IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/houspd/v33y2023i2p334-357.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Demolition Lead to a Reduction in Nearby Crime Associated With Abandoned Properties?

Author

Listed:
  • Hye-Sung Han
  • Scott Helm

Abstract

Scholars argue that housing abandonment increases area criminal activity. The link between abandoned properties and crime has led to the assumption that demolition of abandoned properties will stymie criminal activity and thus improve neighborhood safety. Although cities spend millions of federal and local funds on demolitions every year, very little research has explored the empirical effects of demolitions on crime. Does demolition lead to a reduction in nearby crime? This study answers this question by quantifying the relationship between abandoned building demolition programs and nearby crime using a difference-in-difference approach on 559 abandoned buildings demolished in Kansas City, Missouri, between 2012 and 2016. This study finds that demolition of abandoned properties does not have any significant impact on nearby violent and property crime. This analysis shows that a change in nearby crime is attributable to differences in nearby socioeconomic and housing characteristics, rather than to the demolition of abandoned properties.

Suggested Citation

  • Hye-Sung Han & Scott Helm, 2023. "Does Demolition Lead to a Reduction in Nearby Crime Associated With Abandoned Properties?," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 334-357, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:33:y:2023:i:2:p:334-357
    DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2020.1800776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10511482.2020.1800776
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10511482.2020.1800776?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:33:y:2023:i:2:p:334-357. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RHPD20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.