Incentivizing Neighborhood Development

My fellow neighborhood association executive committee members and I just finished a homeowner repair program for our south central Fort Wayne neighborhood. We have a history of incredible neighbors designing programs for our neighborhood that generate revenue for general neighborhood improvements, like our Holiday Home Tour. This home tour has helped fund old style lamp posts and street signs, events, beautification projects, and even support a neighborhood nonprofit renovating an old theatre on the edge of it. It's a unique place and we love it. 

After living and participating in this neighborhood for the past 6 years, I saw an opportunity to use some of those funds to incentivize homeowner improvements through a program that aims to push all those on the fence about their next project over onto the side of doing it. We're dangling a carrot with the hopes that some are ready to take a bite out of it. 

We're experimenting with market driven philosophies that drive consumer behavior. We're all consumers, choose the path of least resistance whenever possible, and rarely want to turn down a good deal. This program is a good deal that says yes to the question, "you'll help me pay for the repairs/improvements that I know I need to make whether or not I need the financial help?" Of course we will, and the sooner you do it, the better. If it means you'll put your discretionary time and money into your home, then YES ALL DAY.

This program is a direct response from a visioning meeting we held in the summer of 2013 with neighbors to learn what they love about the neighborhood and how they'd prioritize the needs of the neighborhood. We learned that beautification, safety, and home repairs were all on the top of the list. 

Phase 1 of this program is 100% about theft prevention projects. We're offering up to $150 in a matching funds grant to any homeowner that does a home repair/improvement that makes their home more secure and deters theft. Side doors to garages, new or more locks, motion lights, motion alarms, reinforced glass, etc. If you apply and start a project by the end of the year, we'll help you pay for it. Theory being that if we can make it really hard for thieves to break in, they'll stop trying to break into our garages and homes. It's also cheaper to fund these projects than hire a security service that patrols our neighborhood or requires folks to walk the streets at 3am. All those are necessary parts of a holistic strategy, but we have to take responsibility as homeowners as well and this is a first step in that direction. 

Phase 2 of the program will be around home painting or landscaping projects. We'll offer up to $300 per home on a first come, first served basis if you commit to painting your home or adding some landscaping in 2015, and if you schedule a community work day. Not only do we want people to beautify their homes, we want them to get to know their neighbors and for the neighborhood to be strengthened by helping one another in this way. The more we get to know each other, the more we'll look out for each other and ultimately feel deeply engaged to the place we spend the most time at. 

If the programs are successful, it will be money well spent by the neighborhood for the engagement we've created and for the overall property values that will be impacted because of the improvements. A house freshly painted has far more economic value than the $300 in materials we've offered. A neighbor showing that they have pride in their home will spark similar pride in their neighbors and so on. 

I love this program as a neighbor and as a director of a nonprofit that wants to see this kind of project happen in neighborhoods all over the city. This is the kind of program we'd fund if we see a model worth reproducing. This is all very low hanging fruit that is completely driven by neighbors and no big government project. 

Developing this project is challenging me to think like a consumer and understand what motivates folks. Doing a good deed for someone works some times, but incentives work almost all the time. If we can move all of those that just need a little bit of a push, the ball then rolls and picks up other projects on the way. It's time we start creating programs that are driven by market principles. 

More to come as I learn how this will work.