Impacts of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program on Neighborhood Housing Turnover

Abstract

Although the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program has grown into the largest subsidized housing program in the United States, we have limited understanding of how these units affect the neighborhoods in which they are located. This article examines impacts of the LIHTC program on neighborhood stability in the cities of Charlotte and Cleveland. We examine housing turnover before and after the introduction of LIHTC developments into the neighborhood, based on housing sales data from 1996 to 2007. Location data on LIHTC units are merged with parcel-level sales data from Mecklenburg and Cuyahoga Counties. We estimate an extended Cox hazard model with the difference-in-difference specification to determine whether LIHTC units are causing increased turnover of neighborhood housing. We also explore impacts on neighborhood stability from LIHTC developments citywide and in neighborhoods stratified by income. We find significant impacts on the stability of LIHTC developments in both cities. Particularly, in higher-income submarkets, strong spillover effects were observed in Charlotte. Our results suggest that the stability of neighborhoods may be an important factor when considering the siting of LIHTC developments.