Public Housing Lowering Real Estate Values

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Listings, Miscellaneous

Charities and social service groups often try to help the public by providing low income homes to those in need.  These homes tend to be considered section 8 homes and can be restricted to those with a limited income.  Many people term these homes the project homes since it is a social service project that causes them to exist.  The service groups typically try to group these homes together in an area that is nice and secure.  The initial value of the homes surrounding the project homes is often rather high with the people in that home taking great pride in their ownership of a home.  It is unfortunate that the creation of the social service homes often brings with it many unseen dangers to both the residents and the real estate values.  Many of these dangers are not anticipated by those who start the idea and are not seen until it is too late by those living near these social service homes.

It has been seen and noted that a parent or set of parents may move out of one bad neighborhood and into a new social service project home hoping to get a troubled child out of danger. This child may be under the influence of gangs or may even be partaking in gang related activity.  It is often the idea of the parent that if the stimulus is removed from the child, the child may revert to a better behaved manner and be a success in life.  It is unfortunate that often times this just causes the danger to move to a new location with the child.  If the child is already participating in gang activity, the gang may simply have acquired new territory, rather than stopping the influence on the child.  If the child is not yet in a gang, the child may emulate the gangs they saw and start a gang of their own, working to commit crimes in order to be respected by other gangs.

Many real estate values have suffered because of these actions.  Homes that were originally worth quite a bit have dropped in value simply because they overlook the project homes.  Many people do not feel safe living in these low income areas or around the areas, fearing gangs and other criminal activity may visit their homes and families. This can make it very difficult to sell a nice home for a decent price.

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