Before-After Affordable Housing Study: Boulder and Lafayette, Colorado
Final report to Boulder Housing Partners and Boulder County Housing Authority, 2017
Carrie Makarewicz (PI), Jennifer Steffel Johnson, Allison Baxter, Elizabeth Fuselier, and Elizabeth Rich
Abstract
Proposals for affordable housing often meet neighborhood opposition grounded in concerns about property values, crime, traffic and parking, and neighborhood character. Funded by Boulder Housing Partners (BHP) and the Boulder County Housing Authority (BCHA), this study tested whether those concerns were realized after affordable housing was built. We examined six developments chosen to represent a mix of neighborhood types and of housing for families and individuals: five BHP sites in Boulder (Broadway East and West, Foothills Community, 1175 Lee Hill, Poplar, and Woodlands) and BCHA’s Aspinwall and Josephine Commons in Lafayette.
To compare conditions before and after construction, we searched news archives for the concerns raised at the time; analyzed Census demographics, parcel-level assessed values (including a difference-in-differences test across more than 27,000 parcels), and police and crime data; and conducted site observations and interviews with neighbors, residents, and property managers.
Consistent with prior research, the pre-development concerns were largely unwarranted. The developments did not produce negative changes in neighborhood demographics, did not increase crime, and had no negative effect on surrounding property values, and five of the six generated no traffic or parking problems. The exceptions at Aspinwall and Josephine Commons appear addressable through property management and communication. For instance, many of the police visits were for the welfare checks for the senior housing in Josephine Commons. Our recommendations center on communication that is frequent, two-way, and continues well after occupancy.
