Lindner real estate professor weighs in on affordable housing
L.A. Times column cites Gary Painter’s social innovation expertise
A recent opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times examined differing viewpoints and data around affordable housing in the publication’s namesake city. The author tapped Gary Painter, PhD, professor of real estate, and an expert and longtime researcher in social innovation, housing, urban economics and education policy, to offer insight.
Gary Painter, PhD, professor of real estate, academic director of the real estate program and BEARE Chair in Real Estate.
Painter — who also is the new academic director of the real estate program at the University of Cincinnati and the inaugural holder of the BEARE Chair in Real Estate — was previously a professor of social innovation at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, providing him with firsthand knowledge of the area’s housing crisis.
Painter noted that for Los Angeles neighborhoods to become economically and racially blended, additional housing units of all kinds — not just affordable housing — are needed.
“The reason that’s fair is that if we have more units, they are a lot easier to be made affordable. We need housing everywhere,” Painter said.
Per the article, a 2019 Stanford University study indicated that housing constructed with low-income housing tax credits resulted in decreased crime in lower-income neighborhoods and did not increase crime in high-income areas.
The study did find that low-income housing built in higher-income areas decreased property values. Painter said this development could be due to increased housing supply or residents choosing not to live near multifamily buildings. He added that no studies have “disentangled” the two scenarios.
See more from the Los Angeles Times.
Featured image at top: An aerial view of houses in Los Angeles. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Innovation Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Lindner graduate students shine in international simulation competition
November 10, 2025
Five master’s of information systems (MS IS) students took home fifth place out of 23 universities at the International ERPsim Competition hosted by HEC Montreal during the recent spring semester. The competition tests students’ knowledge of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and their ability to adapt to challenging business problems.
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.