Does affordable housing attract crime?

Affordable housing does not attract crime and may even modestly reduce it.

A Stanford study looking at the impact of affordable housing over a ten-year span found that new projects in poorer neighborhoods reduced crime while increasing surrounding home prices.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine similarly found violent and property crimes  in Orange County, California remained flat or declined slightly overall after low-income housing was introduced while property values rose.

A 2011 study concluded developing affordable housing in “particularly disadvantaged communities” reduced robberies and assaults by 3%. 

Affordable housing, often subsidized by the government, is defined as housing costs that are less than 30% of a tenant’s income.

Nearly one in 10 residents of Macon-Bibb County and about 2% of Houston County residents lived in subsidized housing in 2025, according to USAFacts.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

The Macon Melody partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Sources

• Stanford Graduate School of Business Is Affordable Housing Good for the Neighborhood?
• University of California, Irvine The Impact of Affordable Housing on Housing & Crime in Orange County
• Journal of Urban Economics Low-Income Housing Development and Crime
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Glossary of Terms to Affordable Housing
• USA Facts How many people live in subsidized housing in Georgia?