Governing the Neighborhood: Sub-Local Organizations, Disorder, and Reinvestment

• In Event: Housing, Equity, and the Built Environment

Abstract

A significant challenge in mitigating urban inequality is the search for ways to reinforce the physical condition of housing and infrastructure in urban neighborhoods. While many neighborhoods experience significant decay and disinvestment over time, others experience new investment and owner maintenance activities that refresh the housing stock. We argue that neighborhood organizations, such as homeowner associations and voluntary neighborhood associations, play a significant role in mediating the physical condition of urban neighborhoods. Physical deterioration poses significant collective action dilemmas within urban neighborhoods. As a result, neighborhoods with greater institutional capital, i.e. organizations and social relationships that reduce transaction costs to cooperation and collective action, experience fewer instances of physical disorder and greater degrees of homeowner maintenance and improvement than do neighborhoods with less institutional capital. To evaluate these hypotheses, we analyze code violations and building permits for single-family home renovations and additions from 2014 through 2019 for the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. We compare these findings to prior analysis finding support for these hypotheses for Little Rock, Arkansas.

Authors

• Michael C. Craw, The Evergreen State College

• Simon A. Andrew, University of North Texas