Consolidation of Property Ownership among Corporate Landlords Has Not Intensified Concentrations of Crime

• In Event: Land Use, Crime, and Place Management

Abstract

There has been increasing evidence for the concentration of crime at a small proportion of properties in a given city or neighborhood. Meanwhile, another form of “concentration” has been underway whereby properties are increasingly consolidated under a small number of corporate landlords. Being that large, corporate landlords tend to have a greater frequency of crime and disorder, the consolidation of property has potentially intensified concentrations of crime. We test this premise in Boston, MA using a database of administrative records that track property ownership and indicators of crime and social disorder (from 911 records) and physical disorder (from 311 requests) annually 2011-2018 for all properties (n = 712,063 parcel-years). Concentrations of crime and disorder were moderately greater across property owners than across space, replicating the higher frequency of such events at properties owned by larger landlords. Nonetheless, a marked consolidation of property ownership over the decade did not drive an increase in the concentration of crimes across landlords. This was because the largest landlords tended to expand their holdings to new properties with minimal crime and disorder. This raises questions about the connections between place management practices regarding crime and disorder and the skills and capital needed to acquire properties.

Authors

• Daniel O'Brien, Northeastern University

• Forrest Hangen, Northeastern University