Effects of Low-Income Housing on Property Values

Quick Takeaways

Stable, affordable housing provides benefits to both people with low incomes and local economies overall. Despite these benefits, property owners who live near proposed affordable housing developments often oppose such projects, citing fear that the developments will cause their property values to decline.
It has been found that there is little evidence that property values decline when affordable housing developments are built.
The NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) and YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) movements provide the push and pull on these projects through the country.

Source: Assessing the Impact of Affordable Housing on Nearby Properties in Alexandria, Virginiapdf (Urban Institute, Apr. 2022)

There are many misconceptions about affordable housing, the main one being that they decrease property values. Various research studies have proven that affordable housing actually increases or has zero effect on property value. The term “NIMBY” stands for “Not in My Backyard” and refers to a person or group of people who do not want affordable housing (or sometimes shelters, treatment centers, even parks or trails” in their backyard, often citing property value, safety, sometimes even aesthetics. “YIMBY” has been offered as a counter term for people who say “Yes” to these additions to the neighborhood.

Overall, the benefit of stable and affordable housing on a community is net positive. “It reduces homelessness, lifts people out of poverty, and improves health outcomes…Affordable housing can help maintain health, daily functioning, quality of life, and maximum independence for adults as they age. And it supports employment growth and stability.”

See References for more information.

References

NAR Library & Archives has already done the research for you. References (formerly Field Guides) offer links to articles, eBooks, websites, statistics, and more to provide a comprehensive overview of perspectives. EBSCO articles (E) are available only to NAR members and require the member's nar.realtor login.

Impacts of Low-Income Housing on Neighboring Properties

What Is the Impact of Low-Income Housing on Property Values? (A-Mark Foundation, Jul. 25, 2023)

“Research studies into the impact of low-income housing on neighborhood property values have mostly concluded that there was either no impact or positive impacts on property values.”

Study: Building Subsidized Low-Income Housing Lifts Property Values in Neighborhood (Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, Nov. 9, 2022)

“A new peer-reviewed study found that building multiple publicly subsidized low-income housing developments in a neighborhood doesn’t lower the value of other homes in the area and can in fact increase their worth. The study looked at 500 developments built in the Chicago area from 1997-2016 that used the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). The authors then looked at their influence on over 600,000 nearby residential property sales by using local property assessment and tax records.”

Affordable Housing Financing: Local Challenges Met With Local Solutions (On Common Ground, Nov. 13, 2025)

“REALTORS® see firsthand how outdated regulations limit housing choices. By partnering on the Playbookpdf, we’ve created a resource that not only helps communities modernize ordinances, but also makes housing more attainable for families at every income level. This guide represents what can happen when REALTORS®, planners, and local governments work together.” Clearly, improving availability of affordable housing requires a network of resources and individuals on local, state and federal levels. REALTORS® can serve as connectors within their communities and associations.”

Factors Affecting Spillover Impacts of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developments: An Analysis of Los Angelespdf (US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2023)

“The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program is one of the largest sources of financing for affordable housing in the United States. Contrary to many residents’ fears, research typically shows that LIHTC-financed properties generate positive spillover impacts in their surrounding communities in the form of increased housing prices. Some critics yet suspect that the overall positive effects obscure the properties’ negative impacts for a significant subset of neighborhoods. This article examines these concerns by assessing the housing price effects of LIHTC properties in Los Angeles. The authors explore how the effects differ based on various characteristics of the LIHTC property and of the surrounding neighborhood…Regardless of the property or neighborhood characteristics, LIHTC developments in the region have positive spillover price effects. These findings can help inform policymakers who strive to maximize the secondary benefits of affordable housing developments.”

Assessing the Impact of Affordable Housing on Nearby Property Values in Alexandria, Virginiapdf (Urban Institute, Apr. 2022)

“We find that affordable units in the city of Alexandria are associated with a small but statistically significant increase in property values of 0.09 percent within 1/16 of a mile of a development, on average—a distance comparable to a typical urban block. These results are robust to other radii and comparison groups, such as comparing homes within a block with homes within a few blocks or comparing homes within a block with homes between half a mile and one mile away. And when we split the effects by the baseline income of neighborhoods to see whether affordable housing construction in lower-income neighborhoods is driving the results, we find the opposite of prior research: in Alexandria, affordable housing in higher-income neighborhoods has a positive and highly significant effect on surrounding home values, as does affordable housing in lower-income neighborhoods. This calls into question prior findings that affordable housing in high-income areas necessarily causes nearby property values to decline.”

Opposition to Public Housing (NIMBYism)

Political Leaders Are Finally Responding to the Housing Crisis. They Need to Move Faster. (Politico, Apr. 4, 2024)

“Across the country, there are states and municipalities tackling the same pervasive but tedious problem: overly restrictive zoning that makes it challenging or nearly impossible to build new housing.”

NIMBYs and YIMBYs Have More in Common Than It Might Seem (Time, Feb. 6, 2024)

“Now, it’s the non-home owners, especially in areas where the cost of housing is sky high, who are fighting back. Progressives, who a generation earlier would have questioned any development, today zero in on the dwindling supply of housing. They blame NIMBYs for that undersupply.”

Saying No to NIMBYs: A Planner’s Guide to Mastering Pushback and Passing Zoning Reform (American Planning Association, Nov. 16, 2023)

“Alterations to the status quo inevitably bring pushback — whether it's changes to parking codes, commercial districts, or housing — and the structures and rules of local government that planners are bound to follow give local opponents of zoning reform ample airtime and opportunities to plead their case.”

This Is Public Housing. Just Don’t Call It That. (The New York Times, Aug. 25, 2023)

“Since a shortage of available units is the root cause, many policymakers have focused on relaxing zoning and building rules to speed up construction. The idea is that if supply catches up with demand, prices will eventually fall or at least moderate.

“But since so much new development is aimed at high-end buyers and renters, another group has countered that only interventions like rent control, subsidies and a revival of public housing can truly reduce housing costs.”

Confronting the Challenges of “Not in My Backyard (NIMBY)” Attitudes (National Association of Home Builders, Jun. 10, 2025)

“There must be millions of homes produced in the coming years to meet the current gap between supply and demand in the United States. NIMBYism stands as a universal roadblock to alleviating housing costs, and ensure that all Americans have a safe, affordable place to live.
When NIMBYism is successful at dissuading elected officials from approving housing plans or delaying the approval timeline, the result is a lack of housing to meet growing demand and increased socioeconomic segregation. NIMBYism can act in tandem with exclusionary land use policies such as single-family zoning and large minimum lot sizes to exclude people of lower-income levels from being able to live in desirable areas.”

Websites

Pathways to Homeownership (National Association of REALTORS®)

NAR's Pathways to Homeownership Program helps REALTORS® become leaders in promoting home ownership at local, state and national levels

Office of Policy Development and Research (U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development)

Numerous reports, articles, data sets, and other information on affordable housing from HUD's research department.

National Low Income Housing Coalition

Includes numerous studies and reports on the state of affordable housing in the U.S., including the monthly NIMBY Report.

National Housing Conference

A national nonprofit affordable housing advocacy organization, featuring an Affordable Housing Clearinghouse, affordable housing publications and studies, and more

eBooks & Other Resources

eBooks & Audiobooks

The Affordable City (eBook)

Making Housing More Affordable (eBook)

Missing Middle Housing (eBook)

Books, Videos, Research Reports & More

As a member benefit, the following resources and more are available for loan through the NAR Library. Items will be mailed directly to you or made available for pickup at the REALTOR® Building in Chicago.

The Effects of Subsidized Housing on Property Values: A Survey of Research (California Department of Housing & Community Development, 1988) HD 1387 C12e

Growth Management and Affordable Housing: Do They Conflict? (Brookings Institution Press, 2004) HT166 G74

Impacts of Social Housing: Final Report (Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation, Jan. 1994) HD 1387 C16

Low-Income Homeownership: Examining the Unexamined Goal (Brookings Institution Press, 2002) HD 7287 L68

Why Not in My Backyard? Neighborhood Impacts of Deconcentrating Assisted Housing (Rutgers University - Center for Urban Policy Research, 2003) HD 7293 W52w

Why Not in Our Community? Removing Barriers to Affordable Housing (HUD, 2005) HD7293 Un3wn

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