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.