Non-profit service providers often face local opposition due to dispersed social benefits, but concentrated costs. Using nationwide U.S. data, we find opening a non-profit homeless service provider is capitalized into home values in the surrounding zip code, increasing values by 1.2%, using a difference-in-differences design, comparing zip codes that open their first provider to neighbouring zip codes without one. The relationship is even stronger in certain cases: home values increase by 2.2% for larger services, 2.6% when serving a more sympathetic population, and 3.1% in neighbourhoods with a lower share of non-Hispanic white residents.
Capitalization of Social Service Nonprofit Activities: Homeless Service Provider Openings and Home Values
Public Management Review
Year: 2025