The Guide includes an account of the Transportation Equity Network's successful fight to influence the new federal transportation bill, the ways in which the new law will help low income people obtain jobs, and how community groups can take advantage of it. The Campaign for New Community, organizer of last week's Building Better Communities conference, has also issued several research reports. The Question of Property Values is an annotated bibliography which describes the research on the impact of human service facilities on property values. Thirty two of the 43 studies find that human service facilities have no significant impact on surrounding property values. Six of the studies suggest that not only do community based facilities not have a negative impact, they may in some cases exert a positive influence upon surrounding properties.
Several studies document property value decline.
The studies cover the time span 1973-1993, and do not look at some of the more contemporary facilities such as group homes for people with AIDS and homeless shelters. There are three others. Building Supportive Communities studies attitudes towards controversial facilities and examines facets of community acceptance and rejection. Hierarchies of Acceptance sorts out attitudes towards stigmatized people. Factors Influencing Community Acceptance examines siting strategies.