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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:56 pm
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Results for housing foreclosures
6 results foundAuthor: Finklea, Kristin M. Title: Economic Downturns and Crime Summary: The United States is currently in the midst of a recession that some analysts believe will be the longest-lasting economic downturn since the Great Depression. Various indicators of economic health, such as the unemployment rate and foreclosures, have reached their worst showings in decades over the past few months. The troubled state of the economy has revived the longstanding debate concerning whether economic factors can be linked to increases in the nation’s crime rates. This report examines the available research on how selected economic variables may or may not be related to crime rates. There are multiple macroeconomic indicators, such as the consumer price index or real earnings, that can serve as estimates of economic strength. Specifically, during the current economic downturn, some reference the unemployment rate and the proportion of home foreclosures as proxies for economic health. Therefore, most of the discussion in this report utilizes unemployment and foreclosure data in discussing the relationship between the economy and crime. A number of studies have analyzed the link between the unemployment rate and crime rates (with a greater focus on property crime), some theorizing that in times of economic turmoil, people may turn to illicit rather than licit means of income. However, a review by CRS found a lack of consensus concerning whether the unemployment rate has any correlation with the property crime rate. A number of studies analyzed by CRS that did find a correlation between the unemployment rate and the property crime rate generally examined time periods during which the unemployment and property crime rates moved in tandem. Conversely, some studies that used longer timehorizons tended to find no direct link between the unemployment rate and the property crime rate. The link between foreclosures and crime rates has not been reviewed as comprehensively by social scientists as other broader macroeconomic variables—namely, unemployment. Most of the literature in the field focuses on whether abandoned houses can be linked to increases in crime rather than looking at the particular role that foreclosures may play. The literature reviewed suggests that there is some correlation between abandoned houses and the property crime rate (but not, however, the violent crime rate). With respect to the relationship between foreclosures and crime rates, some of the studies found that foreclosures did have an impact on the violent crime rate (but not the property crime rate). However, the limited number of studies examining the relationship between foreclosure rates and crime rates complicates any attempt to draw firm conclusions. While much research on the relationship between economic variables and crime rates has focused on macroeconomic variables such as unemployment and home foreclosures, some research suggests that other economic variables, such as gross domestic product (GDP) or gross state product (GSP), as well as consumer sentiment, could fluctuate more closely with crime rates and could thus serve as better proxies for evaluating the relationship between the economy and crime. Policy makers continue to be concerned with potential impacts—such as increased crime — that the current economic downturn may have on the nation. As a result, some have suggested that focus should be placed on increasing the resources of state and local police departments (i.e., increasing the number of police officers). In addressing this concern, however, Congress may opt to consider whether the current downturn in the economy is in fact related to crime rates. This report will be updated as needed. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2009. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS Report 7-7500: Accessed February 18, 2011 at: http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R40726_20090728.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R40726_20090728.pdf Shelf Number: 119619 Keywords: Economics and CrimeHousing ForeclosuresProperty CrimesUnemployment and Crime |
Author: Cahill, Megan Title: Foreclosures and Crime in the District of Columbia, 2003-2010 Summary: The continuing high foreclosure rates experienced nationwide are a central factor in the current economic crisis. The volume of foreclosures in Washington, D.C., which is relatively low compared to many places in the United States, rose steadily from 2006 through 2009 (see figure 1) and dropped off in 2010 (with enactment of the D.C. Foreclosure Mediation Law that year; see sidebar). Foreclosures can have detrimental effects on neighborhoods, contributing to higher levels of disorder and crime. This brief explores the relationship between foreclosures and crime in Washington, D.C. If foreclosed homeowners leave a property and the bank, as the new owner, is unable to sell it immediately, the house is left vacant. Vacant houses that are not kept up are likely to become eyesores, with overgrown lawns and deteriorating physical conditions, sending the message that the house is not cared for, and that the neighborhood tolerates such conditions. Abandoned properties are particularly susceptible to drug-dealing, gang activity, illegal dumping and arson. Details: Washington, DC: District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute, Urban Institute, 2012. 5p. Source: Brief No. 12: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 26, 2012 at http://www.dccrimepolicy.org/images/DCPIBriefForecl01182012_Large_1.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.dccrimepolicy.org/images/DCPIBriefForecl01182012_Large_1.pdf Shelf Number: 123783 Keywords: Economics and Crime (Washington, DC)Housing ForeclosuresProperty CrimesVacant Properties |
Author: Cahill, Meagan Title: Foreclosures and Crime: A Space-Time Analysis Summary: Despite growing attention to the negative consequences of foreclosures in neighborhoods, very little systematic research on the outcomes of the foreclosure crisis was being conducted on the topic through the late 2000s. In 2010, the National Institute of Justice funded the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center to fill that gap with a systematic assessment of the impacts of foreclosures and crime levels on each other. Four questions guided the present research: 1) What is the effect of foreclosures on the levels of crime in a neighborhood and how does that relationship change over time? Do the two phenomena have a circular relationship (where each affects the other simultaneously)? 2) Do foreclosures in one area have a "spillover" effect, increasing crime in a neighboring area at an immediate or later time period? 3) How do the effects of foreclosures on crime differ in the short-, medium -, and long-term? 4) What are the perceptions of key informants and residents on foreclosures and crime in their neighborhoods, on the impact of foreclosures on the crime rate, and on the best approaches to addressing the spillover effects of the foreclosure crisis? Data: The relationship between crime data and foreclosures was modeled at the census tract level for two sites: - Washington, DC; o 188 census tracts; -- Over the period Q1 2003 through Q4 2010 - Miami, FL ; -- 329 census tracts; -- Over the period Q4 2003 through Q1 2011 - Total of 6,016 data points in the DC data and a total of 9,870 data points in the Miami data. Results: - Effect of foreclosures on crime: -- Statistically significant in only one model: Miami model of foreclosure sales and violent crime; -- One percent increase in foreclosures would result in a 0.0157 percent increase in violent crimes - small enough to be considered non-existent. - In other models, the effect of foreclosures on crime was very small and non-significant - The effect of nearby foreclosures (spatially lagged foreclosures) was very small and not significant in any of the models The analysis suggests that any observed relationship between foreclosures and crime exists, more or less, because both foreclosures and crime happen in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Given this evidence, there is no reason to conclude that concentrated foreclosures, at least to the extent experienced in DC or Miami in the late 2000s, led to significant increases in crime on their own. The relationship between foreclosures and crime is complex, and indeed, in many ways, the two are related. However, evidence from a number of sources explored as part of this research-maps of the foreclosures and crime in both cities before and after the foreclosure crisis hit, reports from local experts and residents in both cities, descriptive analysis of foreclosures and crime data, and complex statistical models-suggests that the relationship is not direct, and is instead built on each event's relationships with other factors, like neighborhood characteristics that were in place before foreclosures spiked, such as poverty or other types of disadvantage. On a very small scale, such as by individual property or by block, a relationship between foreclosures and crime could exist, but if it does, we do not expect that it is widespread. Policies should not be designed to address these two phenomena alone. Instead, any policy responses should be designed to address wider community problems or disadvantage that likely lead to both higher foreclosures and higher crime. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2014. 109p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248652.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248652.pdf Shelf Number: 135209 Keywords: Economics and CrimeHousing ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty CrimesVacant Properties |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: The Impact of Foreclosures on Neighborhood Crime Summary: In the last few years, mortgage foreclosures have uprooted millions of households, and many have expressed concern that the foreclosed homes they leave behind are increasing crime. The three papers that emerged from our project study this question by examining whether and how elevated foreclosures affect different types of crime in the immediately surrounding area, in five cities around the country. In our first paper, we use point-specific, longitudinal crime and foreclosure data from New York City to examine how foreclosures affect crime on the same blockface- an individual street segment including properties on both sides of the street. We compare changes in crime on blockfaces after homes on the blockface enter foreclosure to changes on other blockfaces in the same neighborhood that did not experience foreclosures during the same time period. To bolster our confidence in a causal relationship, we also estimate regressions that control for future foreclosure notices. These future foreclosures cannot affect crime today, but they help to capture unobserved differences in trends between those blockfaces where foreclosures occur and those where they do not. In brief, while much of the association between foreclosures and crime is explained by both occurring on similar blockfaces, we find that marginal foreclosures on a blockface lead to a small number of additional violent and public order crimes. Our results are robust to both OLS and negative binomial estimation. As expected, effects are largest for foreclosed properties that go all the way through the foreclosure process to an auction. The effects of foreclosure extend to crime on neighboring blockfaces, but these effects are attenuated. When estimating threshold-level models, we find that foreclosures have a larger effect on crime after there are three foreclosures on the block. In our second two papers we focus more on identifying mechanisms and also extend our analysis to four other cities to test for generalizability. Our second paper, focused on Chicago, finds similar results as we did in New York City: an increase in the number of properties that receive foreclosure notices appears to increase total, violent, and public order crime on blockfaces in Chicago. In addition, our estimates suggest that foreclosures change the location of crime. They increase crime that occurs inside residences, but if anything reduce crime outside on the street. Foreclosures are also associated with substantively large (but weakly estimated) effects on crime within vacant buildings. Finally, increases in foreclosures are associated with increases in the number of 311 calls made to the City of Chicago about problems such as vacant buildings, rodents, graffiti, and other types of physical disorder increase in the following quarter. This suggests that the crime increase may come from an increase in physical disorder. In our third paper, we explore the relationship between foreclosures and crime in five cities, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Philadelphia. Overall, we find that properties banks take over through foreclosure (real estate owned or REO) are associated with higher crime both in the census tract and on the blockface. However, once we control for the number of properties in the foreclosure process (which we can do in three cities), we find no evidence that the presence of REO properties increases crime. Rather, it is the properties on the way to foreclosure auctions that appear to elevate crime. In other words, the crime increases caused by foreclosures appear to be driven by the reduced maintenance and investment of 'limbo' properties that are in transition to bank ownership. Collectively, these results suggest that local law enforcement and housing agencies should track foreclosure notices and monitor properties as they go through the foreclosure process, as their owners have little incentive to maintain them. Details: Report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248653.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248653.pdf Shelf Number: 136845 Keywords: Economics and Crime Housing Foreclosures Mortgage ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crimes Urban Areas and CrimeVacant Properties |
Author: Spader, Jonathan Title: Fewer Vacants, Fewer Crimes? Impacts of Neighborhood Revitalization Policies on Crime Summary: The relationship between neighborhood physical environment and social disorder, particularly crime, is of critical interest to urban economists and sociologists, as well as local governments. Over the past 50 years, various policy interventions to improve physical conditions in distressed neighborhoods have also been heralded for their potential to reduce crime. Urban renewal programs in the mid-20th century and public housing redevelopment in the 1990s both subscribed to the idea that signs of physical disorder invite social disorder. More recently, the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provided funding for local policymakers to rehabilitate or demolish foreclosed and vacant properties, in order to mitigate negative spillovers-including crime-on surrounding neighborhoods. In this paper, we investigate the impact of NSP investments on localized crime patterns in Cleveland, Chicago and Denver. Results suggest that demolition activity in Cleveland decreased burglary and theft, but do not find measurable impacts of property rehabilitation investments-although the precision of these estimates are limited by the number of rehabilitation activities. Details: Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-088: Accessed October 28, 2015 at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/2015088pap.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/2015088pap.pdf Shelf Number: 137163 Keywords: Broken Windows TheoryHousing ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeVacant Properties |
Author: Christenson, Blake Richard Title: Assessing Foreclosure and Crime at Street Segments in Mecklenburg, County, North Carolina Summary: Foreclosures are potentially problematic for neighborhood crime rates by providing crime attractors to residential communities. In the past, like many criminogenic features, foreclosures were typically seen as an inner city problem; however, in the wake of the housing market collapse of 2008 precipitated by suspect banking practices, foreclosures were particularly impacting young and new middle class homeowners (i.e., people with little credit history or assets). This study improves upon past research in two areas. First, instead of using large heterogeneous units of analysis (e.g., block groups, tracts, counties), this study uses street blocks. Street blocks, here, are preferred because of their relative homogeneity, especially when compared to large aggregate areal units. Second, this study restricts crime to only those that occur in residential areas. The routine activities surrounding residential areas are substantially different from those surrounding other land uses. Chi-square results show a significant and positive relationship between foreclosure and crime. Moran's I shows a significant positive relationship between foreclosure and crime. LISA analysis additionally provides insight into the importance of locational characteristics that may further shed light on the foreclosure-crime relationship. Results here suggest further research of the foreclosure-crime relationship should utilize street segments as the base unit of analysis and control for crime location. Details: Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2013. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 26, 2017 at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1091/ Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1091/ Shelf Number: 146379 Keywords: ForeclosureHousing ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crimes |