Analyzing the Effects of Housing Code Enforcement on Neighborhood Outcomes

Keywords: Housing Violation, Local Government, Spatial Analysis
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Local governments use their constitutional mandate to control housing standards in neighborhoods within their jurisdiction. Housing code enforcement is one regulatory tool that allows local governments to regulate unsafe, unsanitary, overcrowded, nuisance, and obsolete housing conditions in their jurisdiction. Unregulated housing conditions threaten the occupants' public health, welfare, and safety if not taken care of. Although intended for maintaining and regulating housing conditions, housing code enforcement can have negative and positive outcomes. For example, a study in San Antonio revealed that the aggressive use of code enforcement - which resulted in 607 orders to vacate and demolish - contributed to the displacement of low-income residents (Way et al., 2021). In a study in Chicago, housing code compliance resulted in rent increases, impacting affordable housing options for renters (Bartram, 2019). Code enforcement has also been recognized as a demographic transition tool that aims to create territorial space for higher-income or business interests by removing low-income residents. While these aspects of housing code enforcement have been exhaustively analyzed, a missing piece of the extant research has been the multidimensional effects of housing code enforcement on neighborhood outcomes. To address this gap, this research examines the longitudinal trajectory of housing code enforcement from 2010 to 2022 in Charlotte, NC. It investigates the relationship between housing code enforcement and neighborhood outcomes along the housing, economic, and demographic dimensions. The causal relationship between housing code enforcement and housing, economic, and demographic covariates is tested using structural equation modeling and spatial statistics techniques.