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Does homeownership reduce crime? A radical housing reform in Britain

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  • Disney, Richard
  • Gathergood, John
  • Machin, Stephen
  • Sandi, Matteo

Abstract

“Right to Buy” (RTB), a large-scale natural experiment by which incumbent tenants in public housing could buy properties at heavily-subsidised prices, increased the homeownership rate in Britain by over 10 percentage points between 1980 and the late 1990s. This paper studies its impact on crime, showing that RTB generated significant reductions in property and violent crime that persist up to today. The gentrification of incumbent tenants and their behavioural changes were the main drivers of the crime reduction. This is evidence of a novel means by which gentrification, and housing provision, may have contributed to the sizable crime drops observed in several Western economies in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Suggested Citation

  • Disney, Richard & Gathergood, John & Machin, Stephen & Sandi, Matteo, 2020. "Does homeownership reduce crime? A radical housing reform in Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108426, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:108426
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/108426/
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    2. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    crime; homeownership; public housing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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