A cohort of 4 projects were awarded Inspire Funds in April 2023. The report-outs from these projects are described below with a summary of project work and progress. The 2023 cohort of Inspire Fund awardees met with the 2024 cohort of awardees in May 2024 to share their accomplishments, successes, and challenges, and to foster a connection between these research teams as resources to one another. The 2024 cohort has begun their projects and will share their products in 2025….
Person: Rebecca Walter
Association between property investments and crime on commercial and residential streets: Implications for maximizing public safety benefits
Walter, R. J., Acolin, A., & Tillyer, M. S. (2024). Association between property investments and crime on commercial and residential streets: Implications for maximizing public safety benefits. SSM – Population Health, 25, 101537–101537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101537.
Abstract
Physical property investments enhance public safety in communities while alleviating the need for criminal justice system responses. Policy makers and local government officials must allocate scare resources for community and economic development activities. Understanding where physical property investments have the greatest crime reducing benefits can inform decision making to maximize economic, safety, and health outcomes. This study uses Spatial Durbin models with street segment and census tract by year fixed effects to examine the impact of physical property investments on changes in property and violent crime over an 11-year period (2008-2018) in six large U.S. cities. The units of analysis are commercial and residential street segments. Street segments are classified into low, medium, and high crime terciles defined by initial crime levels (2008-2010). Difference of coefficients tests identify significant differences in building permit effects across crime terciles. The findings reveal there is a significant negative relationship between physical property investments and changes in property and violent crime on commercial and residential street segments in all cities. Investments have the greatest public safety benefit where initial crime levels are the highest. The decrease in violent crime is larger on commercial street segments, while the decrease in property crime is larger on residential street segments. Targeting the highest crime street segments (i.e., 90th percentile) for property improvements will maximize public safety benefits.
Keywords
Violent and property crime; Public safety; Physical property investments
Interdisciplinary team awarded an early-stage pilot grant from Population Health Initiative
Population Health Initiative gave 12 early-stage pilot grants to interdisciplinary teams. One team included Rebecca Walter, an associate professor in the Runstad Department of Real Estate. Project title: “Housing affordability and chronic stress in the US: Does affordability modify the effect of neighborhoods on health?” Project team: Amy J. Youngbloom, Department of Epidemiology Stephen J. Mooney, Department of Epidemiology Anjum Hajat, Department of Epidemiology Isaac Rhew, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Rebecca Walter, Runstad Department of Real Estate Project…
Assessing the roles and responsibilities of public housing authorities in state-level disaster plans
Khan, A. S., Aurand, A., Hamideh, S., Vickery, J., Walter, R. J., & Errett, N. A. (2023). Assessing the roles and responsibilities of public housing authorities in state-level disaster plans. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 98, 104074–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.104074
Mortgage Loan Costs: Magnitude and Drivers of Variation
Arthur Acolin & Rebecca J. Walter (2023). Mortgage Loan Costs: Magnitude and Drivers of Variation. Housing Policy Debate, DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2023.2236984
Abstract
This article uses national data disclosed as part of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) to examine variations in loan costs based on type of loan, borrower, purpose (purchase, improvement, or refinance), and neighborhood characteristics. Loan costs are generally higher for nonconventional conforming loans with higher levels of credit risks (loans with higher combined loan-to-value, higher debt-to-income ratios, and for investment properties). This implies that product and borrower risk impact loan costs. However, borrower characteristics such as income and race/ethnicity are also associated with differences in loan costs even after controlling for loan characteristics, location, and lender fixed effects. Total loan costs are higher both in dollar terms and as a share of the loan amount for Black borrowers and Hispanic borrowers, and total loan costs represent a higher share of the loan amount for lower income borrowers. These disparities are larger in neighborhoods with higher levels of lender concentration and implicit racial bias. These findings suggest that in addition to access to mortgages and interest rates, loan costs can represent a barrier for access to homeownership with a disparate impact for Black and Hispanic borrowers, which contributes to perpetuate the homeownership gap.
Keywords
Mortgage loan costs; homeownership; borrowing constraints; homeownership gap
Scaling Down from the Neighborhood in Urban Planning Research and Practice: The Potential Benefits of a Micro-Scale Focus
Walter, R. J., Tillyer, M. S., Ramiller, A., & Acolin, A. (2023). Scaling Down from the Neighborhood in Urban Planning Research and Practice: The Potential Benefits of a Micro-Scale Focus. Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231175593
Abstract
The neighborhood has been the dominant spatial unit in urban planning since the early 20th century. Criticisms of the neighborhood unit include disagreements about defining boundaries, methodological challenges in capturing neighborhood effects, and negative impacts on communities. With advancements in data management, and public data available at smaller units (street block or property), quantitative analyses are possible at the micro-scale. This commentary draws on crime research and prevention to illustrate the benefits of micro-scale approaches to quantitative analyses in the field of urban planning, arguing that the devolution to smaller scales may be a vehicle for efficient resource allocation.
College of Built Environments Announces 2023 Inspire Fund Awards
In 2021, the College of Built Environments launched the CBE Inspire Fund to “inspire” CBE research activities that are often underfunded, but for which a relatively small amount of support can be transformative. The Inspire Fund aims to support research where arts and humanities disciplines are centered, and community partners are engaged in substantive ways. Inspire Fund is also meant to support ‘seed’ projects, where a small investment in early research efforts may serve as a powerful lever for future…
Comparing Small Area Fair Market Rents with Other Rental Measures across Diverse Housing Markets
Hess, Christian; Walter, Rebecca J.; Acolin, Arthur; Chasins, Sarah. (2019). Comparing Small Area Fair Market Rents with Other Rental Measures across Diverse Housing Markets. Cityscape, 21(3), 159 – 186.
Abstract
Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are calculated at the 40th percentile of the U.S. postal ZIP Code instead of the metropolitan area in an effort to capture localized rents to expand choice for voucher holders to access housing in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Existing studies on the potential and actual outcomes of SAFMRs demonstrate that findings vary for different types of housing markets. Furthermore, the decisions public housing authorities (PHAs) make in the implementation process affect PHAs' program budget and the rent burden and locational outcomes for voucher households. This study aims to address how these implementation factors are affected by local rental market conditions for three PHAs-Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio Housing Authority, and Seattle Housing Authority-in diverse housing markets. By comparing different sources of market rent estimates with SAFMRs in each location, we contribute new information about how this rule is likely to produce different residential outcomes in terms of increased access to low-poverty neighborhoods and adjustments to payment standards in low-rent neighborhoods. The findings reveal differences across rent measures in terms of estimated levels and relative differences across ZIP Codes. These findings suggest that housing authorities may face challenges in meeting the objectives of the SAFMR final rule without some form of local adjustments.]
Moving to Shared Equity: Locational Outcomes for Households in Shared Equity Homeownership Programs
Ramiller, Alex; Acolin, Arthur; Walter, Rebecca J.; Wang, Ruoniu. (2022). Moving to Shared Equity: Locational Outcomes for Households in Shared Equity Homeownership Programs. Housing Studies, 44586.
Abstract
Abstract The impact of U.S. housing policy on household locational outcomes has primarily been studied in the context of rental housing assistance programs, but the impact of alternative homeownership models is less fully explored. In this study, we assess residential trajectories for households that have participated in shared-equity homeownership (SEH) programs such as Community Land Trusts and Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives. We examine changes in neighborhood characteristics that occur when households enter and exit SEH units, and compare those outcomes with similar households that entered traditional homeownership or continued to rent. We find that while entering SEH is associated with decreases in neighborhood opportunity measures, exiting SEH is associated with improvements in key measures including lower concentrations of poverty. We conclude that while entering SEH may entail moving to lower-opportunity neighborhoods, participation in SEH programs increases the long-term economic and socio-spatial mobility of participating households by enabling them to access a broader array of neighborhood contexts in their subsequent move. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Housing Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Community Land Trusts; Geographies Of Opportunity; Locational Outcomes; Residential Mobility; Shared-equity Homeownership
Place-based Improvements for Public Safety: Private Investment, Public Code Enforcement, and Changes in Crime at Microplaces across Six U.S. Cities
Tillyer, Marie Skubak; Acolin, Arthur; Walter, Rebecca J. (2022). Place-based Improvements for Public Safety: Private Investment, Public Code Enforcement, and Changes in Crime at Microplaces across Six U.S. Cities. Justice Quarterly, 44592.
Abstract
Abstract Research demonstrates that crime concentrates at relatively few microplaces, and changes at a small proportion of locations can have a considerable influence on a city’s overall crime level. Yet there is little research examining what accounts for change in crime at microplaces. This study examines the relationship between two mechanisms for place-based improvements – private investment in the form of building permits and public regulation in the form of municipal code enforcement – and yearly changes in crime at street segments. We use longitudinal data from six cities to estimate Spatial Durbin Models with block group and census tract by year fixed effects. Building permits and code enforcement are significantly associated with reductions in crime on street segments across all cities, with spatial diffusion of benefits to nearby segments. These findings suggest public safety planning should include efforts that incentivize and compel physical improvements to high crime microplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of JQ: Justice Quarterly is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Code Enforcement; Crime And Place; Hot Spots; Investment; Place-based Improvements