Scattered Site Rental Toolkit:
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III.E. Table of Neighborhood Types, Characteristics and the Role of SSR Development

Type of Neighborhood

Characteristics

Potential Role for SSR Development

Healthy

· Market largely sustains occupancy and real estate transactions.

· Homes are generally well maintained.

· Above average share of the housing stock is owner occupied.

· Market forces generally resolve vacancy and abandonment issues.

· These neighborhoods will be the first to rebound when the economy improves.

· SSR development generally only makes sense in this type of neighborhood where the goal is to provide housing in low-crime, racially and economically integrated neighborhoods to low and moderate income people.

· Rental development on any scale can be a disincentive to investment in this type of a neighborhood and lead to neighborhood decline as people move out and property values fall.

Tipping Point

· Some evidence of marked decline, though still vital.

· Often a significant number of houses for sale and/or rent and a number of vacancies.

· Occupancy is often a mix of owners and renters and the majority of units are occupied.

· Vacancies are increasing and home values are falling.

· Less than 20 percent of the properties are blighted.

· People generally still maintain their properties, though the number of properties not maintained is growing.

· SSR development for the purpose of integration could be a viable model for this type of neighborhood, though likely opposition to integration would, of necessity, be a consideration.

· SSR development as a strategy for community revitalization may be effective for this type of neighborhood, when combined with other activities, such as demolition and acquisition/rehabilitation/resale. By strategically purchasing blighted properties and rehabilitating them or demolishing them and rebuilding, the blighting influences of the neighborhood can be removed and hopefully the market and reinvestment can and will, occur.

Revitalization

· Neighborhoods have seen great decline over years or decades.

· Vacant, boarded up houses are noticeable and there is a mix of occupied and unoccupied units.

· Often occupancy is primarily renters.

· Many properties are not well maintained and 20 to 70 percent are blighted.

· These neighborhoods are generally unable to become vital in the marketplace again without substantial outside assistance.

· Often the assistance will include concentrated work in a small targeted area and radiating from there into the surrounding neighborhoods.

· This work will usually involve multiple activities including rehabilitation, infill development, streetscaping, infrastructure improvements and demolition.

· SSR development, if done as a stand-alone strategy, is not very likely to be successful in this type of neighborhood.

· If planned as part of a concentrated and targeted strategy for revitalization, SSR can be a very useful and successful tool.

Redevelopment

· These areas have seen the most decline.

· Lost industries and decades of disinvestment have almost made these communities into ghost towns.

· Abandoned, blighted houses are everywhere, with over 70 percent of the properties blighted.

· A minority of houses are occupied, usually by renters or illegal occupants.

· Maintaining basic utilities and city services places a burden on the City.

· In one type of strategy, whole blocks or neighborhoods are razed and the property turned into vacant land, or green space.

· In another strategy, much, or all of a neighborhood will be demolished and the neighborhood will be redeveloped.

· SSR development will generally not be a workable approach for this type of neighborhood, though new construction of mixed-use and mixed income development with rental units included in the mix may be a viable strategy.

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