UC Irvine

The most recent mortgage crisis, resulting from the collapse of the housing bubble, has led to a record number of foreclosures, residential vacancies, and deteriorating neighborhoods. The current challenge is to determine the long-term consequences of the foreclosure crisis. How do we create viable solutions to the woes of the affected neighborhoods? While many of the neighborhoods damaged by the foreclosure crisis were already impacted by structural inequalities, the increased rate of residential turnover may lead to an increase in existing structural inequalities and increased crime rates through negative spillover effects on both neighborhood (micro) and city (macro) levels. Using a dataset that combines foreclosure, crime, and population data in two cities between November 1, 2005–December 31, 2010 and January 2007–December 2010, I investigate the impact of foreclosures and vacancies on neighborhood crime rates and demographic shifts in San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California as well as home appraisal values in San Antonio, Texas.