At the same time, some of these factors may be mitigated in contemporary multi-family
development through design or changes in demand for rental vs. owner-occupied housing. The
next sections of this report, then, examine the empirical evidence on the relationship between
multi-family housing, crime and property values.
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Property Values and Multi-Family Housing
Most academic studies of the relationship between neighborhood property values and
multi-family housing focus specifically on the effects of subsidized multi-family housing.
Hence, it is important to be cautious in assuming that findings on the effects of subsidized
housing can be generalized to market-rate housing, dormitories or condominiums. This is
particularly the case for findings that suggest for findings of a negative effect on property values.
As discussed above, market-rate rental housing is not likely to suffer from the same problems of
concentrated disadvantage as subsidized housing, and condominium development is not likely to
pose the same issues of resident tenure and social capital as rental housing.
That said, academic research on the effects of subsidized housing on the value of nearby
market-rate housing has generally produced mixed results. Consistent with theories of
concentrated disadvantage, a number of studies find evidence that proximity to subsidized
housing reduces prices for nearby market rate housing, at least under some circumstances (see
for example Cummings and Landis 1993; Ellen et el. 2007; Galster, Tatian and Smith 1999;
Goetz, Lam and Heitlinger 1996; Lee et al. 1999). At the same time, other research finds
evidence that subsidized housing has no effect (e.g. Briggs, Darden and Aidala 1999; Lyons and
Loveridge 1993) or that it increases market-rate housing prices, at least under some conditions
(e.g. Deng 2011; Di, Ma and Murdoch 2010; Ellen et al. 2007; Galster, Tatian and Smith 1999;
Goetz, Lam and Heitlinger 1996; Lee, Culhane and Wachter 1999; Santiago, Galster and Tatian
2001; Schwartz et al. 2006). These findings suggest the possibility that upgrading effects and
design elements that deconcentrate disadvantage may sometimes offset any negative effects.
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A point on which there is agreement in the literature is that the magnitude of subsidized
housing effects varies with distance and with the degree to which it is concentrated. For
instance, in their study of the federally subsidized housing programs in Philadelphia, Lee,
Culhane and Wachter (1999) find that the effects on property values are significantly larger
within one-eighth of a mile than between one-eighth and one-quarter of a mile. Other
researchers find similar declines in effect with distance from the subsidized housing site (Deng
2011; Goetz, Lam and Heitlinger 1996; Schwartz et al. 2006; Seo and Craw forthcoming).
Moreover, the literature indicates that greater density of subsidized housing in a neighborhood
generate negative externalities, while more dispersed units have a smaller negative, or even a
positive, effect (Di, Ma and Murdoch 2010; Ellen et al. 2007; Galster, Tatian and Smith 1999).
Consistent with this, studies focusing specifically on scattered site housing programs generally
find no effect or a positive effect on nearby market-rate housing (Briggs, Darden and Aidala
1999; Santiago, Galster and Tatian 2001).
Moreover, the academic research on subsidized housing effects suggests that the direction
and magnitude of these effects differ with characteristics of the subsidized units, including the
program under which they are administered; the sort of entity managing the property (i.e. for-
profit, non-profit or governmental); and the population served by the program. Programs that
subsidize rental units in existing structures (e.g. public housing and section 8) and/or that are
managed by governmental or for-profit entities tend to have negative effects on nearby property
values (Ellen et al. 2007; Galster, Tatian and Smith 1999; Goetz, Lam and Heitlinger 1996; Lee
et al. 1999). But programs that subsidize new or rehabilitated units for purchase by moderate
income households and those that are managed by non-profit organizations tend to have a
positive effect on property values (Deng 2011; Di, Ma and Murdoch 2010; Ding, Simon and
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Baku 2000; Goetz, Lam and Heitlinger 1996; Lee, Culhane and Wachter 1999). Taken together,
these results suggest that the effects of subsidized multi-family housing differ with the purposes
and management of the development.
In addition, the characteristics of the neighborhood in which a subsidized housing
development located, particularly its income and racial composition, may affect its impact on
property values. Freeman and Botein (2002) argue that the most negative effects occur when
subsidized multi-family housing is located in high income neighborhoods, while the effects in
low-income neighborhoods may be positive. This is because subsidized units in high-income
neighborhoods will tend to be of lower quality relative to other housing in the neighborhood and
because its residents will tend to be of lower socio-economic status compared to the average
neighborhood resident. Consistent with this, Deng (2011) finds that the property value effects of
low-income housing tax credit projects in Santa Clara, CA are significantly more positive in low-
income than middle and high income neighborhoods. Similarly, Seo and Craw (forthcoming)
find that lease-purchase units in Cleveland more negatively affect property values in high income
neighborhoods than middle and low income neighborhoods. But at the same time, Galster, Tatian
and Smith (1999) and Santiago, Galster and Tatian (2001) find evidence that subsidized housing
generates negative effects on property values in low-income neighborhoods and positive effects
in higher-income neighborhoods. They argue that this may occur because subsidized housing
reinforces a signal in low-income neighborhoods that poverty is becoming concentrated in the
neighborhood, while higher income neighborhoods are more robust to change and thus can
tolerate a subsidized development without consequence. Hence, while it seems likely that
subsidized housing affects property values differently with neighborhood income, the direction
and magnitude of these effects remains uncertain.
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Research on the effects of condominiums and market-rate multi-family housing on
property values is much sparser than for subsidized housing. From among those studies that do
exist, however, the consensus is that condominiums and market-rate apartments have no negative
effect on neighborhood property values. A recent study of Seattle compared home prices
between 1987 and 1997 before and after development of both subsidized and market-rate
apartments. The results found no effects from the market-rate units (and few to no effects for the
subsidized units) (Koschinsky 2009). A 2004 study of lower-income Census tracts (those with
between 60% and 100% of area median income) found that single-family home values were
actually higher in tracts with concentrated multi-family housing than in tracts composed
primarily of single family homes (Hoffman et al. 2004). Similarly, an unpublished study by the
National Association of Home Builders in 2001 found that single-family homes in areas with
more multi-family housing tended to appreciate in value more quickly than those in primarily
single-family home neighborhoods.
Thus, the existing evidence on subsidized multi-family housing suggests that one should
be cautious in generalizing about its effects on property values. The best available research
suggests that the magnitude and direction of subsidized housing effects differ with proximity to
the housing, with the characteristics of the subsidized housing and with neighborhood context.
In some cases, for example, new multi-family subsidized housing may improve property values
(such as when this housing replaces decayed housing stock in a lower-income neighborhood). In
other cases, the effect may be negative (such as when it is sufficiently concentrated to produce
concentrated disadvantage effects). Hence, housing advocates and policymakers should be
careful about overgeneralizing about the effects of multi-family housing on property values.
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Crime and Multi-Family Housing
As with studies of multi-family housing and property values, most academic studies of
the effects of multi-family housing on crime focus specifically on the impact of subsidized multi-
family housing. Hence, once again the reader should be cautious about generalizing from
research about subsidized multi-family housing to market-rate multi-family housing and
condominiums. As discussed above, a series of studies in the 1970s found evidence that some
forms of subsidized housing in major cities, particularly high-rise public housing projects,
significantly increased levels of crime in nearby neighborhoods (Brill and Associates 1975,
1976, 1977a, 1977b, 1977c; Jeffery 1971; Newman 1972). These results reinforced public
perceptions linking subsidized housing to crime, but they also motivated changes in design and
implementation of subsidized housing to mitigate their effects on crime. Hence, a substantial
body of research has emerged over the years that more completely examines the relationship
between subsidized multi-family housing and crime.
From the research conducted since the 1970s, a consensus appears to be emerging that
subsidized multi-family housing does not generally increase crime in surrounding
neighborhoods, and may sometimes reduce it (Freeman and Botein 2002; Kirk and Laub 2010;
Lens 2013; Obrinsky and Stein 2006). Earlier studies in this vein challenged the Newman and
the Brill and Associate findings using similar data and methods. For instance, Farley (1982)
compares crime rates within each of eight blocks containing public housing projects to crime
rates for the city of St. Louis as a whole in 1971, 1973 and 1976. He finds little evidence that
crime rates are significantly higher in the public housing blocks than in other blocks. Such
studies, though, suffer from an important drawback that limits what we can conclude from the
results: they do not provide a way to control for the level of crime before the subsidized housing
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was constructed. It is possible, even likely, that public housing projects and other forms of
subsidized housing are located in areas with more crime and with other less desirable features
(Dreier, Mollenkopf and Swanstrom 2014; Judd and Swanstrom 2011). Consequently, higher
crime rates near a public housing project might be a cause for the project’s location rather than a
consequence of it. To determine whether multi-family housing contributes to crime then, one
needs data on crime both before and after the construction of multi-family housing.
A good early example of such an approach is the work of Goetz, Lam and Heitlinger
(1996). Their study of fourteen multi-family housing rehabilitation projects in Minneapolis
compared crime reports between 1986 and 1994 at the housing location before and after
rehabilitation (an interrupted time series design). They found evidence that crime calls to police
either remained unchanged or declined after rehabilitation.
More recent studies that seek to measure neighborhood outcomes both before and after
the construction of a multi-family housing development) use a “difference-in-differences”
approach (Galster, Tatian and Smith 1999). This approach calls for measuring crime both within
and outside of a defined neighborhood (typical values might be 500, 1000, or 2000 feet) around a
subsidized housing development for a number of years both before and after construction. This
approach can be generalized to include multiple developments within a given city, with more
developments providing better estimates. The effect of development on crime, then, can be
assessed by using multiple regression analysis to estimate the effect of location within a
subsidized housing neighborhood on the crime rate before construction and the effect after
construction. A significant difference between the two rates implies an effect of the housing
development on crime. Two studies in recent years have used this approach to analyze the effect
of subsidized housing on crime. Santiago, Galster and Pettit (2003) evaluate the effect of new
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public housing developments in Denver between 1990 and 1997, finding that the new
developments did not increase crime relative to the pre-crime period. Woo and Joh (2015)
evaluate the effect of new low-income housing tax credit projects on crime in Austin. They find
that crime rates tended to be significantly higher in the pre-development period of neighborhoods
around future public housing sites than in the city of Austin as a whole, indicating that
development occurred in higher crime parts of the city. They also found evidence that crime
rates declined in these neighborhoods post development to a rate near the average for the city as
a whole. In short, the two most rigorous studies of subsidized multi-family housing and crime to
date found no evidence that they increased crime, and in fact may reduce crime.
In addition to these studies, a recent analysis by Freedman and Owens (2011) also failed
to find evidence that subsidized housing affects crime rates. Rather than use a difference-in-
differences analysis, Freeman and Owens analyze the relationship between county crime rates
and number of low-income housing tax credit units from 2000-2007 for the U.S as a whole. The
results suggest, then, that the results of the Denver and Austin difference-in-differences analyses
may generalize to other cities as well.
It is important to note, however, that not every study since 2000 has failed to find a
relationship between subsidized housing and crime. Two of these studies are particularly worth
noting. In a study of crime rates across 400 neighborhoods in Atlanta, McNulty and Holloway
(2000) found that crime rates are higher in block groups that are closer to block groups that
contain public housing projects. The method this study uses, however, does not control for crime
rates prior to the construction of public housing, making it impossible to determine whether a
causal relationship exists. Second, in a study of crime near fourteen group homes and other
supportive and assisted housing in Denver between 1990 and 1997, Galster et al (2002) find that
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crime rates were significantly higher within 500 feet and between 500 and 1000 feet of each site
compared to rates prior to development. They found that there was no effect on crime between
1000 and 2000 feet away from the site. It is important to recognize that the focus of this study
was specifically on supportive housing, with thirteen of the sites being assisted living or hospice
care, one a substance rehabilitation center and one a parolee halfway house). The authors
conclude that the likely explanation for their finding is that residents of these facilities are more
easily victimized and more likely to report crime.
Consequently, the empirical evidence on the effects of subsidized multi-family housing on
crime tend to contradict theories of concentrated disadvantage. Research using the best available
methods have thus far failed to find convincing evidence for a significant relationship. Even so,
the number of studies on this subject are limited and focus on particular cities. It is not entirely
clear if they generalize to other U.S. cities. Moreover, nearly all the research on the topic focuses
on subsidized housing. Little has been done to see if these findings generalize to market rate and
owner-occupied multi-family housing. The next sections of this report, then, analyze the effect
of multi-family housing on property values, crime, and physical blight in Little Rock, using a
difference-in-differences methodology. The analysis addresses itself to three main questions:
1) What is the average effect of new multi-family housing development on sales prices of
nearby single family homes?
2) What is the average effect of new multi-family housing development on frequency of
violent and property crimes near the site?
3) What is the average effect of new multi-family housing development on frequency of
code violations near the site?
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Data and Methods of Analysis
To answer these questions, I estimated four sets of difference-in-differences regression
models, each corresponding to one of four outcomes concerning Little Rock neighborhoods:
sales prices for single family homes; incidents of violent crime; incidents of property crime; and
code violations. The analysis includes code violations in addition to property values and crime
because they serve as an indicator of neighborhood blight or physical deterioration. Some
theories of neighborhood change argue that such blight (referred to sometimes as “broken
windows”) is a precursor to a breakdown in social relationships, crime and declines in property
values (Wilson and Kelling 1982). Each of these outcomes affects particular parcels in particular
neighborhoods over time, and so parcels serve as the unit of analysis.
The main variables of interest in each of these models is a set of indicators for the
proximity of each parcel to a multi-family housing project that was developed between 2000 and
2016 (a total of 78 projects, as indicated by city building permit records). Each of these
indicators also indicates whether in a given year the project was pre-development (prior to
building permit being issued) or post-development (after the building permit was issued). The
pre indicator variables then provide a way to measure the effect of being in a given location
when the development is NOT present, providing a basis for comparison for the effect of
development on the outcome once it is built (measured by the post indicator variables). Each
model also includes an appropriate set of control variables to help screen out the effect of parcel
and neighborhood factors and time-specific effects, other than proximity to new multi-family
housing development, on property values, crime and code violations. I describe the data and
analysis for each neighborhood outcome in more detail below.
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Analyzing Little Rock single-family home sales
To determine the extent to which new multi-family housing development affects property
values, I put together a data set of sales for single family homes in Little Rock from January
2000 through May 2016. The sales data come from the Pulaski County Assessor’s deed transfer
database. This dataset was filtered to exclude transactions outside the city of Little Rock;
transactions on non-residential, multifamily, mobile home, or attached structures (e.g.
townhouses, duplexes, etc.); and transactions that were not arms-length, leaving a total of 46,903
sales in the model. Home prices are typically skewed and so the analysis log-transforms the
selling price to better fit a normal distribution, offsetting a potential source of bias in the results.
To identify the locations and construction dates of new multi-family housing units in
Little Rock, I used the City of Little Rock Planning Department’s building permit file. This data
set identifies each new structure built in the city between 2000 and 2016, categorizing each by its
intended use (including whether or not it is a multi-family structure) and whether it is new
construction, a renovation or addition. From this data, I identified 480 permits for new multi-
family buildings, covering 78 unique projects: 14 condominium projects, 15 large (consisting of
five or more buildings) market-rate apartment projects, 16 small market rate apartment projects,
8 subsidized apartment projects, 16 senior or assisted care facility projects, and 9 other
multifamily projects (primarily dormitories). A list of these projects is found in Appendix A.
Using its address or longitude/latitude coordinates, I was able to geocode each building
permit for new multi-family construction over this time period. In addition, I geocoded the
location of each single-family home sale from 2000 through 2016 using the Pulaski County
Assessor’s parcel map, downloaded from the Arkansas GIS Office’s GEOStor data base
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(https://gis.arkansas.gov/). This made it possible to determine whether each transaction was near
an existing or future site for one of the 78 new multi-family projects. Moreover, the sales date
for each transaction made it possible to determine whether each sale occurred before or after
each building permit was issued. This makes it possible to estimate a set of indicators for each
transaction that categorize it in terms of:
1) Whether the sale occurred before or after construction of a new multi-family housing
development
2) The type of multi-family project
3) How close the parcel was to the site
These indicators make it possible to carry out a difference-in-differences analysis to
measure the effect of new development on sales prices. To understand how this works, it is
helpful to imagine a ring of a given radius (say 1000 feet) around each single-family home parcel
at the time it sold. A “pre” indicator variable takes on a value of one if a future multi-family
housing site is within that radius at the time of the sale, and zero otherwise. A “post” indicator
takes on a value of one if an existing multi-family housing site (constructed since the year 2000)
is within that radius at the time of the sale, and zero otherwise. Both indicator variables take on
a value of zero if no multi-family housing site constructed between 2000 and 2016 was within
the radius.
The single-family home sales analysis includes pre and post indicators for six types of
multi-family housing built between 2000 and 2016:
Condominiums
Large market-rate apartments (those projects with 5 or more buildings)
Small market-rate apartments (those projects with fewer than 5 buildings)
Subsidized apartments
Senior or assisted living apartments
23
Other multi-family housing (primarily dormitories and student apartments for
universities)
These indicators allow the analysis to differentiate between the effects of owner-occupied
multi-family housing, market-rate housing, and subsidized housing on property values. In
addition, some researchers have argued that larger multi-family developments have larger
spillover effects on single-family homes that smaller complexes. Hence this approach
differentiates between larger and smaller market-rate developments.
In addition, some researchers have argued that new multi-family development might
begin to affect property values before construction begins. This would be the case if the
announcement of the multi-family housing causes prompts some households to leave the
neighborhood or reduces demand for housing in the neighborhood in anticipation of the coming
development (Ellen et al. 2007). In addition, others have argued that the effect of multi-family
housing on property values might be delayed. This would be the case if the main impact of multi-
family housing comes from a lack of adequate maintenance, a problem that would not occur until
some years after its construction. Consequently, I have included two pre and two post indicator
variables for each type of multi-family development, indicating whether the home sold more than
2 years before the construction of a multi-family project, 2 or fewer years before construction,
within 2 years of completing construction, or more than 2 years after construction. This makes it
possible to distinguish between short-run and long-run effects of multi-family housing on
property values.
Moreover, as noted in the literature review, the effect of multi-family housing is expected
to be larger on single-family homes that are closer to the development. Much of the existing
research suggests that the effects are most noticeable at distances up to about 2000 feet (around a
24
third of a mile) (Ellen et al. 2007). Consequently, the statistical model includes pre and post
indicators for each type of multi-family housing at two sets of distances from each sale: multi-
family units within 1000 feet, and multi-family units between 1000 and 2000 feet away.
In addition to multi-family housing, single family home prices are affected the
characteristics of the neighborhood in which it exists, the home itself, and the time period in
which the home is sold. To obtain an estimate of the effect of proximity to multi-family housing
on sales prices, the effect of these factors must be subtracted out. In order to control for the
influence of these factors, the statistical model includes a set of variables collected by the Pulaski
County assessor that measure the characteristics of the housing unit itself, including its age, total
square footage, lot size, style, housing quality grade, type of heating and ventilation system,
number of bathrooms, whether the house has a fireplace and a basement, and its distance from
Little Rock’s downtown. In addition, the statistical analysis uses data from the Census Bureau’s
American Community Survey to control for a set of four neighborhood characteristics (measured
at the Census block group): median household income, percentage of population that is
nonwhite, the average age of housing stock in the neighborhood, and the neighborhood’s
population density.
Further, the statistical model controls for each home sale’s proximity to multi-family
housing constructed before 2000. These units were identified using the Pulaski Area GIS
(PAGIS) Consortium’s building outline file, which identifies each structure in Pulaski County
and categorizes them according to land use. Using this data set, I calculated the number of pre-
2000 multifamily housing structures within 1000 feet and between 1000 feet and 2000 feet of
each home sale. While this data cannot be used to draw inferences about the impact of pre-2000
25
multi-family housing on home sales (since there is no pre-construction estimate for nearby home
values to compare to), it can be used to control for their effect on home sales prices.
In addition, to these variables, the statistical model includes two sets of so-called “fixed
effects” variables. The first set of fixed effects represent each of the city’s neighborhoods
(represented by the Census block groups). These variables control for any characteristics of the
neighborhood that are fixed in time and not otherwise measured by the neighborhood variables
described above (such as its general character; historical development; land use characteristics;
and location within the metropolitan region). The second set represent each quarter from 2000
through 2016. These variables control for characteristics of a particular time period that are not
otherwise measured and controlled (such as general level of housing prices in the city as a whole;
economic conditions in the city; and migration to and from the city).
Finally, the statistical analysis controls for the level of housing prices in the immediate
vicinity of each home sale with an average of the sales price of the six closest sales in the year
preceding the home sale. This controls for the practice common in real estate of using
“comparables” to set a price for a given home. It also corrects for a form of bias called spatial
autocorrelation that is common in the analysis of geographic data (Ward and Gleditsch 2008).
The analysis uses regression analysis to combine this data to estimate the effect of each
variable on single-family home prices in Little Rock. This method estimates a set of coefficients
corresponding to each variable in the analysis. Each coefficient measures the average percentage
increase in home sales price from a one-unit increase in the corresponding variable. Hence, each
of the post indicator variables represents the average percentage increase in home sales price
resulting from proximity to a particular type of multi-family housing. One can then compute the
26
average net effect of the construction of a particular type of multi-family unit by subtracting the
“pre” indicator coefficient from the post indicator coefficient.
Analyzing Little Rock crime and code violations
The Little Rock Police Department provided a data set consisting of all reported Part I
crimes from 2000 through 2014. These crimes are tracked for reporting for the FBI’s Uniform
Crime Report, and consist of violent crimes (homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated
assault) and serious property crimes (e.g. e.g. arson, breaking and entering, burglary, larceny,
purse-snatching, shoplifting, auto theft). Note that the available property crime data begins in
2003 rather than 2000. Each crime report indicates the address where the incident was reported,
which I used to geocode the location of each crime. I used a similar process to geocode the
locations of code violations. The Little Rock Department of Housing and Neighborhood
Programs provided a data set consisting of all cases of code violations from 2007 through 2015.
These violations primarily consist of instances of physical disorder: abandoned vehicles, graffiti,
high grass and weeds, housing and rental code violations, trash and illegal dumping, and cars
parked in the yard. Each incident includes the address for the violation, which I used to geocode
its location.
Most difference-in-differences analyses of crime and multi-family housing focus on
differences in neighborhood crime rates. A typical approach is to define one set of
neighborhoods consisting of those areas within a certain radius (say 2000 feet) of an existing or
future multi-family housing development and another set of neighborhoods consisting of Census
block groups and portions thereof that are more than 2000 feet from an existing or future multi-
family project (Santiago, Galster and Pettit 2003; Woo and Joh 2015). This approach, however,
27
poses difficulties in estimating population and crime rates within the neighborhoods defined by
proximity to a multi-family housing development. This is because population data is generally
reported by block and block group, units that do not necessarily correspond to the area within a
2000-foot radius of a housing site.
Consequently, I instead estimated the likelihood that a given parcel would experience a
crime incident each year from 2000 through 2014. Using the crime and code violation data, I
identified whether each parcel was the site of at least one incident of violent crime each year. I
developed similar measures for property crime incidents and code violation incidents. The result
is a data set consisting of each parcel in Little Rock for each year from 2000 through 2014 for
the violent crime analysis, from 2003-2014 for the property crime analysis, and from 2007
through 2015 for the code violation analysis.
As in the sales price analysis, the main variables of interest are a set of variables
indicating whether a given parcel is located within 1000 feet or 1000-2000 feet of an existing or
future multi-family housing project built between 2000 and 2016. These are computed in the
same way as in the sales price analysis. Since there is no theoretical reason to believe that crime
rates near a multi-family unit will differ with respect to the length of time before or after
construction, I use a simpler set of pre and post indicators that merely indicate whether each
parcel in a given year existed before or after the completion of a multi-family housing
development.
Since I include both residential and nonresidential parcels, the crime and code violation
analyses control for four characteristics of parcels that may affect their vulnerability: their size,
distance from downtown, assessed value (logged to ease interpretation), and land use. The
28
analysis also controls for the number of crimes or code violations within 500 feet of the parcel in
each year and for pre-existing multi-family units.
Because the outcome variable is binary (whether a crime occurred or not) rather than
continuous, the data analysis uses a somewhat different version of regression analysis, known as
logistic regression. The coefficient estimates from these models have a somewhat different
interpretation from the sales model (discussed in the technical appendix), but nevertheless also
provide a measure of the effect of each variable on the likelihood of a crime occurring in a given
parcel. Hence, the coefficients on the pre and post multi-family housing indicators can again be
used to estimate the effect of multi-housing development on vulnerability to crime and/or code
violations.
29
Results
Effect on single family home prices
The analysis of single-family home prices generally indicates that, over the long run,
most forms of multi-family housing in Little Rock have either no effect or a modest positive
effect on price. Table 1 reports the estimated price premium (as a percentage of sale price) for a
single family home within 1000 feet and between 1000 and 2000 feet of a multi-family housing
development, both 2 or more years before the development is built and 2 or more years after it is
built. These results, then, compare average single-family housing prices well before multi-
family construction began and well after this housing has been established. Hence, the difference
between these two estimate indicates the estimated long-run effect of constructing the multi-
family development on single-family home prices. For example, the estimates suggest that on
average a single-family home located within 1000 feet of a future subsidized housing complex
sold for 16% less than what we would otherwise expect for that neighborhood, year and type of
home and it sold for 0.8% more than what we would otherwise expect for that neighborhood,
year and type of home after the housing complex was built. This suggests that single-family
home prices gained 16.8 percentage points in price that is attributable to the subsidized housing
development. Moreover, this result is statistically significant. That is, the likelihood of obtaining
this result owing to random sampling error is less than five percent. These estimates are made
based on the results of the statistical model for single-family home prices discussed above (and
reported in Appendix B).
30
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31
In addition to subsidized housing, the results suggest that the construction of
condominiums and small market rate apartment complexes (those with fewer than 5 buildings)
may have modest positive effects on single-family home prices. On average, single family
homes gained 7 percentage points in premium within 1000 feet of a new condominium complex,
and 5.1 percentage points for those between 1000 and 2000 feet away. Similarly, single-family
homes within 1000 feet of a new small market rate apartment complex gained an average of 10.2
percentage points in value relative to similar homes for the neighborhood and year, and those
between 1000 and 2000 feet away gained an average of 8.4%. Proximity to new large market
rate apartment complexes and to new senior and assisted living housing appear to have neither a
positive nor a negative effect on single-family home prices, as suggested by the statistical
insignificance of the difference in single-family prices before and after construction of those
sorts of development.
The results also indicate that some forms of multi-family development tend to locate in
areas where property values are on average lower for the neighborhood and time period. Hence,
the gain in single-family home prices resulting from the development is attributable to an
increase to prices closer to the average for the neighborhood and year. This is consistent with
what we expect from the literature. Multi-family housing developers have an incentive to
purchase property that is undervalued. Gains in nearby single-family homes may occur, then,
through an upgrading effect brought about when new housing replaces blighted properties or
other less desirable land uses (Ellen et al. 2007).
A notable exception to these results is the effect of other multi-family housing. This
category primarily consists of new dormitories and homeless and transitional multi-family
housing (see appendix A). The estimates in table 1 indicate that, prior to construction, single-
32
family homes within 1000 feet tended to sell on average for a 37% premium compared to similar
homes for the neighborhood and year in which they were located. After construction, however,
these homes sold for prices that were comparable to similar homes in the neighborhood. First,
this indicates a tendency for price to be less of a consideration to builders in the location of
dormitories compared to other multi-family housing. Second, it suggests that nearly all this price
premium tends to go away after construction, indicating that this sort of housing may have more
significant externalities than other multi-family housing. Finally, it is worth noting that these
effects appear to be localized to an area of 1000 feet (about one-fifth of a mile or 3 blocks) from
the multi-family site. The average effect of such housing beyond 1000 feet is modestly positive,
though statistically insignificant.
The result concerning dormitory and other multi-family housing is a bit puzzling. As
discussed above, most of the theory on the effects of multi-family housing on property values
suggests that the most negative consequences are likely to be associated with subsidized housing,
rather than dormitories. Possibly this should be a topic for further academic research.
In addition to providing a measure for the long-term effects of multi-family housing on
single-family home values, the regression analysis also provides a measure for the short-run or
temporary effects. As discussed in the review above, the announcement of a multi-family project
could reduce property values before development because of fears such development may have
undesirable spillover effects or reduce property values (Ellen et al. 2007). In addition, it is
possible that new multi-family housing might have a larger positive effect on property values in
its first years after development when it is least susceptible to blight or maintenance issues. To
assess this, table 2 provides estimates for the premium to single-family home prices in the two
years immediately before construction of a multi-family development and in the two years
33
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%
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%
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%
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.
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%
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11
.
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%
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.
8
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b
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h
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i
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F
a
m
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m
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P
r
i
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s
i
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i
t
t
l
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k
,
2
0
0
0
-
2
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1
6
(
b
y
T
y
p
e
o
f
M
u
l
t
i
-
F
a
m
i
l
y
De
v
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l
o
p
m
e
n
t
)
*
S
t
a
t
i
s
t
i
c
a
l
l
y
s
i
g
n
i
f
i
c
a
n
t
a
t
t
h
e
5
%
l
e
v
e
l
o
f
c
o
n
f
i
d
e
n
c
e
34
immediately after construction. The difference between these two provides a measure of the
temporary or short-run effect of construction of multi-family housing. By this measure, it
appears that location within 1000 feet of a large market rate apartment complex or senior and
assisted living may reduce property values temporarily, while location near new subsidized
multi-family housing may raise them. However, none of these estimated short-run effects are
statistically significant (that is, one would obtain these estimates more than one time out of
twenty as a result of the random chance associated with sampling). This suggests that we have
insufficient data to say whether multi-family housing in Little Rock has a short-run effect on
single-family home prices that is different from its long-run effect.
Effect on violent and property crime
The analysis of crime in Little Rock generally indicates that some forms of multi-family
housing may be associated with an increase in violent or property crime while other forms of
multi-family housing may be associated with a decrease in property crime. Table 3 reports the
estimated probability of an occurrence of at least one violent crime in a given year for any given
parcel located near a multi-family housing development, both before and after the development’s
construction.1 These probabilities are estimated from the statistical model for violent crime
discussed above and reported in Appendix B. Table 3 also reports the change in this average
crime risk after completion of a multi-family development. This change can be taken as a
measure of the effect of multi-family housing development on violent crime risk. Based on this
measure, we can conclude that on average violent crime risk is significantly higher after
1 Specifically, the estimate reported is for a commercial parcel of average size, assessed value and distance from
downtown in the year 2000. The average violent crime risk per year for such a parcel that is also more than 2000
feet away from a new multi-family development is reported in table 3 as 0.6%. The estimated difference in the crime
risk, however, is the same regardless of the year or characteristics and location of the parcel.
35
Av
e
r
a
g
e
p
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
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(
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)
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(
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1
0
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8
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%
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6
1
%
0.
2
8
%
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%
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m
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Ta
b
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3
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a
b
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f
V
i
o
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t
C
r
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m
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,
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e
a
r
,
L
i
t
t
l
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o
c
k
,
2
0
0
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2
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1
4
(
b
y
T
y
p
e
o
f
M
u
l
t
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-
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a
m
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l
y
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v
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l
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p
m
e
n
t
)
*
S
t
a
t
i
s
t
i
c
a
l
l
y
s
i
g
n
i
f
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c
a
n
t
a
t
t
h
e
5
%
l
e
v
e
l
o
f
c
o
n
f
i
d
e
n
c
e
36
completion of a condominium project or a large (more than 5 buildings) market rate
apartment project. Crime risk increased by an average of 0.28 percentage points within 1000 feet
of a new condominium development, and by 0.74 percentage points within 1000 feet of a large
market rate apartment complex. These results are statistically significant, meaning that the
probability of obtaining these results because of random sampling error is less than 5 percent.
In addition, the results show three other statistically significant increases or decreases in
average violent crime risk: an increase of 0.17% in risk for proximity to senior or assisted living
housing, and a decrease of 0.17% and 0.13% in risk for subsidized housing and other multi-
family housing, respectively. These differences, however, are found only at a distance of 1000 to
2000 feet from the complex and no statistically significant differences are found for these types
of housing within 1000 feet. Since there is not a strong theoretical reason to expect that crime
would increase or decrease 1000 to 2000 feet away but not within 1000 feet, it is likely that these
results are a statistical artifact rather than indicating a significant relationship.
Table 4 reports the estimated probability of an occurrence of at least one property crime
for any given parcel located near a multi-family housing development, both before and after the
development’s construction. These probabilities are estimated from the statistical model for
property crime discussed above and reported in Appendix B. As with the violent crime analysis,
the difference in these two levels of risk indicates the effect of multi-family housing
development on property crime risk. Based on this measure, we can conclude that property
crime risk was significantly higher for parcels within 1000 feet of a new senior multi-family
housing development than it was before the development was built. On average, property crime
risk was 6.9% per year for a given parcel prior to development and 9.1% per year after, an
37
Av
e
r
a
g
e
p
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
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f
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(
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(
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1
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10
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%
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8
%
0.
5
0
%
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1
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8
%
8.
7
%
1.
1
1
%
*
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m
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12
.
7
%
10
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1
4
%
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t
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1
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0
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9.
5
%
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0
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5
3
%
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a
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l
m
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9
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n
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%
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3
%
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0
.
7
7
%
Su
b
s
i
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d
a
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5
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n
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1
%
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9
%
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2
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%
*
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h
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9.
4
%
11
.
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%
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2
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2
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t
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1
0
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n
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%
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.
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%
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9
1
%
*
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t
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m
a
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F
9.
1
%
Ta
b
l
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4
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t
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f
f
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r
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l
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r
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r
,
L
i
t
t
l
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o
c
k
,
2
0
0
3
-
2
0
1
4
(
b
y
T
y
p
e
o
f
M
u
l
t
i
-
Fa
m
i
l
y
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e
v
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l
o
p
m
e
n
t
)
*
S
t
a
t
i
s
t
i
c
a
l
l
y
s
i
g
n
i
f
i
c
a
n
t
a
t
t
h
e
5
%
l
e
v
e
l
o
f
c
o
n
f
i
d
e
n
c
e
38
increase of 2.2 percentage points in property crime risk. This result is statistically significant; the
probability of obtaining this result from random sampling error is less than one in twenty.
At the same time, the results suggest that risk for property crime declined significantly
after subsidized multi-family housing development or other multi-family housing development
(i.e. dormitories) within 2000 feet. Property crime risk on average was 1.7% lower for those
parcels within 2000 feet of a subsidized development after it was completed compared to before,
and 2.2% lower for those parcels within 1000 feet (and 1.9% for those between 1000 and 2000
feet) of other multi-family housing development. Proximity to new market-rate multifamily
housing did not significantly change risk for property crime. Proximity to new condominium
development is significantly associated with greater risk for property crime at distances between
1000 feet and 2000 feet, but not within 1000 feet. But since there is no plausible explanation at
hand for why a development would affect crime at 2000 feet, but not 1000 feet, it is more likely
that this result is a statistical artifact rather than indicating a relationship.
In some important respects, these results seem to contradict what we would expect from
the concentrated disadvantage theory discussed earlier. Based on that body of theory, one would
expect proximity to subsidized housing to generate the most additional vulnerability to crime of
any of category of multi-family housing. The findings here, however, indicate that proximity to
subsidized housing either has no effect on crime, or perhaps even lowers risk of crime,
particularly property crime. A possible explanation perhaps lies in more widespread adoption of
crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) principles. Since all the housing
developments under consideration here occurred in the year 2000 or later, it could be the case
that newer subsidized housing stock is replacing older housing stock built under design
principles that make them more vulnerable to crime. At the same time, it is surprising that
39
condominiums, large apartment complexes and senior housing increases vulnerability to crime.
Galster et al. (2002) provide a possible explanation for increased crime vulnerability near new
senior housing: the senior population may in general be more vulnerable to crime victimization
regardless of location. Even to the extent this is the case, however, these results suggest a need
to revisit some of the existing theory on the relationship between housing and crime.
Effect on code violations
The code violation analysis generally suggests that proximity to multi-family housing has
little significant effect on the vulnerability of a neighborhood to blight. Table 5 reports the
estimated probability for the occurrence of at least one property crime in a given year for any
given parcel located near a multi-family housing development, both before and after the
development’s construction. These probabilities are estimated from the statistical model for
code violations discussed above and reported in Appendix B. As with the crime analyses, the
difference in these two levels of risk indicates the effect of multi-family housing development on
vulnerability to code violations. Based on this measure, however, we can draw no conclusions
about the effect of multi-housing development on code violations. Some of the estimates suggest
a substantive effect on risk for code violations. For instance, the average risk of a given parcel
within 1000 feet of a subsidized housing development increases from 0.9% per year before
construction to 1.3% per year after construction. However, there is a more than 5 percent chance
that this estimate would occur as the result of random sampling error. Indeed, this is true for each
of the difference-in-differences estimates of code violation risk reported in table 5.
Consequently, we must conclude here that we do not yet have sufficient data to draw conclusions
40
about the effect of multi-family housing on blight (as measured by code violations) in Little
Rock.
41
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43
Discussion and Conclusions
The results of the analysis, then, generally indicate that the effects of multi-family
housing are more nuanced and complex than proponents and opponents of multi-family housing,
and even academic researchers, typically suppose. Contrary to the concerns of some multi-
family housing skeptics, it does not appear to be the case that subsidized multi-family housing
development reduces property values for nearby single-family homes or that it facilitates violent
or property crime. Indeed, the analysis in this report suggests that sales prices for single-family
homes within 1000 feet of a subsidized multi-family development tend to be higher following
construction of the development than before the development occurred. They also suggest that
the vulnerability of properties within 2000 feet of a subsidized multi-family development is
significantly smaller following completion of the project than was the case before the project
began. These results hold even after we control for the characteristics of the housing unit or
parcel, the surrounding neighborhood, the time period, and nearby home prices and levels of
violent and property crime.
Moreover, it seems clear that most non-subsidized forms of multi-family housing do not
negatively affect nearby single-family home values, and that the effects of multi-family housing
on crime differ significantly from one type of housing to the next. Over the long-run,
condominium development, market rate apartment complexes, and senior and assisted living
housing appear to either have no effect or a positive effect on the sales prices of nearby single-
family homes. In addition, the results show no evidence that market rate apartment complexes of
fewer than 5 buildings, subsidized housing, or dormitory housing make nearby properties more
vulnerable to violent or property crime. Consequently, it would be inappropriate to suppose that
44
all forms of multi-family housing have the same effects on home prices or crime. Instead, the
evidence suggests that the effects differ significantly with the type of multi-family housing.
At the same time, the statistical results suggest that some forms of non-subsidized multi-
family housing may have a negative effect on single-family home values or may increase the
vulnerability of a neighborhood to violent or property crime. In particular, the results suggest
that sales prices for single-family homes are significantly lower following the completion of a
dormitory or similar sort of multi-family housing compared to what they were before the project
began. Moreover, condominium and large market-rate apartment complexes appear to make a
neighborhood somewhat more vulnerable to violent crime. And the construction of senior
housing seems to increase the vulnerability of the surrounding area to property crime. Once
again it is difficult to attribute these findings to characteristics of the neighborhood, parcel,
housing unit, or time period or to the characteristics of the location where the multi-family
housing unit was built.
Moreover, it is difficult to interpret such findings since they run contrary to expectations
from existing research and theory. For instance, while it appears that other multi-family housing
(i.e. dormitories) may reduce single family home values, it is clear that this cannot be attributed
to any affect such housing may have on crime. Possibly such housing creates additional
nuisances of the sort that may reduce nearby single family housing demand. Moreover, the
causal mechanism for a relationship between condominium and large market-rate apartment
development and violent crime is unclear. It is difficult to attribute this to the social capital
effects discussed earlier because these findings do not hold in the case of other forms of multi-
family housing, particularly subsidized housing, that are thought to possibly reduce social
capital. Such findings, then, call for further investigation.
45
Indeed, these findings reveal an important limitation in academic research on multi-
family housing. By far, most research gives attention to subsidized multi-family housing. In
part, this reflects the needs of local policymakers and land use planners, since the most vocal
criticism of multi-family housing concerns subsidized development. But multi-family housing is
much more diverse than this, and the effects of various forms of non-subsidized housing are
much less well understood. The findings here suggest, though, that these effects are much more
complex than is commonly assumed. It oversimplifies matters greatly to assume that subsidized
housing is destined to have the largest and most negative spillover effects. Hence, a significant
need exists for a more robust theory of multi-family housing and thus to further investigate
multi-family housing beyond subsidized housing.
46
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51
Appendix A: Multi-family Housing Developments Included in
Analysis
project name project type subsidized senior/assisted
Palisades at Chenal Valley apt no no
Stonebridge Apartments apt no no
Chenal Pointe Apartments apt no no
Highland Pointe Apartments of West Little Rock apt no no
Cedars at Wellington Lake apt no no
4211 A Street apt no no
Rowan Park Apartments apt no no
The Pointe at Brodie Creek apt no no
Chenal Woods apt no no
Ridge at Chenal Valley apt no no
Links at Eagle Hill apt no no
8700 White Rock Lane apt no no
Residences at Riverdale apt no no
Pinnacle Valley View Drive apt no no
Eagle Hill apt no no
5307 Lee Avenue apt no no
Parham Pointe apt no no
1615 Aldersgate Road apt no no
South Village Apartments apt no no
The Row at Legion Village apt no no
Bowman Pointe Apartments apt no no
McKenzie Park Apartments apt no no
Park Avenue Apartments apt no no
421 S. Bowman Road apt no no
MacArthur Commons apt no no
1001 McMath apt no no
Scott Street Flats apt no no
Riverhouse Apartments apt no no
Renaissance Point apt no no
Rushmore Apartments apt no no
Capitol Hill Apartments apt no no
Woodland Heights apt no yes
Fox Ridge Living Center apt no yes
Villas of Chenal apt no yes
52
project name project type subsidized senior/assisted
The Cottages at Otter Creek apt no yes
Clarity Pointe apt no yes
Memory Care of Good Shepherd apt no yes
Stonewood Apartments apt yes no
Wimbledon Green Apartments apt yes no
LRHA --- Granite Mountain apt yes no
Metropolitan Village and Cumberland Manor Apartments apt yes no
Chapel Ridge at Stagecoach apt yes no
Valley Estates at Mabelvale apt yes no
Madison Heights II apt yes no
Osmundsen Court apt yes no
Wilson Court apt yes yes
Cloverdale Estates apt yes yes
Armistead Village apt yes yes
Wilson Court II apt yes yes
Orchards of Mabelvale apt yes yes
Christopher Homes --- Little Rock apt yes yes
Cottages at Good Shepherd apt yes yes
Orchards at Mabelvale II apt yes yes
The Manor Assisted Living apt yes yes
Harold Court apt yes yes
220 Gamble Road condo no no
220 River Market condo no no
7100 Ohio Street condo no no
Pinnacle View Cove condo no no
Stagecoach Village condo no no
12401 Kanis Road condo no no
River Market Tower condo no no
300 Third Tower condo no no
Timberidge Condominiums condo no no
Rainwater Flats condo no no
5217 J Street condo no no
The Vallon condo no no
Barrister Court Apartments other no no
Coleman Place Apartments other no no
Philander Smith College Dormitory other no no
Philander Smith College temporary dormitory other no no
53
project name project type subsidized senior/assisted
Philander Smith College Dormitory other no no
Dormitory, Arkansas Baptist College other no no
Arkansas Baptist College, Dormitory other no no
Our House Shelter other yes no
Theressa Hoover United Methodist Church, dormitory other yes no
54
Appendix B --- Statistical Methods
Single-family home sales price analysis
To obtain the estimated long-run and short-run effects of multi-family housing on nearby single-
family sales prices reported in tables 1 and 2, this analysis used parameter estimates from the
following regression model:
(1) 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖=𝛽𝛽0 +𝜆𝜆𝜆𝜆𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+ 𝛽𝛽1 𝑇𝑇𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽2 𝐺𝐺𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽3 𝐻𝐻𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽4 𝑁𝑁𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽5 𝑋𝑋𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽6𝐵𝐵𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽7 𝐴𝐴𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝜀𝜀𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖
Where:
lnPijt = Natural log of the sales price of single family home i in neighborhood j in quarter t
W = spatial weight matrix identifying the 6 nearest sales within the year prior to each sale
Tt = set of dummy variables indicating the quarter t in which the sale occurred
Gj = set of dummy variables indicating the Census block group j in which the sale occurred
Hij = set of variables indicating housing unit characteristics (e.g. lot size, quality grade, distance
to downtown)
Njt = set of variables indicating characteristics of the Census block group in each time period
(Source: 2000 Census of Population for years 2000-2005; the 2006-2010 American Community
Survey estimates years for 2006-2010; the 2010-2014 American Community Survey estimates
for years 2011-2016).
Xij = set of variables indicating the number of buildings of each type of multi-family housing
constructed before 2000 that are within 1000 feet and between 1000 and 2000 feet away from the
sale.
Bijt = set of dummy variables indicating whether or not the sale is within 1000 feet, 1000-2000
feet, or neither of a future unit of each type of multi-family housing.
Aijt = set of dummy variables indicating whether or not the sale is within 1000 feet, 1000-2000
feet, or neither of each type of multi-family housing constructed after 2000.
εijt = independent and identically distributed random error term
This sort of model is often referred to as a “difference-in-differences” model. From such a
model, we can infer the effect of multi-family development from the difference in the post-
construction coefficients (β7) from each corresponding pre-construction coefficient (β6). The set
of post-construction coefficients represent the effect of multi-family development on sales prices,
55
while the set of pre-construction coefficients represent the effect of any unmeasured
characteristics of the location at which the multi-family development will be constructed. The
pre-construction coefficients, then, play a role similar to that effect of an experimental control
group; hence the term “difference-in-differences” regression (referring to the computing of an
experimental effect as the difference between experimental and control groups in their respective
post and pre-test measurements).
The parameter estimates for this model were estimated using ordinary least squares in Stata 14.
Table A1 reports the coefficient and other parameter estimates for this model. The reported p-
values are those associated with a t-test on each corresponding coefficient estimate. Statistical
significance is indicated by a p-value of less than 0.05 (5%). Since sales prices are logged,
statistically significant coefficient estimates can be interpreted as approximately the average
expected percentage increase in sales price with a one-unit increase in the corresponding
independent variable. The estimates in table 1 use the pre (2 years or more) and post (2 years or
more) coefficient estimates to estimate a long-run effect on sales prices, and the estimates in
table 2 use the pre (0-2 years) and post (0-2 years) coefficient estimates to estimate a short-run or
temporary effect on sales prices attributable to new multi-family development. The statistical
significance of these differences is determined by means of an F test on the hypothesis that the
difference is zero.
Violent, property crime and code violation analysis
To obtain the estimated effect of multi-family housing on the likelihood of a given parcel
experiencing at least one violent crime reported in table 3, this analysis used parameter estimates
from the following regression model:
(2) 𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖=𝛽𝛽0 +𝛽𝛽1 𝐶𝐶𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+ 𝛽𝛽2𝑇𝑇𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽3 𝐺𝐺𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽4 𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽5𝑋𝑋𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽6 𝐵𝐵𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽7𝐴𝐴𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝜈𝜈𝑖𝑖+𝜀𝜀𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖
Where:
Vijt = Whether or not a violent crime was reported at parcel i in neighborhood j in year t (0 no, 1
yes).
Cijt = number of violent crimes occurring within 500 feet of parcel i in year t.
Tt = set of dummy variables indicating year t
Gj = set of dummy variables indicating the Census block group j in which parcel i is located.
Pij = set of variables indicating parcel characteristics (i.e. land use, lot size, log of assessed value
and distance from downtown Little Rock)
Xij = set of variables indicating the number of buildings of each type of multi-family housing
constructed before 2000 that are within 1000 feet and between 1000 and 2000 feet away from the
sale.
56
Bijt = set of dummy variables indicating whether or not the sale is within 1000 feet, 1000-2000
feet, or neither of a future unit of each type of multi-family housing.
Aijt = set of dummy variables indicating whether or not the sale is within 1000 feet, 1000-2000
feet, or neither of each type of multi-family housing constructed after 2000.
νi = random error term (parcel level)
εijt = independent and identically distributed random error term
As with the sales price analysis, this model is a “difference-in-differences” model. Hence we can
infer the effect of multi-family development from the difference in the post-construction
coefficients (β7) from each corresponding pre-construction coefficient (β6). The set of post-
construction coefficients represent the effect of multi-family development on sales prices, while
the set of pre-construction coefficients represent the effect of any unmeasured characteristics of
the location at which the multi-family development will be constructed. The pre-construction
coefficients, then, play a role similar to that effect of an experimental control group; hence the
term “difference-in-differences” regression (referring to the computing of an experimental effect
as the difference between experimental and control groups in their respective post and pre-test
measurements).
Given that the data in this case constitute a balanced panel data set and given that the dependent
variable (whether a violent crime occurred in a given year at a given location) is dichotomous,
the parameter estimates were obtained from a random-effects logistic regression analysis of
equation 2. A random effects approach is used rather than a fixed effects approach because of
the computation limits of available computer hardware. To help offset this limitation, the model
includes fixed effects for Census block groups and for year and it includes control variables for
the characteristics of each parcel. In addition, variation across parcels is in part controlled for by
the inclusion of a random effect at the parcel level. However, it remains possible for some
portion of the estimated relationship between proximity to multi-family housing to be the result
of unmeasured parcel-level characteristics that change between the pre and post construction
periods.
Since this is a logistic model, the coefficient estimates in Table A2 are expressed in terms of
logged odds ratios. That is, each coefficient represents the average change in the logged odds
associated with a one- unit increase in the corresponding independent variable. To obtain the
estimated probabilities of violent crime before and after multi-family development, then, I
calculated predicted probabilities using the parameter estimates in Table A2 (Long 1997). The
predicted probabilities assume mean values for the model’s numeric variables and assume a
parcel that is a commercial parcel in the year 2000 located east of Little Rock’s downtown. The
estimated difference in predicted probabilities, however, is the same regardless of location, year
or parcel type.
57
The property crime analysis is based on a similar analysis, based on the following regression
equation:
(3) 𝑌𝑌𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖=𝛽𝛽0 +𝛽𝛽1𝐶𝐶𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+ 𝛽𝛽2 𝑇𝑇𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽3𝐺𝐺𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽4 𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽5𝑋𝑋𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽6𝐵𝐵𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽7 𝐴𝐴𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝜈𝜈𝑖𝑖+𝜀𝜀𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖
Where:
Yijt = Whether or not a property crime was reported at parcel i in neighborhood j in year t (0 no,
1 yes).
Cijt = number of property crimes occurring within 500 feet of parcel i in year t.
The coefficient estimates for the likelihood of a given parcel experiencing a property crime in a
given year, reported in Table A3, are the product of a random effects logistic regression analysis
and thus hold a similar interpretation. These estimates are used to produce the predicted
probabilities reported in table 4.
Similarly, the code violation analysis is based on the following regression equation:
(4) 𝑍𝑍𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖=𝛽𝛽0 +𝛽𝛽1𝐶𝐶𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+ 𝛽𝛽2 𝑇𝑇𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽3𝐺𝐺𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽4𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽5 𝑋𝑋𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽6𝐵𝐵𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝛽𝛽7 𝐴𝐴𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+𝜈𝜈𝑖𝑖+𝜀𝜀𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖
Where:
Zijt = Whether or not a code violation was reported at parcel i in neighborhood j in year t (0 no, 1
yes)
Cijt = number of code violations reported within 500 feet of parcel i in year t.
The coefficient estimates for the likelihood of a given parcel experiencing a code violation in a
given year, reported in Table A4, are the product of a random effects logistic regression analysis
and thus hold a similar interpretation. These estimates are used to produce the predicted
probabilities reported in table 5.
58
Table A1
Parameter Estimate for Regression Model of Logged Single-Family Home Sales Prices, Little
Rock, 2000-2016 (N=46,903)
Variable
Coefficient
Standard
error
(robust)
P-value
Time fixed effects by quarter Included^ 0.000
Block group fixed effects Included^ 0.000
Spatial lag of logged price 0.415 0.014 0.000
Housing unit characteristics
Age -0.004 0.000 0.000
Lot size (acres) 0.082 0.012 0.000
Living area (sq. ft) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Condition Included^ 0.000
Style Included^ 0.000
Wall type Included^ 0.000
Heating type Included^ 0.000
Bathrooms 0.042 0.004 0.000
Fireplace 0.079 0.006 0.000
Basement -0.018 0.023 0.432
Distance to downtown -0.021 0.005 0.000
Neighborhood characteristics
Neighborhood age -3.08E-04 8.76E-04 0.725
% nonwhite -7.88E-04 3.20E-04 0.014
Population density 9.62E-07 4.69E-06 0.837
Median household income 6.90E-08 2.06E-07 0.738
Pre-existing multi-family structures
Number condos, 0-1000 feet 6.90E-05 2.11E-04 0.744
Number market-rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -4.25E-04 1.49E-04 0.004
Number subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet -1.36E-03 7.41E-04 0.066
Number senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -1.26E-03 1.73E-03 0.469
Number uncategorized MF, 0-1000 feet 2.57E-03 5.80E-04 0.000
Number condos, 1000-2000 feet 3.15E-04 1.24E-04 0.011
Number market-rate apartments, 1000-2000 feet -1.02E-04 7.57E-05 0.179
Number subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -7.73E-04 3.64E-04 0.034
Number senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 3.43E-04 3.46E-04 0.321
Number uncategorized MF, 1000-2000 feet 2.21E-03 3.39E-04 0.000
59
Pre and post MF construction rings
Pre (2 or more years) condominiums, 0-1000 feet -0.064 0.027 0.017
Pre (0-2 years) condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.004 0.028 0.880
Post (2 or more years) condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.006 0.017 0.708
Post (0-2 years) condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.060 0.026 0.023
Pre (2 or more years) large market rate apartments, 0-1000
feet
0.052 0.032 0.100
Pre (0-2 years) large market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.171 0.050 0.001
Post (2 or more years) large market rate apartments, 0-
1000 feet
0.024 0.035 0.498
Post (0-2 years) large market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.250 0.075 0.001
Pre (2 or more years) small market rate apartments, 0-
1000 feet
-0.096 0.040 0.017
Pre (0-2 years) small market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.006 0.032 0.850
Post (2 or more years) small market rate apartments, 0-
1000 feet
0.006 0.021 0.774
Post (0-2 years) small market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.045 0.030 0.129
Pre (2 or more years) subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.160 0.074 0.032
Pre (0-2 years) subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.047 0.059 0.428
Post (2 or more years) subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.008 0.037 0.823
Post (0-2 years) subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.058 0.048 0.229
Pre (2 or more years) senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.088 0.064 0.172
Pre (0-2 years) senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.040 0.079 0.614
Post (2 or more years) senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.026 0.049 0.592
Post (0-2 years) senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.179 0.067 0.007
Pre (2 or more years) other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.369 0.122 0.003
Pre (0-2 years) other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.118 0.136 0.386
Post (2 or more years) other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.023 0.097 0.814
Post (0-2 years) other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.227 0.113 0.045
Pre (2 or more years) condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.042 0.016 0.008
Pre (0-2 years) condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.020 0.017 0.244
Post (2 or more years) condominiums, 1000-2000 feet 0.010 0.011 0.359
Post (0-2 years) condominiums, 1000-2000 feet 0.008 0.017 0.651
60
Pre (2 or more years) large market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
0.025 0.012 0.042
Pre (0-2 years) large market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.003 0.025 0.914
Post (2 or more years) large market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
0.040 0.016 0.015
Post (0-2 years) large market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
-0.003 0.027 0.916
Pre (2 or more years) small market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
-0.041 0.020 0.042
Pre (0-2 years) small market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.004 0.030 0.901
Post (2 or more years) small market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
0.043 0.015 0.004
Post (0-2 years) small market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
-0.040 0.026 0.127
Pre (2 or more years) subsidized apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.127 0.039 0.001
Pre (0-2 years) subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.093 0.041 0.023
Post (2 or more years) subsidized apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.054 0.028 0.053
Post (0-2 years) subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.005 0.037 0.887
Pre (2 or more years) senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.067 0.026 0.011
Pre (0-2 years) senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.017 0.032 0.596
Post (2 or more years) senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.032 0.019 0.091
Post (0-2 years) senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.058 0.030 0.050
Pre (2 or more years) other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet 0.009 0.064 0.884
Pre (0-2 years) other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet 0.108 0.082 0.191
Post (2 or more years) other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet 0.096 0.064 0.135
Post (0-2 years) other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet -4.22E-05 0.093 1.000
Constant 7.361 0.258 0.000
^ Statistical significance determined by joint Wald test
61
Table A2
Parameter Estimates for Random-Effects Logistic Regression Model of Violent Crime Incidence by
Parcel and Year, 2000-2014 (N = 1,183,170)
Variable
Coefficient
Standard
error
P-Value
Time fixed effects by year Included^ 0.000
Block group fixed effects Included^ 0.000
Number of violent crimes --- 500 feet 0.057 0.003 0.000
Parcel characteristics
Land use ---HPR 2.500 0.516 0.000
Land use --- Industrial -2.166 0.202 0.000
Land use --- INF -1.106 0.128 0.000
Land use --- Public 0.433 0.713 0.544
Land use --- Residential -1.543 0.039 0.000
Lot size (acres) 0.008 0.001 0.000
Log of assessed value 0.279 0.010 0.000
Distance to downtown (miles) -0.394 0.045 0.000
Pre-existing multi-family structures
Number condos, 0-1000 feet 0.019 0.006 0.002
Number market-rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.028 0.003 0.000
Number subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.041 0.005 0.000
Number senior apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.064 0.012 0.000
Number uncategorized MF, 0-1000 feet -0.009 0.006 0.129
Number condos, 1000-2000 feet -0.004 0.004 0.376
Number market-rate apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.001 0.002 0.598
Number subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.002 0.004 0.708
Number senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.012 0.008 0.113
Number uncategorized MF, 1000-2000 feet -0.014 0.005 0.003
Pre and post MF construction rings
Pre-construction condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.066 0.114 0.565
Post-construction condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.403 0.101 0.000
Pre-construction large market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.206 0.259 0.427
Post-construction large market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.720 0.191 0.000
62
Pre-construction small market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.090 0.116 0.436
Post-construction small market rate apartments, 0-1000
feet
-0.188 0.158 0.236
Pre-construction subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.178 0.142 0.211
Post-construction subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.149 0.126 0.237
Pre-construction senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.305 0.146 0.036
Post-construction senior apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.004 0.131 0.976
Pre-construction other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.284 0.093 0.002
Post-construction other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.091 0.085 0.286
Pre-construction condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.189 0.092 0.040
Post-construction condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.002 0.082 0.979
Pre-construction large market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.186 0.160 0.247
Post-construction large market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.260 0.149 0.081
Pre-construction small market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.034 0.083 0.684
Post-construction small market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
-0.103 0.107 0.334
Pre-construction subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.185 0.098 0.058
Post-construction subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.078 0.095 0.415
Pre-construction senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.016 0.088 0.852
Post-construction senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.232 0.081 0.004
Pre-construction other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet 0.153 0.062 0.013
Post-construction other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet -0.063 0.058 0.277
Constant -6.103 0.220 0.000
Standard deviation of parcel-level variance 1.603 0.016
^ Statistical significance determined by joint Wald test
63
Table A3
Parameter Estimates for Random-Effects Logistic Regression Model of Property Crime Incidence by
Parcel and Year, 2003-2014 (N = 946,536)
Variable
Coefficient
Standard
error
P-Value
Time fixed effects by year Included^ 0.000
Block group fixed effects Included^ 0.000
Number of property crimes --- 500 ft 0.016 0.000 0.000
Parcel characteristics
Land use ---HPR 4.223 0.301 0.000
Land use --- Industrial -1.159 0.102 0.000
Land use --- INF -0.832 0.069 0.000
Land use --- Public 1.909 0.341 0.000
Land use --- Residential -1.132 0.023 0.000
Lot size 0.009 0.001 0.000
Log of assessed value 0.323 0.005 0.000
Distance to downtown (miles) -0.246 0.020 0.000
Pre-existing multi-family structures
Number condos, 0-1000 feet 0.014 0.003 0.000
Number market-rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.012 0.001 0.000
Number subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.024 0.003 0.000
Number senior apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.034 0.007 0.000
Number uncategorized MF, 0-1000 feet 0.005 0.003 0.117
Number condos, 1000-2000 feet 1.64E-04 1.76E-03 0.926
Number market-rate apartments, 1000-2000 feet -5.94E-04 8.34E-04 0.476
Number subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet 7.77E-05 2.15E-03 0.971
Number senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -2.90E-03 3.05E-03 0.342
Number uncategorized MF, 1000-2000 feet -2.31E-03 2.52E-03 0.361
Pre and post MF construction rings
Pre-construction condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.077 0.070 0.271
Post-construction condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.133 0.050 0.009
Pre-construction large market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.163 0.101 0.107
Post-construction large market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.372 0.082 0.000
Pre-construction small market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.052 0.064 0.417
Post-construction small market rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.060 0.071 0.396
64
Pre-construction subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.073 0.091 0.425
Post-construction subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.138 0.070 0.048
Pre-construction senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.306 0.082 0.000
Post-construction senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.003 0.074 0.964
Pre-construction other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.270 0.065 0.000
Post-construction other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.035 0.054 0.521
Pre-construction condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.050 0.049 0.306
Post-construction condominiums, 1000-2000 feet 0.082 0.036 0.024
Pre-construction large market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.053 0.061 0.385
Post-construction large market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
-0.010 0.058 0.857
Pre-construction small market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
0.026 0.042 0.547
Post-construction small market rate apartments, 1000-2000
feet
-0.069 0.047 0.139
Pre-construction subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.056 0.061 0.359
Post-construction subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.301 0.052 0.000
Pre-construction senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.013 0.049 0.784
Post-construction senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.028 0.043 0.516
Pre-construction other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet 0.144 0.041 0.000
Post-construction other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet -0.080 0.034 0.020
Constant -4.687 0.118 0.000
Standard deviation of parcel-level variance 1.167 0.007
^ Statistical significance determined by joint Wald test
65
Table A4
Parameter Estimates for Random-Effects Logistic Regression Model of Code Violation Incidence
by Parcel and Year, 2007-2015 (N = 708,444)
Variable
Coefficient
Standard
error
P-Value
Time fixed effects by year Included^ 0.000
Block group fixed effects Included^ 0.000
Number of code violations--- 500 feet 0.049 0.001 0.000
Parcel characteristics
Land use ---HPR 2.769 0.401 0.000
Land use --- Industrial -0.567 0.159 0.000
Land use --- INF -0.723 0.115 0.000
Land use --- Public 0.188 0.633 0.767
Land use --- Residential 0.124 0.035 0.000
Lot size 0.002 0.001 0.104
Log of assessed value 0.149 0.007 0.000
Distance to downtown (miles) -0.194 0.031 0.000
Pre-existing multi-family structures
Number condos, 0-1000 feet 0.015 0.004 0.000
Number market-rate apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.013 0.002 0.000
Number subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.027 0.004 0.000
Number senior apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.038 0.010 0.000
Number uncategorized MF, 0-1000 feet -0.004 0.005 0.432
Number condos, 1000-2000 feet -2.36E-04 2.59E-03 9.27E-01
Number market-rate apartments, 1000-2000 feet -6.16E-04 1.18E-03 6.01E-01
Number subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.007 0.003 0.028
Number senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.012 0.004 0.004
Number uncategorized MF, 1000-2000 feet -0.013 0.004 0.000
Pre and post MF construction rings
Pre-construction condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.252 0.253 0.320
Post-construction condominiums, 0-1000 feet 0.122 0.075 0.106
Pre-construction large market rate apartments, 0-1000
feet
0.210 0.217 0.333
Post-construction large market rate apartments, 0-1000
feet
0.066 0.128 0.604
66
Pre-construction small market rate apartments, 0-1000
feet
0.146 0.104 0.160
Post-construction small market rate apartments, 0-1000
feet
0.313 0.092 0.001
Pre-construction subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.215 0.212 0.311
Post-construction subsidized apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.147 0.088 0.096
Pre-construction senior apartments, 0-1000 feet -0.160 0.132 0.228
Post-construction senior apartments, 0-1000 feet 0.066 0.102 0.522
Pre-construction other multi-family, 0-1000 feet 0.104 0.105 0.322
Post-construction other multi-family, 0-1000 feet -4.65E-04 7.10E-02 0.995
Pre-construction condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.293 0.213 0.170
Post-construction condominiums, 1000-2000 feet -0.004 0.057 0.940
Pre-construction large market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
-0.146 0.133 0.271
Post-construction large market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
0.008 0.087 0.923
Pre-construction small market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
-0.022 0.069 0.748
Post-construction small market rate apartments, 1000-
2000 feet
0.138 0.061 0.024
Pre-construction subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.029 0.120 0.809
Post-construction subsidized apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.143 0.066 0.030
Pre-construction senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet -0.026 0.075 0.733
Post-construction senior apartments, 1000-2000 feet 0.015 0.061 0.801
Pre-construction other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet 0.097 0.070 0.168
Post-construction other multi-family, 1000-2000 feet -0.040 0.047 0.401
Constant -5.308 0.170 0.000
Standard deviation of parcel-level variance 1.354 0.011
^ Statistical significance determined by joint Wald test