News Necessities: Won’t You Be My Gay Neighbor?
November 15, 2011
I have a solution to our current economic problems. Are you ready for this? Remove DOMA – legalize same-sex marriage – nationally, and how about encourage states to offer incentives that increase recognition of the LGBTQ population in their cities.
This all sounds great doesn’t it? But you’re probably asking – how is that going to help the economy? Aside from the obvious reason that same-sex marriage dramatically increases revenue, a newly released study announced an interesting piece of information.
What was it?
Same-sex couples increase property values in neighborhoods where the LGBTQ population is accepted. Conversely, in neighborhoods where same-sex marriage is not accepted, the existence of LGBTQ couples actually decreases the property values.
Okay maybe it’s me but I think that’s kind of funny. Not the increased values part of course, but that having a gay neighbor in an area where it’s not “acceptable” actually decreases the value. Again, another reason to make same-sex marriage legal nationally. For the folks that are against it – umm your house just lost value. Change your views.
What, too harsh? Okay it might be a little – but perhaps that’s the best way to seriously open eyes. What’s that saying? Hit ‘em in the wallet?
For a little background, the study was recently published in the Journal of Urban Economics and the two authors researched home values in 2000 around Columbus, Ohio. Their research showed that in areas where same-sex marriage was supported, if the number of same-sex couples increased by one in 1,000 households – the value increased 1.1 percent. If the same amount of same-sex couples increased in areas that didn’t support same-sex marriage, property values suffered a 1 percent discount.
The interesting part is that the study’s co-author, Susane Leguizamon was quoted as saying, “Gays and lesbians feel that they’re not welcome in certain areas. This study suggests it’s not just a feeling; people are responding to the presence of gays and lesbians in the ways we’d expect.”
In other words – hatred can devalue a home. Not a new concept but it’s certainly interesting to see some hard data that confirms it… Oh and to all my neighbors, I’m happy I could increase the value of your homes.
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News Necessities: Sue
Sue likes sticking to the important issues and brings you one post every Tuesday to highlight a recent event or media frenzy and dissect it.
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Diffuse 5 is a website providing events, news, articles, products and interviews for the lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer community in Boston and beyond.
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