What Do the Neighbors Think? Assessing the Community Impact of Neighborhood Stabilization Efforts

Abstract

In the wake of the mortgage crisis, neighborhood stabilization efforts have been launched to allay some of the "secondary effects of the mortgage crisis -- the economic and social impacts on properties, neighborhoods, and communities." One example of this kind of effort is the federally funded Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which provided several million dollars to the City of Boston in order to acquire, rehabilitate, and resell abandoned, foreclosed homes in high-foreclosure neighborhoods. The author discusses preliminary findings from ongoing research exploring the effect of foreclosure and NSP intervention on neighborhood social stability.