This week, 13WMAZ told you about a proposed affordable housing project that would be built in Centerville.
Neighbors said they were worried the project would bring more crime.
Jacob Reynolds set out to Verify whether affordable housing projects actually do bring more crime.
To Verify if affordable housing projects bring more crime, we talked to Macon-Bibb County Housing Authority CEO Michael Austin.
We also looked at three nationwide studies published within the last decade.
“The biggest problem we have is the security issues that people are afraid is going to start to take place in this area because of it, we have crime yes, but everybody knows, statistically, it gets worse,” Centerville resident Ronald Kesler told 13WMAZ on Tuesday.
On Facebook some of you had similar concerns, saying it was ‘valid’ to be worried about crime.
But is it valid?
We asked Macon-Bibb County Housing Authority CEO Michael Austin who's worked in the business 22 years.
“In our experience, that is not true, in our experience crime has not gone up in an area where we have built affordable housing,” Austin says.
National studies in the last seven years from Stanford, Cornell, and the National Institute of Health have agreed with that statement.
In fact, the 2015 Stanford study says affordable housing lowered crime in low income neighborhoods and had no impact when placed in higher income neighborhoods.
However, the same study says affordable housing projects in higher income neighborhoods do negatively affect property values.
The National Institute of Health study, published in 2013, looked at a New Jersey area that built an affordable housing project.
“No evidence that the opening of ELH had any effect on crime rates in Mount Laurel,” the study reads.
A Cornell study, published in 2011, says violent crime decreased in the areas studied, even if there was a slight increase in motor vehicle theft.
“We find that low-income housing development, and the associated revitalization of neighborhoods, brings with it significant reductions in violent crime that are measurable at the county level. There are no detectable effects on property crime,” the study’s abstract reads.
Austin said these types of affordable properties are visited regularly by state, insurance and housing authority representatives.
“Affordable property, newly built affordable property is inspected many more times than something in the private market might be,” Austin says.
So, we Verified, in general, experts say affordable housing projects do not bring more crime.
Austin showed us a project next to his office and near the Mercer campus, which is affordable housing for senior citizens.
He says they're just one of the groups that affordable housing helps, along with lower income families, part-time workers, those living on social security or dealing with disabilities.
Warner Robins Housing Authority Executive Director Sheryl Frazier also said the idea that affordable housing projects automatically bring in more crime is false.
Austin and Frazier say the success of these affordable housing projects often depends on the management put in place at the site. Meaning, if property managers handle the property well and responsibly, they often succeed.
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs is reviewing the application for the proposed project on Gunn Road in Centerville. A decision has not been made.
VERIFY SOURCES
Michael Austin - Macon-Bibb County Housing Authority CEO
Sheryl Frazier - Warner Robins Housing Authority CEO
VERIFY RESOURCES
Stanford Study, 2015
National Institute of Health Study, 2013
Cornell Study, 2011