How brownfield sites kill places and people: an examination of neighborhood housing values, foreclosures, and lifespan

Abstract

This study examines the effects of Environmental Protection Agency brownfield sites on housing values, foreclosures, and premature deaths in Louisville, Kentucky, between 2000 and 2008. While previous research has focused on the impacts of brownfield sites on neighborhood housing values, little research has been done on the impact of these hazardous sites on foreclosures and premature deaths. We utilize ordinary least squares regression to analyze the net impact of brownfield sites on neighborhoods. We find a significant association between brownfield sites and lower neighborhood property values, and increased foreclosures and premature deaths. Furthermore, using a case study of Louisville’s East Russell neighborhood, we demonstrate the possible benefits of a brownfield site remediation. Based upon the findings from the regression and the case study, we offer policy prescriptions that help address the fiscal and social costs of brownfield sites.

Keywords:

• neighborhood values
• community development
• housing

Acknowledgements

There are a number of people we would like to thank for their assistance in pursuing this research. Russ Barnett, director of the Kentucky Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development, who provided information about the use of aerial photography in Louisville to identify brownfield sites, along with his leadership in the annual West Louisville environmental justice tour. David Simpson, for strategic directions for this research. Zach Kentizer (ABD at Ohio State University) gathered the original information on the location of the brownfield sites and produced all the maps used here. Tony Lindauer, property value administrator, and Jay Mickle, computer guru, at the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration, were instrumental in providing us with housing data. Also, professor Greg Squires was helpful in obtaining data on foreclosures from the Federal Home Loan Bank. Our departments, where some of this research was conducted when we were graduate students: UC Berkeley and the University of Louisville (Riggs) and the University of Louisville (Meares); their support allowed us to conduct our research and to present the findings at the 2013 Urban Affairs Association meetings in San Francisco. We also thank Sarah Walsh, PhD, University of Louisville Public Health, who identified and collected our data on years of projected life lost and worked with us to get the necessary approvals from the Committee for Protection of Human Subjects through the Instructional Review Board, which assures protection of human subjects in creating mean scores for census tracts. Nobody is identified in the data-set that was analyzed. Also, our new departments at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Riggs), and Georgia Regents University (Meares), and their support of our ideas and research agendas. Lastly, we thank the editors (Matt Hardy and Emily Talen) and referees, whose comments only made this paper better. We would also like to thank the production editor, Jeff Lim, and his crew at Taylor & Francis. Each author made equal contributions, and the ordering is alphabetical.