Code Enforcement Effort: Does It Make a Difference?

Description:

The purpose of this study is to examine and measure the relationship between Charlotte housing standards and code enforcement activities, and the exterior quality of housing stock within the City of Charlotte. Over the past ten years Charlotte has garnered a national reputation for implementing an aggressive, neighborhood-based code enforcement strategy. The Charlotte strategy focuses limited code enforcement resources on selected target neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are chosen based upon the percentage and number of substandard housing units within the community. Neighborhoods labeled at risk (i.e., with significant amounts of substandard housing) are subjected to intensive code enforcement effort. Extra staff resources were assigned to these neighborhoods. Conversely, low risk neighborhoods are subjected to code enforcement programs but not assigned extra staff. During the period of the targeting strategy, the proportion of substandard housing in Charlotte has dropped continuously. Today Charlotte's percentage of substandard housing compares very favorably with other comparable urban areas, based on telephone surveys of housing administrators (Table 1). Although it is not likely that the total decline in Charlotte's substandard housing is attributable to any single variable, the question of a linkage between code enforcement and housing conditions has been raised. While one cannot prove causality, it is feasible to examine the degree of association between code enforcement activities and changes in housing quality using statistical tools.