Decision Models for Foreclosed Housing Acquisition and Redevelopment  

Two new papers posted!

Stochastic Models for Strategic Resource Allocation in Nonprofit Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions by Armagan Bayram, Senay Solak, and Michael P. Johnson

Reconstructing Neighborhoods: Case Studies in Foreclosed Housing Acquisition and Redevelopment in Distressed Urban Communities by David Turcotte, Michael P. Johnson, Emily Vidrine, Rachel Bogardus Drew, and Felicia Sullivan

The recent housing foreclosure crisis has had devastating impacts on individuals, communities, organizations and government. In response, several community development corporations (CDCs) have sought new ways to assist neighborhoods suffering from the myriad effects of high foreclosures, including neighborhood instability, increased vandalism and crime, lower property values, and economic disinvestment. This research project is particularly interested in the activities of community-based organizations that acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties to support neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. However, the costs of pursuing this strategy far exceed the resources available to typical CDCs. Thus, this project seeks to solve the following decision problem: What subset of a large number of available foreclosed properties should be acquired for neighborhood stabilization and revitalization? What activities should be pursued with which properties, when should they be pursued, and to what degree? The decision models we intend to develop will yield acquisition policies that are more efficient, effective, and equitable for CDCs and their community residents. Our goal is to develop theory, models and methods that benefit from the knowledge of practitioners while providing practitioners with novel tools and perspectives that enable them to better achieve their organizations’ missions.

Principal Investigators:

• Michael P. Johnson, University of Massachusetts Boston
• Jeffrey Keisler, University of Massachusetts Boston
• Senay Solak, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• David Turcotte, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Research Assistants:

• Armagan Bayram, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Rachel Bogardus Drew, University of Massachusetts Boston
• Emily Vidrine, University of Massachusetts Lowell