Daniel Kuhlmann, assistant professor of community and regional planning at Iowa State University recently authored a paper, suggesting that demolishing abandoned houses may lead nearby property owners to better maintain their homes.
From the Abstract:
Does the presence of deteriorating housing affect nearby property owner’s decision to maintain their units? Does demolishing these distressed houses increase nearby homeowner’s maintenance investment? In this paper, I examine these questions by testing whether exposure to targeted demolitions of abandoned and distressed housing affects changes in the external condition of nearby houses. Using two waves of a property inventory in Cleveland, Ohio, my models suggest that, compared with a control group of houses located near vacant housing, proximity to demolitions decreases the likelihood that a property’s condition deteriorated between 2015 and 2018 and increases the likelihood that it improved.
To view the news release from Iowa State University please click here.