An August 2016 report titled Urban Blight Remediation as a Cost-Beneficial Solution to Firearm Violence published in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) concludes that “Abandoned buildings and vacant lots are blighted structures seen daily by urban residents that may create physical opportunities for violence by sheltering illegal activity and illegal firearms. Urban blight remediation programs can be cost-beneficial strategies that significantly and sustainably reduce firearm violence.”
Its authors are Charles C. Branas PhD, Michelle C. Kondo PhD, Sean M. Murphy PhD, Eugenia C. South MD, Daniel Polsky PhD, and John M. MacDonald PhD
To determine if blight remediation of abandoned buildings and vacant lots can be a cost-beneficial solution to firearm violence in US cities, the authors performed quasi-experimental analyses of the impacts and economic returns on investment of urban blight remediation programs involving 5112 abandoned buildings and vacant lots on the occurrence of firearm and non-firearm violence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1999 to 2013. They adjusted before–after percent changes and returns on investment in treated versus control groups for sociodemographic factors.
Phto shows abandoned house in Philadelphia. Photo credit: Storm Cunningham.