When it comes time for individuals or families to pick where they want to buy a new home, two of the biggest deciding factors are the neighborhood’s health and safety and the area’s property values and the future prospects for an increase in home or condo prices.
Civic leaders, neighborhood organizations, and local governments have many tools available to help improve neighborhoods and increase residents’ property values. For instance, instituting neighborhood watch programs and deploying additional police officers can help reduce crime and make streets safer for residents.
Increasingly, savvy communities are making another bet that has the potential to improve health and increase property values: ensuring that community gardens and health promotion are central to neighborhood development and redevelopment plans.
Rising public awareness of food deserts has been an important reason for the spread of community gardens and neighborhood-wide health promotion efforts. Food deserts – swathes of urban areas where fresh produce is either very unaffordable or entirely unavailable – are common in almost every American city.
Research has shown that food deserts are correlated with high rates of poverty and poor health outcomes. In areas where fresh food is not available, residents (especially those without reliable forms of transportation) are forced to primarily eat junk food. This leads to obesity and related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and, ultimately, premature death.
Sadly, neighborhoods that are located in food deserts are often filled with people who are uninsured and do not have reliable access to a doctor or other medical care. A combination of poor diet and lack of access to medicine means that the people who live in these neighborhoods are dramatically less healthy than the rest of the American population.
With public knowledge of food deserts increasing, city governments, local business & charitable organizations have focused on increasing access to fresh, healthy food and tackling bad diets and a lack of health access at the neighborhood level. This has included a range of efforts, different throughout the country, aimed at creating community gardens and promoting a healthier lifestyle.
As an added benefit, these efforts can improve property values for all of the community’s residents.
Using new resources, including some provided by the Affordable Care Act, governments and nonprofits have been able to provide more health-promotion services to more community residents. For instance, higher rates of insurance and more funding for community health centers allows more people in a neighborhood to receive needed medical care and be connected to appropriate support services.
Those support services can also bring people together to strengthen a community in a variety of ways. Group exercise classes, instruction on how to improve diets, fitness activities for toddlers and children, and even cooking classes can all be a part of the work a health-promoting neighborhood does to help its residents live healthier lives.
In some cities, for instance, neighborhood groups can encourage residents to participate in groups walks through the community, allowing people to get additional exercise. Elsewhere, more support – such as through the federal Community Eligibility Program – allows all young people, regardless of their family income, to receive the nutrition they need to survive and thrive.
Infrastructure also plays an important role in making a neighborhood one that encourages better health, instead of sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles. Safer sidewalks, the introduction of bike lanes, community centers that host fitness and cooking classes – all of these resources and investments improve the quality of life in a neighborhood and make it more attractive to homebuyers and Real Estate developers. As a result, property values rise.
The same increase in property values can be seeing in another feedback loop. As health improves, family incomes often rise as well. With bigger paychecks, neighborhood residents are able to invest more in their homes, boosting property values. After the first wave of home improvements are made, younger and more-educated workers often follow into the neighborhood, increasing property values further in a process often referred to as “gentrification.”
Of course, the benefits of community gardens and health-promoting neighborhoods are not just limited to low-income neighborhoods. While health promotion activities are often geared at people at or near the poverty line, neighborhoods and communities that choose to invest in the infrastructure that supports a healthy lifestyle often see dramatic increases in property values.
For instance, in the battle to attract young, so-called “knowledge workers” to a community, having top-notch sidewalks and a system of bike lanes are essential. Not coincidentally, both of these resources are essential in helping citizens safely exercise.
Health-promoting neighborhoods and those with community gardens can also make life easier for people on a gluten free meal plan. The availability of fresh produce and healthy food in a community makes it easier for people who are avoiding gluten for medical reasons (e.g. Celiac disease) or general health concerns to eat safe, healthy gluten free diets.
Community gardens can also have wide-ranging effects in neighborhoods that adopt them. In addition to providing an opportunity for outdoor activities and a source of fresh produce, community gardens are excellent tools to teach urban residents about a healthy diet and expose them to varieties of fruits and vegetables they may never have eaten before.
Just as important, community gardens can quickly become a neighborhood gathering place. This provides a place where parents and adults can discuss and socialize and children can play. The value of such a focal point of a community, especially in better-off neighborhoods that may not have a formal city-run community center, is hard to quantify but is widely viewed as a major benefit.
In addition, community gardens are an important beautification tool. Attractive, well-maintained appearances are one of the critical factors in determining property values and community gardens can go a long way to improving a neighborhood’s outward appearance in a sustainable, relatively low-cost fashion.
In short, health-promoting neighborhoods and community gardens are both great ways to build the fabric of a community and encourage healthier, more active lifestyles. And everyone in a community or neighborhood that adopts these strategies benefits as they lead to high property values and home prices.
