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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri

Time: 12:15 pm

Results for housing vouchers (new york city)

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Author: New York University. Furman Center

Title: Investigating the Relationship Between Housing Voucher Use and Crime

Summary: A 2008 feature in The Atlantic (“American Murder Mystery” by Hanna Rosin) highlighted the correlation between the presence of households using housing vouchers in a community and crime levels. The article, which drew from interviews and maps in the Memphis area, amplified common fears that families with vouchers bring crime with them when they move to a new neighborhood. Community resistance to households assisted by the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is nothing new. The media has long stoked speculation that increased crime follows households with vouchers, and fear of increased crime has fueled community resistance that threatens to undermine the effectiveness of the voucher program. However, until recently, virtually no empirical research existed to fortify, or debunk, the presumption that an influx of families with vouchers into a neighborhood increases crime. A recent Furman Center study fills this gap by examining whether, in fact, households with vouchers bring higher crime with them into neighborhoods. Using neighborhood-level data on crime and voucher use in 10 cities, our study finds no evidence that an increase in households using vouchers results in increased crime in a neighborhood. Instead, we find that households with vouchers tend to settle in areas where crime is already high. Our results show that community resistance to households with vouchers based on fears about crime is unwarranted. Moreover, our finding that voucher holders tend to use their vouchers in communities with elevated crime rates raises important questions about whether the voucher program is achieving its objective of allowing low-income households to choose from a wider range of neighborhoods. After describing our research and Investigating the Relationship between Housing Voucher Use and Crime 2 results, this policy brief considers the relevance of these two findings to recent policy debates and initiatives involving the voucher program.

Details: New York: New York University, Furman Center, 2013. 5p.

Source: New York: Policy Brief: Accessed April 9, 2013 at: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/FurmanCenter-HousingVoucherUseCrime.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/FurmanCenter-HousingVoucherUseCrime.pdf

Shelf Number: 128321

Keywords:
Fear of Crime
Housing Vouchers (New York City)
Neighborhoods and Crime