July 23. 2007 12:00AM
Some property values go up; crime stays low in vicinities
By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
lhammel@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Neighbors of three group homes on the West Side have a generally positive view of the homes, a study by Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts found.
About two-thirds of the 59 neighbors who answered questions posed by Northeastern University Law School students said they would support any kind of group home opening in their neighborhood, and 69 percent said they don’t believe that crime in their neighborhood would increase because of a group home opening there.
The study also found that, according to the city assessor’s office, property values in the areas around the three group homes increased faster after the group homes opened and increased more within 1,000 feet of the group homes than they did in the area beyond that.
The study mirrored positive results that the Worcester State College Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement released 10 months ago after WSC students studied the area bounded by Main, Crystal and Cambridge streets that includes four group homes. Legal Assistance undertook its study because of debate in the city for more than two years over social services “which seemed to be driven by raw emotion and fears that appeared to be unsubstantiated,” according Jonathan L. Mannina, Legal Assistance executive director.
The study examined the police statistical areas in which three group homes are located. They are Steppingstones, a Bridge of Central Massachusetts program for eight men and women with mental illness, from 18 to 25 years old, that opened in 1996 on Richmond Avenue; an Alternatives Unlimited program for four men with mental retardation that opened in 2001 at 804 Pleasant St.; and Highland Grace House, a Community Healthlink program that opened in November 2005 on Highland Street for 15 girls from 13 to 17 years old.
Legal Assistance cited the October 2005 Research Bureau report for providing conclusions that Legal Assistance said were unsubstantiated. Legal Assistance said the bureau concluded that “sober houses,” such as those opened by South Middlesex Opportunity Council, would cause the same problems in neighborhoods that are caused by an emergency shelter for homeless people who may be on drugs or alcohol.
Research Bureau Executive Director Roberta R. Schaefer said she has not seen the Legal Assistance report.
But she said it seems to have no bearing on the Research Bureau’s conclusions about sober houses that do not have the same level of programming and supervision as the group homes that Legal Assistance studied.
The Legal Assistance study measured five types of crimes in the police statistical areas of the group homes in 2001 and 2006, and found that they rose insignificantly — from .31 percent to .35 percent of the city total and from .27 percent to .31 percent in two of the areas, and fell insignificantly from .22 percent to .20 percent in the area of Steppingstones.
That shows that prostitution and drug and other crimes do not follow group homes, Mr. Mannina said.
The study also said “it is striking that not a single respondent felt that their neighborhood is unsafe.”
Michael F. Seibold, director of community services for Alternatives Unlimited, a Whitinsville-based nonprofit social services organization, said, “We do try to place our programs in nice neighborhoods because we think the people we’re trying to help become re-involved in society deserve to live in nice neighborhoods. I don’t want to run a group home in a crime-ridden area that everyone’s concerned about.”
Using city assessing figures, Legal Assistance found that the average change in property values within the Steppingstone police statistical area rose more — 84.57 percent — in the five years after the program opened than in the five years before — 41.18 percent; and more yet — 87.85 percent when measured within 1,000 feet of the program.
City Assessor Robert J. Allard Jr. said that he is not surprised by the Legal Assistance finding that average property values in the statistical area surrounding each of the three group homes rose between 127 percent and 160 percent between fiscal 1997 and fiscal 2007. “They’re right in line with the valuation increases for the entire city,” he said.
Over that period, property values for single-family homes across the city increased 153 percent, two-family homes rose 185 percent, and three-family residences went up 233 percent, said Mr. Allard, who also is acting chief financial officer.
He said, “From my experience, I have not seen an immediate devaluation of properties in the immediate area of a group home. However, the abutters may feel like they’ve been psychologically devalued.”
Noting that most people surveyed favor group homes, the Legal Assistance report said “the opposition that does exist is led by a few loud voices. In order to quiet the loud voices, the soft-spoken majority must be enticed and motivated to engage in the cause.”
Students in Northeastern’s Lawyer Skills in Social Context program collected 59 surveys from randomly selected homes within 1,000 feet of the group homes in January and February of this year.
The report said that more research is needed — for example crime rate statistics from 1993, to show the trends from three years before and after the siting of each group home.
More surveys both within and outside the areas studied would add to the validity of the report, it concludes. A PDF version of the full report can be downloaded here.
